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It grows with no irrigation, plowing, or insect spray. When the Hopi dig their corn, they consider the digging stick sacred. They are not digging with it for themselves—they are planting for the world. A sacred thought, and indeed corn has spread through the entire world adapting to climate, elevation, soil type, and water. It is the “grain of the gods.” From a tough, hard, glossy covered grass seed growing in a short singular row of grain that would break your teeth to eat it—that early grass has become a multi-rowed ear of fifty to one hundred kernels on some varieties— to the tender, tasty, rainbow mix of colors, textures, and tastes we call corn. Teosinte (te’o sinte’) is a grass that still grows wild in the American and Mexican southwest. Ten thousand years ago, they chewed and juiced the stems which were similar looking to modern corn with more branches. This grass could grow up to ten feet tall. The few grains on the seed heads had to be ground with rocks to break the hard, protective, glossy hull. Imagine the surprised look on a native woman’s face when the first seed head “popped” when it got too close to the fire. The popping made it easier to eat and more enjoyable, but most importantly, it was viewed in a different light. From the instant that first corny explosion happened, corn was destined to feed the world. Popcorn comes in all colors and has a distinct flavor unique to its individual environment. It was the first type of corn developed initially with only a few kernels per tiny ear. Selection added more kernels, cross breeding increased length and fertility,
until they had corn that was sweeter, more delicious to eat early, or corn they could grind for flour and meal. Early settlers referred to corn meal as Indian meal or Indian corn. The term “corn” is a European term for small grains or particles of something—i.e., grains of salt, grains of gunpowder. Salt was used to preserve beef or pork, resulting in corned beef or corned pork, also known as ham. In the colonies, the term stuck to the Indian grains of any variety as corn and is still used today.
Modern corn is now a manufactured, modified DNA, patent protected, cross breed that won’t grow back into the same corn you planted. More importantly, it lacks the nutrition of the ancient heritage types, as those still have all their DNA intact. Indian ears of corn you buy to decorate with at Thanksgiving or Christmas has a more nutritional punch than the canned corn on the shelf. I grind my Indian corn in my coffee mill for meal, mush, and breading. Teosinte will still cross breed with all varieties of the ancient types, indicating the rich depth of DNA it possesses. Yellow and white corn are only a small
