Interactive lesson

Pura and proja, step by step

Interactive lesson: sound grain, grits and cornmeal, pura without lumps, žganci and kačamak, proja and projara, cornbread and storage.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Grain for the kitchen

Good pura starts in the field and in the crib, not in the pan.

Picking for the kitchen — Pick cobs for the kitchen separately, from the healthiest part of the field.
Bad cobs out — Put mouldy, pink, greenish and insect-bored cobs straight into a separate sack. Don't “clean” a cob with mould on the tip: throw away the whole cob.
Drying in the crib — Dry the cobs in a ventilated crib, on posts, under a roof.
Shelling and sieving — Shell by hand or on a small sheller and check the grain. For milling, grain must be at most 13–14 % moisture; sieve out dust and broken grains, as most of the mould is in them.

Why: Maize is the grain that most often carries mycotoxins: aflatoxins and fumonisins. They can't be seen or smelt, and they aren't destroyed by cooking, baking or frying.

Mouldy grain is not eaten and not fed to animals. Washing, sieving and mixing with sound grain only spread the toxin through the whole store.
After a hot, dry summer, or if the maize got wet at harvest, send a sample for testing before you mill it for the whole winter.

2. Cornmeal and grits

The same grain makes different dishes, depending on how fine it is milled.

Grits for pura — Coarse cornmeal (grits) is grains of 0.5–1.5 mm. It makes pura, polenta, grits and kačamak with grits.
Medium and fine meal — Medium cornmeal with small grains is for proja, projara and žganci. Fine cornmeal, like wheat flour, is for kačamak, cornbread and cakes. Don't confuse it with British cornflour, which is pure starch.
White or yellow — White dent maize gives a softer, sweeter meal for kačamak and proja. Yellow flint maize gives gritty, yellow grits for polenta and pura.
Mill monthly — Whole meal and grits last 1–2 months at room temperature, 3–6 weeks in summer. So mill monthly and keep the meal cool.

Why: Grits stay as little grains and the pura is “grainy”, while fine meal gives a smooth mass. Meal from a home mill has the germ: it is sweeter and more nourishing, but turns rancid quickly.

If you have only one meal, sift it: coarse for pura, fine for proja.
Shop cornmeal is usually degermed and keeps for months; instant polenta is ready in 5 min, but has a weaker flavour.