Our cornbread made with Blue Mesa Maize Cornmeal is moist, light and firm without crumbling. Remarkably there is no flour in this recipe. The good flavor of Blue Mesa Maize stands alone!

Blue Mesa Maize is being bred by Dave Christensen and grown by Charley Overbay for the its high antioxidant value contained in the color pigment of the seed.

The farm, located in semi-arid Big Sandy, MT, receives no synthetic fertilizers nor supplemental irrigation, yet the corn still produces grain with 13.9 % protein which is considerably higher than the commercial GMO dent corn average of 6-10% protein.

Dave’s breeding program of five varieties has been ongoing for almost 50 years. Their production is small and the corn is currently hand harvested, so it requires a community effort over several weeks to bring in the harvest. Conservation Grains has reserved the full 2024 harvest of Blue Mesa Maize. We’re pleased to be entrusted with this limited supply of Blue Mesa Maize for milling.

Dave’s breeding program, Charley’s stewardship, and Conservation Grains all share the belief that food is medicine.

(Please note that this is not a nixtamalized corn for making tortillas.)

Enjoy our recipes at home by clicking on the recipe card and Print the new page.

Have fun experimenting by adding ingredients to the basic cornbread recipe.

And here’s a tip: To remove the cornbread from the skillet, first let it cool, then rap one edge of the inverted skillet on a cutting board or other hard surface – it’ll pop right out.