Last week I met an Amish man at the health expo, an interesting fellow, by the name of Burt Stutzman of “Stutzman Manufacturing” in Fryburg, Ohio. After talking with him for a few minutes I discovered that I had met his brother, Monroe, a few weeks earlier. Monroe is the owner of “Stutzman Farms”, a local company (also in Fryburg) that makes a variety of organic, grain-based products from spelt and corn. Of particular interest to me is the “puffed” corn and spelt that Monroe produces using a somewhat sophisticated piece of machinery called a “puffer”. I had heard this machine described as being somewhat like a cannon (that’s cannon as in loud, powerful gun). Several weeks earlier I had made a trip to Stutzman Farms because I had eaten some of their delicious honey corn puffs and wanted to see where I could get some more. So that’s why and where I met Monroe. He was gracious and showed me his milling operation and explained to me the various products that he produces. He also told me about another of his brothers, Arlie, owner of “Ice Shanty Cheese” who makes cheese from 100% grass fed cow’s milk. I was glad when he sent a small sample of the cheese home with me because I love cheese. It was delicious.
At the show when I was talking to Burt I discovered that he, Burt, had designed and manufactured a newer and better model of the “puffer”. Curiosity got the best of me this week so today I went over to chat with Monroe and to see if I could get a glimpse of the puffer in action. Sure enough the newer unit that Burt had made was installed and operating smoothly. After watching the puffer in action for about 10 minutes processing time I discovered why they say it’s like a cannon. Monroe, with his ear muffs on, told me to hold my ears, which I promptly did and then BOOM! A loud explosion and all kinds of dust from the hot, now ejected, corn kernels which had magically turned into puffs. It was fun to watch and educational to see how corn puffs are made, the Amish way. Sometime soon I hope to connect up with Burt again, the Amish engineer and manufacturer of the “puffer”.