Page 28 | Nah gah chi wa nong • Di bah ji mowin nan | October 2019 Ashi-niswi giizisoog (Thirteen Moons) Waatebagaa giizis is the Leaves Changing Color Moon. Other names for new September moon Waatebagaa giizis are Mandaamini giizis (Corn Moon) and Moozo giizis (Moose Moon). Types of Corn By Laura Neff, properties. In this blog, our varieties: Flor del Rio and Cha- Flint of hominy). Keep in mind that Education Associate goal is for you to learn about palote (for southern latitudes; Flint corn is known for its corn referred to as “flint” will the structural differences of the pictured) hard outer layer which pro- often have a starchy, gummy Reprinted with permission from kernel in each type of corn as tects the small, soft endosperm texture. https://www.nativeseeds.org/ well as the food that each type Culinary Uses: While the inside the kernel. This hard blogs/blog-news/types-of-corn has inspired. culinary uses extend beyond outer layer is said to be “as Flour Original blog post June 12, enjoying popcorn at the mov- hard as flint” hence the name. The most commonly planted 2018 Popcorn ies, this variety is not recom- They have a glassy appearance. type of corn in the South- Popcorn is one of the old- mended as a type to eat fresh. It can also be “popped” when west is flour corn. Flour corn est types of domesticated Popcorn is typically used as a heated, but often the kernels is composed mainly of soft corn. The characteristics of dried product and then ground, will crack open rather than starch, which gives it the abil- the popcorn kernels are very toasted or popped to make deli- explode. The hardness of the ity to be easily ground into a similar to those in flint corn cious foods. Popcorns can also kernel allows these varieties finer cornmeal than any other (described later). The popcorn be nixtamalized (a preparation to store very well and be less type would be able to provide. kernel has a hard yet brittle, process in which the corn is susceptible to insect and rodent Flour corn can be eaten in its slightly translucent kernel that soaked and cooked in water predation. Flint corns come in immature or “milk” stage when any people know that is glass-like. When popcorn and an alkaline solution such a large range of colors. Rec- steamed or BBQ’d. While it is maize, known more is heated, the moisture inside as cal, calcium hydroxide, or ommended varieties: Onave- sweeter and more tender than commonly as corn, the kernel turns to steam that pickling lime in some grocer- ño (pictured) and Southern flint types in this stage, it is not M builds up enough pressure for ies, washed, and then hulled Maíz Blanco as sweet as sweet corn types. is one of the most culturally important crops in the South- the kernel to explode- creating to remove the outer shell Most often flour corn is har- western U.S. and Mexico, the white, starchy, edible mass and soften the kernel). Foods vested when fully ripe and dry but the true diversity of corn that we all know and love. All prepared from nixtamalization and ground into cornmeal. as well as its many culinary popcorn pops a white color due include hominy used to make The flavor of a flour corn is uses are unknown to many. to the color of the endosperm masa for tamales and tortillas. subtle and delicate. Without At Native Seeds/SEARCH we (starch), but if it is a colored Other dried kernel preparations the dense oils and proteins steward 1,900 different acces- popcorn kernel and you look include grinding into a coarse packed into the endosperm, the sions of seed, which includes close enough, you may see cornmeal for grits, polenta (a flavor is not as rich as other va- over 500 different accessions a little bit of the color in the sweetened and spiced roasted Culinary Uses: Because of its rieties. However, its soft texture of corn, making Zea mays the middle of the exploded kernel. ground maize resulting powder hard outer layer and lack of makes it much easier to grind most represented species in our That is the pericarp or outer is then used as an ingredient to sugar, the recommended pri- and digest. seed bank collection. Different hull where the kernel color make different foods, such as mary uses of flint corn are as a Flour corn varieties come in types of corn - such as sweet, comes from. Recommended cereals, baked goods, tortillas, coarse cornmeal used for grits, all colors. The color is con- dent, and flour - are defined by and beverages), and atole (a polenta, and atole, as well as tained within the thin outer their internal kernel structure drink that typically includes toasted and ground for pi- layer while the interior soft and the proportions of soft and masa, water, piloncillo or un- nole. You can nixtamalize flint starch is white. Therefore, most hard endosperm, or starch, refined cane sugar, cinnamon, corn to be used as hominy to ground cornmeal will have a present. These proportions of vanilla and optional chocolate make masa tortillas, or posole white-gray color in appearance starches allow different types of or fruit). (a light pork or chicken stew, regardless of kernel color. Color corn to have different culinary made starchy with the addition in the final baked product Sign up to the 13 Moons listserv for the latest information on workshops This page addresses culture, ecology, and natural resource management. Thirteen and events by emailing [email protected] Don’t forget to check Moons is the Fond du Lac Tribal College Extension Program and is a collaboration us out on Facebook! 13 Moons Ashi niswi giizisoog of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Fond du Lac Resource Manage- ment, funded by the USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture. October 2019 | Nah gah chi wa nong • Di bah ji mowin nan | Page 29 using the cornmeal, such as teristics. When processed, the have tall, strong stalks to the conversion of sugars into grind dried sweet corn into a bread or tortillas, can be in- flinty texture can add body to support their weight. Typi- starch. Fascinating... fine cornmeal for a deliciously tensified by adding an alkaline finer cornmeal made from flour cally, the plants do not bush Sweet corn kernels wrinkle sweet pinole . material such as wood ash or texture types. out with numerous stalks- a when they are dry as the completing the nixtamaliza- A notable example is Pima common trait in flour and flint sugars dehydrate when mature. Pod Corn tion process. Recommended 60-Day corn. It has about 80% types. Recommended variet- Varieties come in a diversity of This is a variety of corn varieties: Tohono O’odham soft flour kernels and 20% ies: Mayo Tuxpeño (pictured) colors. However, the color of where each individual kernel is 60-Day and Hopi Blue hard flint kernels. This balance and Día de San Juan the kernels will intensify as the enclosed in long, membranous gives the corn the perfect tex- corn ripens past the milk stage. husks known as glumes. The ture for Ga’ivsa, a wonderfully Therefore, when the kernels are kernels are naked, or exposed, tasty Pima corn dish. Fresh still milky and soft, the color is in other corn. This variant corn is roasted on the cob over just starting to show. If picked has a mutation of a leaf gene mesquite coals, which gives it to eat as corn on the cob the in the maize cob that is not a sweet flavor. kernels will mostly be white usually active in this portion to yellow, or bi-color. Recom- of the plant. Thus, pod corn mended varieties: Guarijio is a corn ear that forms leaves Culinary uses: Flour corn is Culinary Uses: Because of Red (for southern latitudes; in the “wrong” place. It was best known for the fine-grained its higher starch content, dent pictured) and Cocopah (avail- once thought that pod corn cornmeal it yields when corn can be used for fine corn- able only to NS/S members was a wild ancestor of maize, ground, but did you know that meal as well as elotes (corn on and participants in our Na- but recent genetic research had whole kernels can be used as the cob with condiments such tive American Seed Request shown pod corn ears are the well? Whole kernels are used as salt, chile powder, butter, Program). result of this genetic mutation. for posole, chicos (roasted Dent cotija, lemon juice or lime Because it’s difficult to uncover green corn that is then dried), Also known as “field corn”, juice, and mayonnaise) when each individual kernels it is not and parched corn (dried and dent corn makes up the major- harvested in the green or milk commonly eaten but is another roasted whole corn kernels). ity of commercially raised stage. It can be dried to make example of the amazing diver- corn in the United States. It is hominy to grind into masa, or sity present in corn. Flour/Flint primarily used for animal feed, fermented into corn beer. Many landrace varieties of processed foods, and ethanol. corn, like those in the Native Dent corn was given its name Sweet Seeds/SEARCH collection do because of the kernel’s appear- The type we know so well! (left: milk stage; right: mature not always fit into nice, neat ance as it dries. The kernels It can be eaten right off the stage, ready to harvest for categories.