Massive incoming grain and food shortages

[ChickenCanoe]

I really do smell price gouging. In spite of the inflationary pressures on commodities, 12.00 to 25.50 in 3 years doesn't smell right. It isn't organic, it is just cracked corn, red wheat and red milo, in that order. Not the most expensive of ingredients and it is mostly cracked corn.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Corn was $3/bushel in 2020. It peaked a bit over $8 a bushel in April of this year, and currently trades a bit over $7.50 a bushel. Transport costs, due to fuel prices are way up, too. Wheat was $4.74 as a low in 2020, hit a high of $12.79 with the russian invasion of Ukraine early this year.

A doubling of price when raw ingredients almost tripled doesn't sound so bad... (and yes, I know that, due to price averaging and hedging raw ingredients didn't actually treble in price, effectively).

 

[1cock2hens]

My buddy just stopped by, i saw he had feed and asked him about it. You can still get 100lbs of corn based hog feed at our local feed store for $15 US dollars.

 

[The Truth Is Out There]

So, does the grain shortage have anything to do with why I can't find vermicelli in the stores? Not my local grocery chain (3 different stores), another local chain (1 store), or Walmart. I haven't seen it in a couple months now.

I don't feed it to my chickens. But it's my hubby's choice for a spaghetti pasta.

I think it’s the same reason we can’t find a specific cereal anymore.

Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. Pasta Roller/Cutter Attachment.

3 Eggs
2 C Flour (I recommend 1c King Arthur AP, 1 c Bob's Red Mill Semolina)
1 t Olive Oil
1 p Salt

Mix/kneed by hand, throw i a plastic bag, set in the chill chest to hydrate 1 hour to all day)

Roll, cut, introduce to salted water. Wait. Eat.

I want to try this!

 

[AGeese]

Ummm, I have never heard of such a magical place before. I've been to restaurant supply stores, never seen an Italian one...
That is exactly where I need to live go shopping.

Yeah might be hard to find some places. I grew up going to one with my grandparents as a kid when I lived near the old town in the city. Now I'm about an hour away from the nearest.

 

[Sally PB]

Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. Pasta Roller/Cutter Attachment.

3 Eggs
2 C Flour (I recommend 1c King Arthur AP, 1 c Bob's Red Mill Semolina)
1 t Olive Oil
1 p Salt

Mix/kneed by hand, throw i a plastic bag, set in the chill chest to hydrate 1 hour to all day)

Roll, cut, introduce to salted water. Wait. Eat.

I was looking into making pasta. DH's issue is with the thickness of the strands. What he's used to is a little thinner than "thin" spaghetti, but thicker than angel hair.

Any idea how thick the strands are? The battery on my caliper is dead, but just holding a strand of the pasta up to a ruler, I'd estimate 1.25-1.5 mm.

 

[Ascholten]

You tend to find the ethnic stores, match the ethnic make up of their neighborhoods. If there are not a lot of italians around, you probably are not going to find a lot of high quality italian deli's, restaurants, import stores etc. When I grew up in chicago, ethnic stores were all over the place, down south here, I don't seem to see many,but in total honestly are not looking for them either. I remember my grandma going to one of the polish deli's for the sausages and ham and stuff. They had some sort of, oh god I have no idea what it was called, it was like a roll / with fruit in it and it was Soooo good, she used to get me one as a snack.

Perhaps one of the yuppy places like whole foods might have some of this stuff... at 40 times the price, but they DO have it

Aaron

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I was looking into making pasta. DH's issue is with the thickness of the strands. What he's used to is a little thinner than "thin" spaghetti, but thicker than angel hair.

Any idea how thick the strands are? The battery on my caliper is dead, but just holding a strand of the pasta up to a ruler, I'd estimate 1.25-1.5 mm.

My roller is adjustable. I usually use a 7, can go thinner (8), or a little thicker (6) But 7 is comparable to a spaghetti noodle from a box, 6 is more like a lasagne or linguini noodle in thickness.

 

[SourRoses]

My mom got me a pasta maker for a previous Christmas and I find it can go angel hair thin. What I didn't like was the recipes for dough. Every last one calls for eggs, but the boxed pasta from the store and a lot of restaurant pastas don't use eggs at all - just flour and water, apparently. So the homemade doesn't taste right even with the best flour. I need to experiment some more.
But pasta doesn't matter as much as sauce. As soon as I find a good one, they ruin it by cheapening out on ingredients. I thought Rao's was pretty good, then they started leaving the tomato skins in, which all roll up and look so gross.
I've tried many a time to make my own sauce, but I can't get my hands on tomatoes that taste right. Canned Marzanos with bloody citric acid added... gah!
Such are the trials of a picky, spaghetti dependent creature...

 

[Ascholten]

My mom got me a pasta maker for a previous Christmas and I find it can go angel hair thin. What I didn't like was the recipes for dough. Every last one calls for eggs, but the boxed pasta from the store and a lot of restaurant pastas don't use eggs at all - just flour and water, apparently. So the homemade doesn't taste right even with the best flour. I need to experiment some more.
But pasta doesn't matter as much as sauce. As soon as I find a good one, they ruin it by cheapening out on ingredients. I thought Rao's was pretty good, then they started leaving the tomato skins in, which all roll up and look so gross.
I've tried many a time to make my own sauce, but I can't get my hands on tomatoes that taste right. Canned Marzanos with bloody citric acid added... gah!
Such are the trials of a picky, spaghetti dependent creature...

One other thing you will need to remember,which I learned very quickly making salsa's. Making your own from fresh ingredients, NO it will NOT taste the same because YOU don't have all those chemicals and preservatives and salts in yours. Secondly, without all those chemicals in it, unless you freeze it, it will only last a day or so in the fridge before it wants to start fermenting. / growing in the fridge. Id give it 3 days absolute tops before it's starting to really be 'off'.

Add spices, play with it, learn how to make it taste how you want it to, that's half the fun of it.

Aaron