Herb. No. 204 · Poaceae
Mexican domestication from teosinte; a world grain and an American summer cob.
Native · Mexico & Central America
Corn
Zea mays
Fruit & vegetableHarvestCompanions
Maize — the American grass that became a continent’s grain, and a sweet summer cob if you pick it the day the silk browns.
Maize is a Mesoamerican grass. Traditional use is as a grain (often nixtamalized with lime, which frees niacin) and as a fresh cob. Culinary sweet corn, cooked, is this plate. A pellagra history sits behind untreated field corn as a sole staple. Popcorn and dent corn are the same species in different clothes. Pick sweet corn the day it is ready; sugar turns to starch overnight.
Flavor
Milk and sugar when just picked. A day later it is field corn in a sweet jacket.
Parts used
Fresh kernels · Dried grain (nixtamalized or cooked as food)
Helpful
- A true summer event
- The Three Sisters crop
Cautions
- Racoon and earworm
- Sugar fades in hours
- Untreated field corn as a sole food has a deficiency history