Zea mays
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The corn (Zea mays) is an annual grass native to Mesoamerica. Its domestication began approximately twelve thousand years ago in the neovolcanic axis of Mexico, and it was introduced to Europe in the XVI century. It is known as corn or corn. It began to be cultivated in Spain at the beginning of the XVI century. It is currently the cereal with the largest volume of production worldwide, followed by wheat and rice.
Etymology
The word maíz enters Spanish as a loan (indigenism) from the Taíno voice mahís, which literally means 'what sustains life'. In the Andes It is also known as sara, a word in Quechua. Popularly, it is believed that the word "corn" comes from Nahuatl or Mexican. However, in this language it is known as centli or cintli, referring to the dried and cured ear.
History
Origin
Before, most historians believed that the domestication of corn took place in the valleys of Tehuacán (Puebla) and Oaxaca, in the so-called Neovolcanic Axis. based on archaeological remains of corn plants in the Municipality of Coxcatlán in the Tehuacán Valley, which —it is estimated— date back up to nine thousand years.
The Olmecs and Mayans cultivated numerous varieties of corn throughout Mesoamerica and prepared it by cooking, grinding, or processing it through nixtamalization.
For the Mayans, corn was the main thing in their ancient culture. It represented their daily livelihood and was even part of their mythology. In the Popol Vuh, corn is represented as a special sign for the indigenous Mesoamericans, and is considered the main material from which humans were built by the gods.
The region developed a trade network based on surpluses and varieties of maize crops. After European contact with the Americas, in the late 15th century and early XVI, explorers and traders brought corn back to Europe and thus it was introduced to other countries around the world.
Corn spread to the rest of the world due to its ability to grow in diverse climates. The varieties rich in sugar, called sweet corn, are generally grown for human consumption as grains, while the varieties of field corn are used for animal feed, the preparation of derivatives for human consumption (flour, dough, oil and, through fermentation, alcoholic beverages such as bourbon whiskey) and obtaining chemical products such as starch.
America
In Mexico they are called elotes; in Bolivia, choclo or also marlos; in Colombia and Venezuela, mazorca", "jojoto" or corn; and in Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile, choclo.
Europe
Corn was one of the species adopted by the European colonizers in America.
In Galicia and the Cantabrian coast, maize adapted very well to the local climate, and given the high yield of those crops (although these regions are not currently the ones with the highest maize production in Spain) their exploitation was It spread to all of Europe. This early adoption was most likely due to its similarity to European cereals (corn meant the disappearance of millet cultivation, for example, whose name it adopted in some places), unlike other plants, such as potatoes, which were strange and even suspicious. However, it was not important for the diet of Europeans until well into the 19th century.
We can say that the cultivation of corn was the cause and consequence of the Industrial Revolution in agriculture: corn increased the yield of the cultivated surface and allowed the stabling of the animals, which began to be fed with fodder, while they produced the manure needed to fertilize crops.
Since then, maize has been a very important part of both human and animal diets in Europe.
It is important to note that, although the cultivation of corn was introduced in Europe, the same did not happen with the process that made it more nutritious and suitable for human consumption: nixtamalization. Ignorance of this process in European popular culture triggered pellagra epidemics in those sectors of the population that had adopted corn as their staple food. This vicissitude, together with the fact that a small number of varieties were imported that were not the most suitable for human consumption, ended in the progressive disappearance of corn from popular gastronomic culture (although it is maintained in specific cases, such as pan de maize or the thallus of northern Spain and southwestern France). Currently, most of the production is dedicated to the preparation of industrial food for human consumption, and the preparation of animal feed.
Description
Root
The plant has two types of roots. The primaries are fibrous and also present adventitious roots, which are born in the first nodes above the soil surface. Both have the mission of keeping the plant erect; however, due to its large mass of superficial roots, it is susceptible to drought and falls due to strong winds (acame), and intolerant of soils deficient in nutrients.
Requires a physiological depth of between 60 to 80 cm of soil.
Stem
The stem is made up of three layers: an outer, impermeable and transparent epidermis, a wall through which the food substances circulate, and a spongy tissue medulla and white where it stores food reserves, especially sugars.
Leaves
The leaves take an elongated shape closely wrapped around the stem, from which the spikes or cobs grow. Each cob consists of a trunk or cob that is covered by rows of kernels, the edible part of the plant.
Inflorescence
It is a monoecious plant with unisexual flowers; its male and female inflorescences are well differentiated on the same plant:
- Male inflorescence is terminal and is known as particle, Panoja, Aah! and miahuatl in nahuatl, composed of a central axis or rakes and lateral branches; along the central axis are distributed the pairs of speciguillas in a political form and in the branches in a distic arrangement, and each spike is protected by two bracts or glumes, which in turn contain the flowers in a paired form; in each small part of the particle there are three stamens.
- The female inflorescences, the Pricks, they are located in the axillary buds of the leaves; they are cylindrical spikes that consist of a central raquis or olote where the spikes are inserted by pairs, each sprig with two peppered flowers, a fertile and another abortive, which are arranged in parallel rows. Pystilated flowers have a unique ovary with a pedicel attached to the rake, a very long style with estigmatic properties where pollen germinates.
Grains
In the ear, each grain or seed is an independent fruit called a caryopsis that is inserted into the cylindrical rachis or cob; the amount of kernel produced per ear is limited by the number of kernels per row and number of rows per ear.
Genetics
Maize remains an important model organism for genetics and developmental biology.
There is a hub for corn mutations, the US Department of Agriculture-funded Corn Genetic Cooperation Stock Center, located in the Department of Crop Sciences, at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. It has a collection of about eighty thousand samples. The core of that collection consists of several hundred named genes, plus additional gene combinations and other significant variants. There are about a thousand chromosome somatic aberrations (eg, translocations, inversions) and samples with abnormal chromosome numbers (eg, tetraploids). The descriptive genetic data of the mutant maize samples possess myriad other information about their genetics, and can be viewed in the MaizeGDB: Maize Genetics and Genomics database.
In 2005, the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the USDA Department of Agriculture, and the State Department of Energy (DOE) formed a consortium to sequence the maize genome. The resulting DNA sequence data was immediately deposited in GenBank, a repository for genomic sequence data. Maize genome sequencing has been considered difficult due to its large size and complex genetic arrangements. Your genome has 50,000-60,000 genes between 2.5 billion bases—molecules that make up the structure of your DNA—that make up your 10 pairs of chromosomes (for comparison, the human genome contains about 2.9 billion bases and 26,000 genes).).
The complete genome sequence of maize was announced on February 26, 2008. The only other crop plant whose complete genome had been obtained up to that time is rice.
Chromosome number
It has 10 pairs of chromosomes (2n = 20). Their combined length is 1500 cM. Some of their chromosomes are highly repeated, in heterochromatic domains that produce dark-grained breeds. Those individual "alterations" are polymorphic between both maize and teosinte races. Barbara McClintock has used these alterations as markers to test her "jumping gene" transposon theory, for which she won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Physiology
It is a plant of long nights and flowers with a certain number of days degrees > 10 °C (50 °F) in the environment to which it adapted. Such a magnitude of long-night influence means that the number of days that must elapse before flowering is genetically prescribed and regulated by the phytochrome-system.
Photoperiodicity can be eccentric in tropical cultivars, while the long days (short nights) of high latitudes allow plants to grow so high that they don't have enough time to produce seeds before being killed by frost. Those attributes, however, can be very useful for using tropical maize in biofuels.
Cultivation
Currently corn is planted in all Latin American countries. This constitutes, along with beans, squash and chili, a fundamental food throughout the Americas. The productivity of Central and South American maize is, however, much lower than that of the United States, which is based on the ecological and, above all, climatic characteristics, which differentiate the two production areas.
Corn is a very fast-growing cereal, but it needs an abundant supply of insolation, much greater in the Corn Belt, where summer nights are very short, than in the Latin American equinoctial zones. Also in European countries a large amount of maize is cultivated for food purposes for stabled cattle. Its human consumption never became widespread: the saying for lack of bread, good cakes are refers to the situation in Spain during the Civil War, when some Latin American countries (Mexico, in particular) sent large amounts of corn to the republican zone to make up for the lack of wheat flour.
The crop is divided into: stage I sowing-emergence, stage II emergence-panicle, stage III panicle-spike, and stage IV spike-ripening. Seedling emergence is the appearance of the seedling above the soil surface. The next stage is the emergence of two complete leaves; then is the stage in which the panicle is observed without the help of the farmer. Last is the stage in which the stigmas are observed eight to ten days after stage III. After approximately five days the emergence of the coleoptile is observed, after 12 days the emergence of the second leaf is observed. Later, between 16 and 22 leaves will be produced until at 55 days the last branch of the panicle is observed, then at 60 days the emergence of the stigmas is observed and the ear develops. The corn cycle lasts between 215 and 270 days. Vegetative development lasts approximately 60 days while it takes another 60 days to reach flowering.
Production systems
Corn is a summer crop grown in both hemispheres. In the Southern Hemisphere, the planting window is from September to January and the harvest is between March and August, this depends on the rainy season and the time when frosts begin, in each region. In the Northern Hemisphere it is sown in April and May and harvested in September or October.
Hybrid corn
Corn is sown with hybrid seeds marketed by seedbeds. Said seed, being a hybrid, has unique genes and qualities as it is the product of the fertilization of a male plant and a female corn plant. When a maize crop originating from hybrid seeds is harvested, its seeds cannot be used again for sowing because they will not have the same qualities. This generates that every year seeds must be bought to sow.
The cornfield
It is constituted as an agroecosystem of popular crops among peasants, where corn, beans, squash and sometimes chili are sown alternately, which creates a crop dynamics. The milpa is a cultural legacy of the Mesoamerican settlers that was relegated by the organized production systems promoted by the green revolution.
Conventional production model
Planting dates are in August or September in the southern hemisphere. When sowing in direct sowing, 60,000 to 70,000 seeds per hectare should be implanted. The grooves are located at 52 cm or 70 cm.
When planting, the soil is also fertilized with diammonium phosphate, which provides phosphorus and nitrogen. Phosphorus is a nutrient that many crops need at the time of emergence, which is why this type of fertilizer is called "starter".
When the corn reaches a height of 15 to 20 cm and 2 to 3 leaves, it is fertilized again with granulated urea or UAN. Granulated urea is the fertilizer that provides the highest nitrogen content to the soil. In Argentina it is produced only in Bahía Blanca by the company Profertil. In the case of UAN (acronym in English that means Urea Amonium Nitrate) it is a liquid fertilizer. It is fertilized at that time because the plant is at its optimal point to take advantage of the fertilizer.
Within the production systems there are two aspects: rainfed or rainfed and irrigated. The seasonal system consists of sowing the seed at specific times of the year, that is, in the rainy season; the farmer must adapt to climatic conditions to obtain benefits. On the other hand, within the irrigation system, the farmer will be able to cultivate when he deems convenient, since unlike the rainfed cultivation system, it has land that is located near a water supply and generally this can be controlled by man.
Nutrition and hygiene
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In 2007, scientists from the Center for the Development of Biotic Products of the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico discovered that the variety, called purple or blue corn because of the color of its grains, has less starch and a lower glycemic index (GI) than the varieties most frequently consumed on that date; the lower level of starch can make blue corn unsuitable for preparing dishes such as locro and even polenta, however it seems to be excellent for tortillas, flakes and popcorn since it provides fewer calories which makes it ideal for diets to lose weight or to prevent the effects of diabetes, on the other hand, this blue corn has such a color due to the presence of anthocyanins (compounds that are also found in blue and purple fruits or in red wine), anthocyanins are considered as antioxidants.
Although corn is a food very rich in nutrients (to the point that it was considered the main vegetable food among the Quechuas and has significant participation in Mesoamerican mythology —c.fr.: the Popol Vuh—), its consumption as As the only food, it can cause serious health problems: certain forms of anemia and, if corn is not consumed nixtamalized (as has been the custom in the American continent for thousands of years), especially pellagra. See, on the page about flour, some bibliographical notes regarding nixtamalization.
Also (as in other foods) precaution must be taken to avoid contamination with parasitic fungi, since mycotoxins affect human health.
Food consumption
The main use of corn is food. It can be cooked whole, shelled (as an ingredient in salads, soups and other meals). Cornmeal (polenta) can be cooked on its own or used as an ingredient in other recipes. Corn oil is one of the cheapest and is widely used for frying food. For Latin American cultures, corn dough-based products substitute for wheat bread.
The map below shows the per capita corn consumption rate worldwide; as seen on the map Mexico, Guatemala, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho and Malawi top the list of major corn consumers.
Mexico's dependence on corn as a food base is significant, and it is due to the fact that since pre-Columbian times it was the base of food, along with cocoa, chili peppers and squash.
In Latin American cuisine it has an important participation in various dishes such as: tortillas and various dishes made with them such as arepas, tacos, enchiladas, itacates, chilaquiles and quesadillas; locros, cuchuco soup, corn or chocolo, corn soup, Paraguayan soup, cachapas, hallacas, hallaquitas, sopes, gorditas, tlacoyos, tlayudas, huaraches, molotes, esquites, tamales and humitas. (See also: "Ibero-American gastronomies" in the Gastronomy article).
It is also the main ingredient in arepas, an emblematic dish in the gastronomy of Colombia and Venezuela, and also very popular in Ecuador and Panama.
Fried corn is a recent product being sold under various brand names as an alternative to potato chips or peanuts. Other applications include tostadas (a semi-flat tortilla on which vegetables and stews based on chicken, shredded meat or cebiche are added), snacks of the Frito Lay type, and corn flakes for the company's breakfast American Kellogg's (Corn Flakes and Zucaritas).
A hot corn-based drink is atole, almost always made with flour or corn dough. A cool drink is the tejuino, common in western Mexico. The fermented drink or chicha is part of the aboriginal tradition in many Latin American countries (in Venezuela it is known as Andean chicha since in this country the chicha itself is a drink made from rice). In the latter country, there is also a thick corn-based drink that is not fermented, known as carato de maíz.
There is a variety distributed throughout the Central Andes (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) called purple corn, with which a non-alcoholic drink known as chicha morada is made. Api, a typical drink of the Andean highlands, is also made with the same type of corn.
Depending on the variety of corn and the temperature in which it grows, the quality of corn oil varies; in fact, corn that grows at lower temperatures have more unsaturated oils of the oleic type than those that grow in tropical zones. In Mexico there are about 600 varieties, the best quality ones come from cold regions.
In the 1860s, W. K. Kellogg began making a small paste made from whole wheat flour, oats, and corn. He made small pieces and roasted them in an oven to later package them. This was the beginning of corn flakes known as corn flakes or cereal flakes. Sugars and other components were added to the original formula and later flakes were made exclusively from corn.
In the Canary Islands, the millo is used to make an unsifted flour called frangollo used in a food preparation that bears the same name. Its appearance is similar to that of white flour but with a darker or yellowish tone, depending on the variety used. Gofio is also made from the toasted and ground seeds, which is used in an endless number of foods or consumed directly after being mixed with water, milk or honey.
In Panama, corn is consumed in various ways, such as tamales, buns and a soft drink called chicheme, made with cooked corn, water, sugar, cinnamon and milk, which can be consumed hot or cold.
In El Salvador it is one of the main foods, with which one of the typical popular meals called Pupusa is prepared, and consists of a tortilla stuffed with fried ground beans, cheese and ground pork rinds.
Puffed corn (with hot air) and sweetened, are known in Argentina as tutuca, and in Bolivia and Peru, where it originates, as pasankalla, not to be confused with popcorn, which is called popcorn, pororó or pururú (from Quechua) and are prepared with a different variety of corn.
Nutritional value
Although corn is a food very rich in nutrients, to the point that it was considered the main vegetable food among the Quechuas and has a marked participation in Mesoamerican mythology —c.fr.: the Popol Vuh—, the chemical composition of corn corn grain is affected by the genotype, environment and planting conditions. On average, the protein content is 10% and more than 60% are prolamins (zeins).
They have a very low content of essential amino acids, such as lysine, tryptophan and isoleucine, which causes the biological value of the protein to be low and of poor nutritional quality. This motivated plant breeders to obtain new materials with a better nutritional message.
In 2007, scientists from the Center for the Development of Biotic Products of the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico discovered that blue corn, a variety named for the color of its grains, has less starch and a lower glycemic index (GI) than most frequently consumed varieties up to that date. The lower starch content may make blue corn unsuitable for preparing dishes such as locro and even polenta, but it seems to be excellent for making tortillas, flakes and popcorn, since it provides fewer calories, which which makes it ideal for food and, above all, to prevent conditions such as diabetes. On the other hand, the color of blue corn is due to the presence of anthocyanins (compounds considered antioxidants that are also found in blue and purple fruits or in red wine).
Similarity to wheat proteins and role in the gluten-free diet
Corn is one of the most consumed grains in the gluten-free diet, as a substitute for gluten-containing grains.
However, there are similarities between the prolamins in corn —zeins— and those in wheat —gliadins—, which can trigger immune reactions in some people with celiac disease.
Despite the low zein content in corn-based foods compared to gliadin in wheat-containing foods, corn appears to be responsible for the persistence of intestinal mucosal damage in a limited subset of patients with the disease. celiac disease, because both the innate and adaptive responses against zeins are similar to those against gliadins. Therefore, zeins could be classified as harmful for a small part of celiac patients, especially those who show a poor response to a gluten-free diet.
The confirmation that zeins play a role in the pathogenesis of celiac disease is useful information for the follow-up of some celiac patients who do not respond to a gluten-free diet. It is estimated that approximately 10-18% of these cases present refractory celiac disease, which implies a more serious condition, with a clear propensity to develop malignancy and a less favorable prognosis, with possible development of problems due to malabsorption, osteoporosis and various autoimmune diseases. The removal of corn from the diet in some cases that do not respond to a gluten-free diet allows control of the disease, with disappearance of symptoms and recovery of damage to the intestinal mucosa.
Gastronomy
Argentina
It is important in the gastronomy of Argentina, especially in the region of the northwest and Cuyo. Some of the traditional dishes made with corn are locro, humita, tamale and polenta.
Bolivia
Corn is widely used in Bolivian cuisine. The different breeds are used in various dishes. To make the api, the "Kulli", "Morochillo" breeds are commonly used, which stand out for having a purple coloration. As for chicha, the most commonly used corn breeds are "Hualtaco", "Morocho 8 Hileras", "Kellu", "Huillcaparu", "Ayzuma", "Morocho Grande", "Chuspillo", "Colorado" among other. Commonly, typical dishes such as the plato paceño and the picana use an ear of corn from the "Hualtaco", "Aperlado" or "White". Other widely consumed dishes in Bolivian territory are huminta and tamale, made mainly with the "Hualtaco", "Blando Cruceño" and "Bayo".
On the other hand, some appetizers such as pasankalla are only made with a specific breed of corn "Pisankalla", while other dishes such as lagua can be made from more than ten breeds of corn. All these gastronomic preparations highlight the importance of the diversity of maize in Bolivia.
Chile
The use of corn in Chilean gastronomy is less common than in the rest of the American countries. However, dishes such as humitas can be prepared and together with the beans to prepare pomegranate beans with mazamorra and with pilco, it is also an ingredient in the Cazuela. It is also used in corn cake. It can even be part of some complete ones.
Columbia
They prepare arepas, arepa de corn, buns, shelled chuzos, bread, empanadas, cakes, wraps, crispetas, corn fritters, custard, chicha, soups (such as sancocho and Santanderean mute), tamales, ayacas, locro and drinks such as peto, cuchuco, champús, masato and chicheme. The boiled tender cob is also eaten, which can be later roasted, alone or with butter and salt. Arepas, buns, tamales, ayacas, and empanadas are prepared with industrially obtained dry corn flour, among others.
Pickled tender corn kernels are used as an ingredient in rice dishes and salads.
Costa Rica
It is an important product in the kitchen of Costa Rica, especially in the province of Guanacaste, although its consumption is occasional throughout the country manifested in dishes such as tortillas, empanadas, Christmas tamales, pozol, cornbread, polenta, corn with butter, roasted tamales, chorreadas, popcorn, mazamorra, corn cream and various pastries; or ingredient of the pot of meat, rice, picadillos, meatballs, salads and atoles, for which it has been declared a Costa Rican cultural and natural heritage. Even, in some regions or as an ancestral practice, drinks made with this grain survive such as pinoles, chichas and chicheme.
In Guanacaste this product is the main gastronomic pillar, the result of a strong diet of Mesoamerican heritage, with autochthonous dishes from the region that constitute a differentiated culinary heritage: cosposas, chilote mincemeat, pequerreques, tanelas, fritters, tamales and atoles all types.
Ecuador
It is used in many traditional preparations. Corn (ripe, tender or in flour) is the main ingredient in recipes such as tamale, humita, quimbolito, chigüil, corn, toasted, mote, mote pillo, mote sucio, mote pata, corn tortillas, corn tortillas, chicha, drink of morocho, colada morada, shampoos, rosero, delicatessen, fritters, among others.
El Salvador
It is widely used in its artisan gastronomy and above all, in towns where indigenous roots are deeply rooted. Corn as the main ingredient is used in typical dishes such as pupusas, riguas, tamales, atoles, corn cakes, tortillas, and in many of the typical preparations such as patas soup, beef soup, and bean soup. In the capital and many other cities in El Salvador, "elote loco" is a very common preparation in Salvadoran gastronomy.
Honduras
Corn is consumed in most Honduran homes, preparing it in various ways. Tortillas cannot be missing at breakfast, lunch and dinner, corn tamales, montucas, riguas, corn fritters, ticucos, nacatamales, bean tamales, travel tamales, among others, are also prepared. Delicious drinks are prepared: corn atol, pozol, chilate, pinol, cususa.
Mexico
The uses of corn can be classified depending on whether corn dough, fresh corn called elote, or dry corn is used for its preparation.
Corn dough is used to make tortillas, which are in turn used in many dishes, such as tacos, enchiladas, burritos, chilaquiles, quesadillas, tortilla soup, flautas, tortilla chips, tostadas, papadzules, and countless others. cymbals. The dough is also used to make sopes, tlacoyos, huaraches, tamales, gorditas, picaditas, fried foods and other types of tortillas such as tlayudas.
Corn dough is also used as the main ingredient of atole, a typical drink made with corn dough and water or milk, sweetened and with condiments, spices or fruits.
Fresh corn, called elote, is eaten roasted or boiled, and it is used to make esquites, tlaxcales, corn soup, and corn tamales. It is also used as a garnish and as an ingredient in other dishes such as rice in some variants and some salads.
Cornmeal is used to make atole, cookies, bread, and corn pies.
The dried corn is used to prepare pozole, pinole and pozol and to ferment the Pox.
In Latin America, it is customary to eat corn on the cob cooked in water, from which two different dishes are derived in Mexico, one is esquites and the other is pozole. Depending on the region and individual taste, a combination of various ingredients can be added to the esquites, including salt, lemon, chili powder, grated cheese, cream, and mayonnaise. Pozole, on the other hand, is a traditional dish to which different types of meat can be added and is characterized by having a grain of corn considerably larger than that of the esquites, called cacahuazintle (or cacahuacintle), which in Nahuatl means 'cocoa corn' (cacawa[tl] + sentli), referring to the size of the grain.
Nicaragua
It is a fundamental element of gastronomy and can be found in different ways in a wide variety of foods. It is a very important product in the Nicaraguan diet, consumed by 80 percent of the population in the form of a tortilla and representing about 29 percent of the dietary energy of a Nicaraguan.
Among the diversity of foods derived from corn are the following: tamale, atol, güirila (a kind of tortilla made from tender corn), tortilla, nacatamal, masa tamale, pizque tamale, meatballs, fritters, perrerreque, donuts, puff pastry, old ladies, Jinotegan pupusas, yoltamal, montuca, yoltasca, popcorn.
In the same way, a diverse amount of typical drinks are derived from corn, such as: pinol, pinolillo, tiste, tibio, pozol, chingue, ciliano, chicha, cususa, corn hair, corn coffee, tata pinol.
They also cook very typical dishes that are based on corn such as old Indian and cheese soup. Mixtures such as sardine cake, meatball soup, iguana pinol, deer pinol, tail pinol, chanfaina, ajiaco, pork head, corn soup, enchiladas, turtle, marol, picadillos, tacos, fake tongue, and pebre.
The culture of corn consumption is such that one of the nicknames most used to refer to Nicaraguans is “pinolero” (derived from the traditional Nicaraguan drink called pinolillo) and it appears in emblematic popular songs such as “Nicaragua Mía” by Tino Lopez Guerra.
In addition, miraculous properties have been attributed to the grain, which is why it is used in many festivals, both to celebrate and to heal. For example, the “warm” (hot corn-based drink) is recommended to women who have just given birth so that they “lower their milk” and chicha is the quintessential drink in La Purísima.
In addition to that, corn has its representative in Nicaragua in Xilonem, the "Goddess of Tender Corn", which is commemorated with a fair and elections of queens in the municipality of Jalapa, department of Nueva Segovia, place where the lands They are very kind and grain production is one of the largest recorded in the country.
In popular culture, corn is featured prominently in a particular Nicaraguan song called "Somos hijos del Maíz" by Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy. This piece was born in 1980 as a result of the economic blockade of the United States against Nicaragua as a campaign to replace wheat with corn. It also sought to moralize the population and recover a partially lost national identity.
Panama
Corn makes up 40% of daily consumption, mainly in the central provinces, it is consumed in dishes such as changa, corn torrejitas, serén, chicheme, tortillas, buns, and in the preparation of corn drinks.
Paraguayan
It is the main ingredient for typical national meals: Paraguayan soup and chipa guasú.
Peru
In simi runa (Quechua language) it is called Sara (to the grain) and Sara sara (to the cob, group of grains). It is widely used in various preparations such as kamcha (cancha or toasted corn), mote (cooked corn), aqa (chicha de jora), saralawa (corn cream), api (purple corn porridge), humint'a (sweet and salty), corn cake (sweet and salty), api with sopaipilla, chicha morada (corn drink), charquicán, locro (loqro) and polenta.[citation needed]
Uruguay
Corn flour is common to prepare polenta with tuco and give the characteristic crust to Marseille bread. The cornmeal is toasted to prepare the characteristic gofio of the department of Canelones. Hard corn grains are boiled to prepare mazamorra. Sweet corn or corn is part of the stew, the buseca and various stews, shelled is used as a filling for cannelloni, crumb sandwiches, salty cakes and empanadas. Cornstarch alfajores are prepared with the starch. The dried corn beard is used as a substitute for tobacco and the chala is used as a blade for naco or criollo tobacco.
Venezuelan
It plays an important role in the gastronomy of Venezuela, since traditional dishes such as arepas, empanadas, cachapas, hallacas, hallaquitas are obtained from it. The tender corn on the cob (jojoto) is also eaten boiled either alone or spread with butter or margarine. Sweets such as mazamorra, majarete, chivato, etc. are prepared, as well as drinks such as carato (thick) and Andean chicha (fermented, not to be confused with chicha creole). The aforementioned dishes are prepared with dry corn flour, popularly known as PAN flour (even though there are other brands) (except for cachapas, which are made with sweet corn). When this flour is toasted, a product called fororo is obtained.
Huitlacoche
A highly appreciated gastronomic delicacy can be obtained from corn, mainly in central Mexico. In the summer, the high humidity of the plots where the milpa is planted favors the appearance of various species of fungi, including the so-called huitlacoche. It is the basidiomycete fungus called Ustilago maydis, which forms globose growths on various parts of the corn plant, particularly on the corn. This disease in the corn crop is commonly known as corn smut, and in Mexico it is called huitlacoche or cuitlacoche, terms that They come from pre-Hispanic words from the Mexica culture, which mean 'crow excrement'. It was also known as popoyotl, which means 'burnt corn'. The growths are filled with a powdery mass of black spores, and each gall can produce as many as 200 trillion spores. These ears will not produce usable corn, but just before the buds burst and release the spores, the farmers cut them off. With a knife the tender grains and the fungus mass that imprisons them are separated, and they are combined with squash or chilacayote flowers, with chopped onion, chili and epazote leaves. This mixture is fried in oil or lard and wrapped with corn dough. These huitlacoche quesadillas are grilled on a griddle and served hot. The huitlacoche thus prepared is also consumed in tacos. This dish is in season and is scarce in some places, which is why its price rises, but it can still be found in the public markets surrounding the corn planted areas in central and southern Mexico.
Popcorn
Popcorn, called corn popcorn in other countries, is a sweet made with a special variety of corn: Zea mays everta, whose kernels explode when heated because they have a hard shell that seals moisture inside, as well as a starchy filling. As it heats up, the pressure in the center builds up until it violently ruptures the shell.
Popcorn was a staple food of the Native American Indians and was a novelty to early explorers of the New World. Amazed, Christopher Columbus and his crew bought popcorn necklaces from Caribbean natives.
In 1519, when Hernán Cortés arrived in what is now Mexico City, he found that the Aztecs wore amulets made up of a necklace of popcorn that they used in religious ceremonies.
Forms of preparation
- In the centuryXVI
Indians prepared popcorn in three ways. The first consisted of threading an ear of corn onto a stick and toasting it over a fire, collecting the kernels that exploded and fell off. The second consisted of separating the grains from the cob and throwing them directly into the fire, eating those that exploded. The last and most complicated one consisted of heating a shallow clay pot, which contained coarse-grained sand, and when the sand reached a high temperature, the kernels of corn, shelled from the cob, were placed on it, which when cooked exploded in the surface.
- Today
The first electric popcorn maker in the United States appeared in stores in 1907, but it was in 1947 when popcorn was already sold in 85 percent of theaters. [citation required]
Transgenic corn
Debate on the use of transgenic maize
In recent times there has been a huge public debate about the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The most mentioned case was stimulated by the Mexican-American researcher Ignacio Chapela when he published an article in the renowned Nature magazine alerting about the danger of contamination of Mexican native corn by cross-pollination with other transgenic corn; At the time, he exposed the danger that this represents for the food security of the so-called center of origin of corn.
RR or glyphosate resistant corn
In several countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, the United States and others) varieties of maize seeds resistant to the herbicide glyphosate are commercialized. This has made it possible to combat weeds that strongly compete with the development of maize, such as Aleppo sorghum.
The seed used to sow corn has undergone numerous changes and innovations in recent decades. Companies like Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemical and others have invested in and developed corn varieties with various qualities such as resistance to pests or resistance to the herbicide glyphosate.
Other uses
Cultural uses
The dried corn leaf (called totomoxtle) serves as a fiber for fabrics, from which baskets, hats, bags, and rugs are produced. The artisans also produce artificial flowers, crowns, dolls with hand-painted corn leaves. The same dry leaf can be included in the dry matter of the compost, or as smoking paper.
Elotes, or shelled ears of corn, are used for decorative purposes and for handicrafts.The corn husk is also used as a wrapper to prepare humitas and tamales. The leaves are used fresh or dried, depending on the type of humita (sweet or salty) and tamale.
Biomaterial
It has uses as a biofuel, since it is made from the remains of anhydrous alcohol that, mixed with gasoline, is used as fuel. On the other hand, corn contains a biofuel derived from bioethanol, it is ETBE (ethyl-tert-butyl-ether), characterized by being easily mixed with gasoline, it is added to it to increase the octane number, thus avoiding the addition of organic lead salts. Corn alcohol has a lower environmental impact and reduces the CO2 emitted by 75% compared to naphtha.
When zein, or corn protein, is combined with a plasticizer under the right conditions, it can form polymers such as edible film, photographic film, microspheres, and chewing gum.
At the beginning of 2003, the DuPont company presented the first polymer obtained from corn; This bioplastic is marketed as Sorona® and it is intended to replace petroleum as a source of polymers with a renewable resource for the manufacture of textile fibers.
Economic statistics
Production
| Main corn producers - 2018 (in tonnes produced) | |
|---|---|
 United States | 392 450 840 |
China China | 257 173 900 |
Brazil Brazil | 82 288 298 |
 Argentina | 43 462 323 |
Ukraine Ukraine | 35 801 050 |
 India | 30 253 938 |
Indonesia Indonesia | 27 820 000 |
Mexico Mexico | 27 169 977 |
Romania Romania | 18 663 939 |
Canada Canada | 13 884 800 |
| Global total | 1.147 621 934 |
The world production of these seeds reached 883 million tons in 2011 and practically the same the previous year. Compared with the 704 million tons of wheat or the 723 million tons of rice, the basic importance of corn worldwide is understood, not only economically but at all levels. These data can be consulted in the statistics of the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization, a division of the UN).
However, it must be considered that human consumption throughout the world is much lower than that of wheat, not because of its quality as a cereal but because corn is a fundamental food for animals, especially pigs, and it is also basic in the production of edible oil and even ethanol. In fact, the so-called Corn Belt in the United States is the most important meat production region in the world, together with the southeast of Brazil, whose sow livestock is the most important in the world by value of its export and is based on the rich production of Brazilian corn, as feed for cattle. It is estimated that for every kilo of meat produced, 7 kg of corn is needed to feed cattle.
The United States is the largest producer with 30% of the world's total production, followed by China with more than 20%. Productivity can be significantly higher in certain regions of the world, for example, in 2009 the yield in Iowa was 11,614 kg/ha. Likewise, in 2002 the genetic potential for yield continues to increase as in the last 35 years.
Terminology
Etymology
Zea would be a word of Greek origin, derived from zeiá which means cereal. But Pliny the Elder (Naturalis historia, 18, 81) uses the term Zĕa, æ to refer to Triticum spelta (spelled, also known as escaña mayor or spelled).
Common names
The Taíno Indians of the Caribbean called this plant mahis, which literally means 'that which sustains life'. It is also known as sara sara or choclo (from Quechua), millo (from Latin milĭum), aba (of Muisca origin) and centli or cintli (of Nahuatl origin).
Depending on the country, region and culture, Zea mays also receives other names in Spanish: danza, millo, millet, oroña, panizo or borona, in Spain, and elote, aba , jojoto, sara sara or zara zara, in Latin America.
It is noteworthy that, like many other plants, the fruits (in this case, the ear) sometimes receive a different name from the plant that produces them.
- In the southeast of Spain, the mazorca is called "panocha", the trunk "jopo" and the leaves "perfollas".
- In the Canary Islands the plant is called "millo", word taken from Portuguese (milho), and the corn scrub is called "piña de millo".
- In Colombia, the plant and the fruit are called "maize", and "mazorca" to the spike with the grains. The heart of the mazorca without grains is called "tusa". The tender corn is known as "choclo" or "colo" in the south of the country and the high and medium basin of the Cauca River. Recently, in some parts of the eastern mountain range he has been renamed “aba”.
- In several countries of South America, the mazorca receives the name "sara sara" or "choclo" (of the Quechua Chuqllu, tender corn) and grains simply “sara”.
- In part of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina (since they belonged to the Empire of the Incas) to the mazorca is called sara sara (plural of sara, referring to the mazorca formed by many grains), choclor, to the grains mote (when cooked) or choclola, to the mazorca without grains is called choclonta (in Argentina: marlore). In Ecuador the mazorca without grains is also known as tua and tender corn is called choclo.
- In Mexico and Central America, "maize" is used to designate the plant and in some areas to the grain, but the corns and grains are named after the plant. elote, that comes from the name Nahuatl elotl,while the mazorcas without grain are called Olote. The tender, immature mazorca is known as jilote, of the Nahuatl xilotl. Another important vocablo nahua to refer to both the plant and the mazorca is centli, for example, within the word Cacahuazintle, which refers to corn of big grains, like cocoa. To talk about the loose grain, the word is used tlayoli (variant Tlaōlli), still of common use in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, where it is tied to numerous indigenous myths and legends.
- In Paraguay, the Guaranític nations call it avatiand, to the fried corn avati pororo. According to the RAE, I went down or avated.
- In Venezuela he received the name of "maíz" the set of plant and fruit, in addition to "joto" which is the tender mazorca, with which traditional dishes of Venezuelan gastronomy are made, such as arepa and cachapa, among others. For its part, the mazorca without grains is called "tusa". When the corn is mature (but not completely dry) it is said to be Shot..
Each American culture, in its respective language, called and continues to call corn differently:
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Spanish | corn |
| Nahuatl | cintli |
| Maya | ixi'im |
| Mixteco | nuni |
| Tsotsil | ajan |
| Purepecha | tsiri |
| Tlapaneco | I said |
| Chol | ixim |
| Zoque | øjksi |
| Otomí | dëtha |
| Mazahua | trjöö |
| Quechua | sara |
| Guaraní | avati |
| Aymara | Tunqu |
| Muisca | aba |
Heraldry
Escudo de Colombia
Escudo del municipio de Madrid (Colombia)
Escudo del Municipio de Chiquinquirá, Colombia
Escudo del Municipio de Sonsón, Colombia
Escudo del Estado de Morelos, Mexico
Escudo del Estado de Nayarit, Mexico
Shield of Manabi Province, Ecuador
Escudo del Estado de Sucre, Ecuador
Escudo del Departamento de La Libertad, Peru
