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Thursday, October 7, 2010

The "wheat pattern" cornbread pan


This is a corn stick pan with a wheat pattern, instead of corn cobs.

It was actually meant for cornbread. This pan is hard to find, and valuable.

In 1920, Wagner developed a patent for a pan that made cornbread, shaped like ears of corn.

Griswold was a competitor, and wanted to sell a similar product. But since the corn husk design was patented, they made their pan with a wheat pattern.

Since patents only last 14 years, after 1934, all foundries could begin making and marketing the original design. Which was very popular!

During the depression, cornmeal was affordable and versatile. So, a lot of people made cornbread.

They were sometimes called Krusty Korn Kob pans, because they made the cornbread crispy.

I've used my cornstick pan to make breadsticks, brownie sticks, and to toast garlic bread.

They're more useful than you think, actually!

The standard size is 7 molds, but I ended up getting one with 9 molds, since it holds more batter.

They have one with 5 molds too. I haven't decided if I'm getting that one yet.

8 comments:

  1. I use it for a dessert I call Chocolate Pine Cones. (Sort of a long pine cone, admittedly.)

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  2. You mean, chocolate cake mix and pine nuts? Actually your recipe is from scratch but I wonder if chocolate cake mix would be an easy shortcut. Looks like it has chopped Jicamas in it too...

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  3. The jicama does make a difference, in this as in the chocolate mint surprise cookies--it delivers a wonderful little crunch, different than nuts; it also absorbs the surrounding flavors. And so far as I know, it's my own invention.

    (I don't bake anything with mixes, not even my biscuits. It's scratch all the way.)

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  4. I haven't quite graduated to cake scratch baking, but I've finally converted to pancakes and biscuits from scratch.

    I found jicama. Pine nuts were WAY too expensive, so I got brazil nuts, declaring "now they're going to be chocolate BRAZIL cones!"

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  5. OK, but if you use brazil nuts, chop them up small first. The pine nuts are the right size and the right texture just as they are. Brazils are going to be drier and crunchier.

    Do you have any chocolate liqueur? If so, you could soak the chopped jicama in a small amount for about, oh, half an hour, and it would both enhance the chocolate flavor of the recipe and add a little needed moisture to offset the fact that brazils are drier than pine nuts.

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  6. ah, not chocolate liqueur... I ground up the jicama and decided to use vanilla to soak it in, instead of whatever that other ingredient was, since that's what I had... so now it's going to be chocolate vanilla brazil cones!

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  7. How fun to find this blog! I just bought a five hole pan, and your site popped up when I tried to find it. Thanks!

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  8. Glad you like my blog! I love sharing what I learn with others!

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