Dried corn

I was delighted to read Mark Bittman's column in The Times dining pages today because dried corn is such an underused but fantastic ingredient. Bittman's columns are one of the few recipe columns I read regularly—they have no frills, just practical information cleanly and straightforwardly written.

I started buying dried corn from Rancho Gordo, Steve Sando's Napa business that also sells extraordinary dried beans and a few other choice goods (like the dried Mexican oregano).

Bittman fries his corn. Dried corn, soaked then cooked like a dried legume, is the backbone of pesole, but it's also good just boiled and tossed with butter, lime and salt. If you have some sort of mill, you could turn it into grits. A great product I wish more people used.