The thread on corn kernel burning stoves got me to thinking... I read in an old-timey type book of a woman who used spent corn cobs as fuel in her kitchen stove. I don't recall reading if she just used a regular wood stove, or if there is a special kind of stove for burnig cobs. At the farm, the folx have a couple of old silos loaded with corn cobs that have been picked clean by local varmints. We were thinking it would be a good idea to utilize the cobs some way, and got to talking about the book I read (and now cannot locate). Does anyone here have any thoughts or experience with this? Thanks Pony!
We burned a lot of cobs when I was a kid. I never knew anyone who had a cob stove. We started wood fires with them and cooked with them in hot weather in a regular wood type cookstove. Knew an old man who heated a two story apartment house with nothing but cobs. It takes heaps of them to make a lot of heat, and the fire don't last long. They will explode in a heating stove if they are dumped in on top of hot coals. The coals cause a gas to form in the cobs. We would dump them in and pour coal oil on them right away, lighting them with a match as quick as possible. Cobs were free for the hauling from any feed mill when farmers picked their corn on the cob instead of combining it.
My hubby's grandma told me once about how her former husband would use cobs as fire starters, and theres also a way to make corn cob jelly, tho I have never made it or had any of it myself, just heard about it on here.
We always save a spreaderful as kindling. As the other person said, they burn fast, hot, quick, & make a lot of ash. Not really ideal for relying on for all heat, but they sure make nice kindling to get a fire going. And yes they can go Whoosh! if they smolder & release gas which then ignites. --->Paul
Thanks so much for the input! Looks like we will be using the corn cobs for more than mulch/compost. Re: the corn cob jelly, I know there's a recipe for that floating around here someplace, but I am sure we'd need fresher cobs than these, which are at least 4 years old. Thanks again! :dance: Pony!
When i was 8 years old it was my job to get my cob wagon (radio Flyer) and cardboard boxed and haul boxes of cobs up to the house from the cob shed. About a 100 yards away. I had to fill the big metal hopper on the porch with cobs.We had a fireplace and a cookstove. I miss the warm heat. Still today i have a cob wagon, i dont haul cobs, but sometimes i wish i did.
