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Copyright 1997 Alan T. Hagan. All rights reserved.
Republished in part by express permission. Please note Disclaimer below.
Entire text also available as an ftp download.

If you've chosen to purchase field-run grain or if the pre-cleaned product you've bought isn't clean enough to suit you, you can do it yourself.

The fastest and easiest method is "fanning", a form of winnowing. This is done by pouring the grain slowly through the air stream of a fan or blower into a clean, deep container such as a cardboard box or trash can. The wind blowing through the falling grain will blow out most of the broken kernels, chaff, smut balls, mouse droppings, etc. If you're losing too much good grain, try turning the fan down or moving it further back from the container. The deep container will cut down on the amount of kernels that bounce out. Repeat fanning as necessary until the grain is clean enough to suit or you've blown all of the lighter contaminants out.

If the fanning didn't get the grain clean enough then it can be further cleaned by running it through a screen or sieve. This should be made with holes just big enough to pass an average sized grain of what it is you're cleaning. Obviously, the size of the holes will necessarily vary depending upon the kernel size of the grain.

Should the kernels still not be clean enough to suit then you'll just have to resort to "hand picking" out the offending particles. I'd strongly suggest doing this just prior to grinding where it can be done in small batches rather than trying to do your entire storage all at once. It's much easier to do a few pounds at a time than fifty or a hundred.

If you have it in mind to wash the grain, this should not be done prior to storage, but, rather, just before use. After it's been rinsed, it should be dried immediately in the oven by placing it no deeper than 1/2 inch and heated at 150 F for an hour. It should be stirred occasionally to improve drying.

DISCLAIMER: Safe and effective food storage requires attention to detail and proper equipment and ingredients. The author makes no warranties and assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the text, or damages resulting from the use or misuse of information contained herein. Placement of or access to this work on this or any other site does not mean the author espouses or adopts any political, philosophical or meta-physical concepts that may also be expressed wherever this work appears.

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