permaculture

[<woodsjay@cox.net>]

Since cheap food seems to be on a lot of people's minds right now, I though 
I'd write about my first contact with DDGS. It has always seemed reasonable 
to me that I would grow the perennials and let the commercial farmers grow 
the annuals. (That is because I suck at growing things. The trees don't mind. 
The asparagus almost cares. The rhubarb dies.)

What was available to me was 50 lb sacks of DDGS based on corn. (This is 
Omaha NE.) It is a light yellow-brown course powder with a slight 
winey-yeasty odor. It costs $7.00 per sack at the feed store. (Yes, it was 
expected that it will be fed to animals. There is no labelling for human 
consumption. However, dead animals due to feed reflect badly on the store as 
a supplier. I have assumed that the same applies to human beings.)

What follows is a few things that didn't work.

I boiled it to try for soup or porridge. It sits in the bottom of the pot and 
doesn't expand or soften. It has a slightly sour and bitter taste. My wife 
hated it. I thought it was edible. (I think most everything that doesn't bite 
back is edible. Peas are not edible except under special circumstances such 
as eating at a friend's place.) 

I added salt and then curry powder. The salt killed the bitter taste. The 
curry powder stayed as a taste of it's own and didn't modify the flavor of 
the DDGS. 

I don't recommend it in any large quantity in soups or porridge. 

It is a high protein foodstuff and therefore encourages working with it. It 
is likely (for the corn version only) that much of the protein is unavailable 
to human being. I'm trying to find out how much of the protein the yeast has 
reworked (which would be available). By separating the powder from the little 
gritties a reasonable estimate could be made. 

It should be possible to make a DDGS loaded wheat bread which is likely to 
have the weight and consistency of lead hockey pucks. 

I am encouraged to try more things. Please feel free to contribute ideas on 
the subject.