Cascade Ruby-Gold Flint Corn
Early and resilient dry corn with fantastic flavor for polenta, cornmeal, and cereal. Bred by Carol Deppe, and described in her wonderful book, The Resilient Gardener. Here is her description:
"Very early corn. Sister Variety to Cascade Creamcap Flint. A very early, productive true flint corn superb for cornbread, jonny cakes, and polenta. Plants 5 ½ feet high with 1 to 3 ears per stalk depending upon spacing and soil fertility. Ears 8-12” long with 8-12 rows of big seeds on a medium-narrow cob that dries down easily. Single stalk or multiple stalks and 1 – 3 ears depending upon spacing and soil fertility. Good husk coverage for protection against birds and corn earworms. Very vigorous. Does well even in downright cold summers with cold nights through the summer. Did well even on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in the unusually cold summer of 2011. Extends range of corn as a practical homestead staple to farther north in Canada than has otherwise been possible. Produces solid-colored ears of several colors—red, red-brown, dark red, orange-gold, maple-gold, gold, and yellow. Interior kernel color is gold. Each color of ear produces a different flavor of cornbread. The red shades make a rich-flavored cornbread; the yellow shades make a mild-flavored cornbread. Both make great polenta and jonny cakes. Recipes for cornbread, jonny cakes, and polenta made with this corn can be found in The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-reliance in Uncertain Times. Although bred primarily to be gourmet-quality food, Cascade Ruby-Gold Flint also makes a great ornamental corn. I bred this corn to be the ultimate survival crop, the variety and crop you would choose if you could have only one variety to get you through good times and bad. Bred by crossing Roy’s Calais flint (aka Abenaki) with Byron flint and selecting from there. Compared with Roy’s Calais, CRG is equally early, more vigorous, more productive, has bigger ears with better husk coverage, is 8-12 row instead of only 8, has more ear colors, has gold instead of pale yellow interior color, and the yellow ears are gold instead of pale yellow. Bred by Carol Deppe", This is an OSSI-pledged open source variety.