Considering Corn
I have considerable knowledge of corn. It's made me a bit of a corn snob and I want to see healthy, happy corn back in our lives and on our dinner plates.
Growing up, corn was served several times a week at our house. Besides having a personal love of corn, my father worked in the seed industry for many years, corn was a staple in our lives and diet.
One weekend every summer we processed a lot of corn, 6-8 gunny sacks full. Mom and grandma had carefully calculated out how many bags they wanted to get our families through until next season.
We spent the early hours of the morning picking the corn while the dew still clung to the plants - before the sweltering heat dehydrated us or our harvest. After loading the hulking bags in the pickup, we retreated back to the large yard between my parent's and grandparent's houses. The kids would spend the day husking the corn in the shady yard. Inevitably there would be silk ball and smut fights. That’s not as bad as it sounds - smut is the grey, lumpy fungus that grows on corn - and yes, it is edible. It’s a delicacy in Mexico. Back to corn.
The adults were in the kitchen, blanching the corn, stripping it off the cobs and then bagging it for freezing. It was long, hot work but the taste of fresh corn or corn that you processed yourself is hard to beat.
Needless to say, I'm picky.
I started work in the corn fields and at the trial grounds in my early teens. Trial grounds are places where seed companies grow small batches of whatever crop they are working on hybridizing - corn varieties in search of a better corn variety. I was a part of the crew that would assess the new varieties. We looked at plant shape, structure, corn ear size, row evenness, color, flavor and sweetness. It was intriguing work and it gave me a great knowledge of growing corn - along with a round or two of heat stroke. Fortunately, I had left working at this particular company by the time Monsanto was stepping in to control corn and other crops. Michael Pollen beautifully outlines the problems with the practice of subsidizing corn in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma, and how it affects our food economy and supply. But that's not the point of this blog.
Corn is a beautiful food and one that I feel we should push to bring back in organic and heirloom varieties.
A kernel of corn's history
The corn we have today is far changed from the maize that Native Americans grew. In fact, it is so changed that it really can't survive without the help of humans - unlike potatoes or squash that are nearly impossible to stop from growing.
We believe corn to be about 7000 years old. It originated in Mexico from a grass called teosinte. Teosinte was a spindly little plant and the kernels on the ears were uneven in size and rows- it wouldn't have scored very high on score card at the trial grounds. It quickly spread throughout North and South America and was know as maize by many of the Native Americas.
Europeans wouldn't get to enjoy corn until the time of Columbus and other "discoverers" in the 17th centuries. During the 18th century corn had grown into a staple food for Native cultures in the Americas and Africa. It became a favored food and people stopped eating a diversified diet - always a problem. Corn lacks niacin and the vitamin is essential to health and lead to a scourge of pellagra - a vicious wasting and thirsty syndrome. Adding foods high in niacin like legumes and wheat germ, lime balanced the diets back out. This problem is solved in classical menus or dishes that use the "three sisters" a combination of corn, a legume, and a winter (hard fleshed) squash.
Today’s commercial corn is one of the most genetically modified foods and is heavily sprayed with pesticides. It's fallen prey to bio-piracy - the process of developing seeds that terminate or control of a seed by a company or entity making it impossible for farmers to replant their own seeds. It's heavily subsidized and grown, in some cases, for all the wrong reasons.
Labeling confusion - is corn a grain or vegetable?
Both. When corn is fresh it is considered a vegetable, when dried it falls into the grains category.
Western nutritional profile
Corn is relatively high in fiber. One cup of corn contains about 4 grams of fiber which is essential for weight management, colon health, and to regulate cholesterol and blood sugar.
Corn has ample amounts of the B vitamins, vitamin C, and magnesium. It contains the antioxidants, carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin.
The Asian/Chinese energetics of corn
Corn's neutral temperature and sweet flavor put it smack in the Earth Element/Late Summer food category.
Drains dampness and regulates water — Corn has diuretic properties (especially the cornsilk) and regulates water pathways, drains dampness so use for any edema or swelling.
Regulates digestion and stimulates the appetite— Add corn to your diet if you have slow, weak digestion or lack an appetite.
Nourishes the Heart and calms the Shen — It's a truly happy food. Corn nourishes and protects the physical heart and calms the mind so it benefits anxious and nervous people.
Enters the Bladder and Kidneys — It helps regulate all genitourinary conditions and helps increase libido.
Ways to use corn
Fresh off the cob when in season - 3 minutes in boiling water or consider grilling it. Be sure to have a little cornsilk with it.
Use frozen or canned corn in soups, stews, salsa, salads
Eat polenta or cornbread
Save the silk, husks and cobs!
Toss the cobs into your veg stock and use as base for soups, braising veg, and cooking grains, and legumes.
Dry the husks and use them for making tamales
But corn is a carbohydrate!
Yes, corn is a complex carbohydrate - something we need for our body's ability to maintain muscle strength, energy, blood sugar balance and bowel health. Although it is wise to limit refined carbohydrates like sweets and breads, complex carbohydrates that come from whole grains, legumes and vegetables are essential. Complex carbohydrates give us energy. In their most whole form they are dense with fiber - meaning they take longer to break down into simpler sugars and thereby help to regulate blood sugar.
What I've seen is that any diet that eliminates them or over avoidance of complex carbohydrates may lead to extreme fatigue, elevated liver enzyme counts and collapse of muscle tenacity and strength, so be cautious.
Here's to your happy heart.
April
