Along with some other crops, corn is the most important place in the global economy. It is used to cook dishes and drinks, and use it in other areas of industry, and in some nations corn is the staple food. It is extremely important, because corn products are contained in many products, even if consumers are not even aware of this.
Of all the species of this plant, only one is used for food – maize, it is sweet corn. Corn roots go deep into the earth to a depth of one and a half meters. Corn can reach a height of 3.5-4 meters. Before popcorn was eaten, it was used in the same quality that foam is now used in. On one shoot of corn grows from 8 to 42 leaves, no more and no less. The smallest mature corn cobs weigh only 30-50 grams, and the largest – half a kilo. According to various estimates, people first started cultivating corn from 7,000 to 12,000 years ago.
Despite the fact that corn is a mixed-sex plant, both male and female inflorescences can grow on the same shoot. In the wild, corn practically does not occur. It can not germinate from a whole cob, you need to plant the seeds separately. The homeland of this plant is Central America. More precisely, the territory of modern Mexico. One of the deities in the ancient Maya pantheon, Ah Moon, was worshiped as the god of corn. The Indians believed that this plant was sent to them by the gods. On average, one corn cob contains about 1000 seeds, and the exact number is always only even.
Breeders bred about 1000 varieties of corn. There are even multicolored, and in the variety “Glass Jam”, even on one cob the seeds differ in color. The food industry uses not only corn kernels. In the course are and leaves, and wrapping cobs, and even the stems themselves. About 25% of world corn production is in the United States. In its present form, this plant is cultivated on all continents except Antarctica.
Corn first came to Europe when its seeds were brought from its famous voyage by Christopher Columbus. The world’s most consumed corn is in Mexico. There is an average of 90 kg per person per person per year. In second place is the United States, with half the figures. The sugar content in corn is very high, but up to 50% of its reserves decay within 5-7 hours after the cob has been torn from the stem. Corn must be boiled strictly without salt, otherwise it will become very tough and almost inedible. In Russia, this plant is not particularly popular, despite the slogan “corn – the queen of the fields” proclaimed by USSR General Secretary Khrushchev, and his attempts to grow it in the Soviet Union.
In some countries, maize is planted interspersed with pumpkins, since with such a neighborhood these plants grow particularly well, balancing moisture and protecting each other from pests. Among all the cereals of the world, corn is the first in the world in the area occupied by its plantings. It contains 24 different elements of the periodic table. Different parts of the corn are used in the manufacture of medicines, plastics, plaster, glue and other various things.
