corn

Corn Along with cassava, corn is a key ingredient in several traditional Paraguayan dishes. Before learning the basics of corn, it is necessary to know some background information. Unlike popular belief, corn is a manmade plant, “a plant that does not exist naturally in the wild” (From). Corn is believed to have first been invented around seven thousand years ago in central Mexico. It came from an uncultivated grass called teosinte. Oddly, teosinte did not look like modern corn. It had little kernels that were separated, unlike kernels on an ear of corn today. Corn, also known as maize, became one of the main crops of Indians from North and South America. Corn was able to spread from Mexico to into the north to America and south into Peru. Corn was also brought to modern North America when around one thousand years ago, Indians traveled north to the eastern woodlands of modern day U.S.A. Without the discovery of corn by Mexican Indians, many Paraguayan dishes today would be bland and unpopular. The invention of corn influenced the idea of having different kinds of corn. In today’s modern world, the most popular kinds of corn are dent, flint, and sweet corn. Dent corn, also known as “field corn” is usually used to feed livestock (From). It is also the corn mainly used for producing industrial products and other varieties of food. Dent corn can be two colors: yellow or white. Flint corn, also called Indian corn, has a tough outer shell with kernels “with a range of colors from white to red” (From). Central and South America are the main producers of this corn today. Finally, sweet corn can be eaten in a variety of ways. While it is usually eaten straight from the cob, it can be frozen or canned, too. Feed and flour is created from sweet corn and unlike other corns, sweet corn earned its name because it has a larger amount of sugar than other types of corn (From). Although each type of corn can be eaten, there are many other uses for all kinds of corn. Corn was and still is a main crop of natives. Rather than being wasteful, natives used each part of the corn plant. Corn husks would be “braided and woven to make masks, moccasins, sleeping masks, baskets, or dolls” (From). Corncobs were used to make fuel, in games, and for ceremonial purposes (From). Corn is still creatively used in a variety of ways today. Cornstarch is used to strengthen clothing, animals eat corn, and corn syrup is used to sweeten several sodas. Those uses of corn are just the beginning of the long list of objects that corn influences. New inventions involving corn are being created every day and “our only limitation [on corn] is our own imagination” (From).

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