Follow this Ancient Grain From Its Mesoamerican Origins to Global Impact.

“There’s every reason to believe that corn has succeeded in domesticating us.” - Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma

History

Indigenous Mesoamericans began cultivating maize, or corn, from a wild cereal grain around 9000 BCE or earlier. They first domesticated maize from teosinte, a hardy grass with tough kernels. Genetic research indicates its origins lie in the Balsas River region of southern Mexico, near the Tehuacán Valley.

What Americans call corn has surpassed wheat and rice in global production by metric tons per year. This surge is largely due to World War II-era advancements, such as mechanized agriculture, nitrate fertilizers, and monoculture farming. Corn’s wind-pollination also facilitates large-scale planting, though this has led to widespread pesticide use.

Details

✍️ Scientific name: Zea mays

📍 USDA Zones: 3 to 11

🧑‍🌾 Difficulty: Easy-Moderate

🍽 Flavor: Sweet, starchy, buttery when cooked

🥗 Uses: Cosmetics, folklore, food, fuel, etc.

💪 Nutrition: Vitamins B, copper, fiber, iron, magnesium, manganese, protein, zinc

🌎 Origin: Mexico, Balsas River region

🌱 Related: Barley, rice, rye, sorghum, sugarcane, wheat

🌿 Companions: Amaranth, beans, cucumber, marjoram, melons, parsley, peas, potatoes, pumpkin, radish, squash, sunflower, zucchini

🚫 Avoid near: Cabbage, Celery, Tomatoes

🐛 Pests: Armyworms, corn rootworm, cutworms, European corn borer, nematodes, potato stem borer and hopvine borer, seed corn maggot, slugs

🐝 Pollinators: Wind

🎃 Varieties:

Maize (corn) comes in many varieties, categorized by color, texture, and use. Here are some notable types:

Sweet Corn (Fresh Eating, High Sugar Content)

Silver Queen – A classic white corn with a sweet, tender texture.
Golden Bantam – An heirloom yellow corn with a rich, old-fashioned sweetness.
Peaches and Cream – A bi-color variety with a balance of sweetness and creaminess.
Honey Select – A supersweet yellow variety with extra juicy kernels.
Kandy Korn – A late-season variety with high sugar content and excellent storage.

Flint Corn (Hard-Kernel, Used for Grinding & Decoration)

Glass Gem – A stunning, multi-colored heirloom corn used for decoration or popping.
Floriani Red – A deep red Italian heirloom, great for polenta and cornmeal.
Carl’s Glass Gem – A variant of Glass Gem with extra bright, translucent colors.
Longfellow – A yellow flint corn traditionally used for grinding.
Cascade Ruby-Gold – A bi-colored flint corn developed for northern climates.

Dent Corn (Used for Cornmeal, Animal Feed, & Industrial Use)

Hickory King – Large, white kernels, excellent for hominy and grits.
Reid’s Yellow Dent – A high-yielding variety often used in cornmeal and livestock feed.
Boone County White – A historic variety with large ears and soft starch content.
Bloody Butcher – A deep red dent corn used for flour and traditional Appalachian dishes.
Truckers Favorite – An old Southern dent corn, great for roasting or grinding.

Popcorn (Small-Kernel, Used for Popping)

Tom Thumb – A miniature heirloom popcorn with small, tender kernels.
Strawberry Popcorn – Deep red, compact ears that pop into fluffy white kernels.
Dakota Black – Dark, nearly black kernels that produce rich, nutty popcorn.
Japanese Hulless – A nearly hull-free variety with a delicate crunch.
Robust 98114 – A commercial variety known for high expansion when popped.

Flour Corn (Soft Kernels, Used for Baking & Masa)

Blue Hopi – A deep blue heirloom variety, great for tortillas and tamales.
Pueblo Rainbow – A Native American variety with a mix of soft-colored kernels.
Painted Mountain – A multicolored, cold-hardy flour corn for high-altitude growing.
White Teosinte – A wild ancestor of modern maize, used in breeding and research.
Oaxacan Green – A vibrant green flour corn traditionally used in Mexico for tortillas.

Growth & Harvest

Modern corn relies on human intervention to reproduce because its ears remain firmly attached to the stalk when ripe. Additionally, modern agriculture’s focus on the homogenized yellow dent #2 variety leaves crops vulnerable to disease, similar to the Cavendish banana’s plight. In contrast, heirloom and Indigenous maize varieties are more diverse and resilient.

In its wild form, teosinte produces only 7-12 kernels and a single cob about half the length of a golf pencil. Over millennia, Indigenous peoples like the Olmec, Maya, and Aztecs selectively cultivated maize, increasing its yield and size. By 6000 BCE, maize had spread through trade routes to South America, and by 2500 BCE, it had reached North America.

Cultural Significance & Folklore

For Indigenous peoples across the Americas, maize is more than food—it is life. Among the Maya, corn was central to their cosmology. According to the Popol Vuh, the Maya creation myth, the gods fashioned humans from maize dough after failed attempts using mud and wood. This story reflects maize’s sacred role in sustaining both body and spirit.

The Aztecs believed that Centeōtl, the maize god, brought fertility and abundance. Festivals were held in his honor during harvest seasons, where offerings of maize, dances, and rituals ensured future crops. Similarly, the Pueblo peoples of North America incorporated maize into spiritual ceremonies, emphasizing its connection to the earth, community, and ancestors.

Companion Planting: The Three Sisters

Native Mesoamericans practiced a companion planting system known as the “Three Sisters.” Corn grew tall, providing a natural trellis for climbing beans, while squash sprawled along the ground, shading the soil to conserve moisture and suppress weeds. This method enhanced soil health because beans fixed nitrogen from the air into the soil, reducing the need for fertilizers.

Planting tips:

🌽Plant corn first so it can develop strong stalks.

🫘After the corn sprouts, plant beans to climb the stalks.

🎃Finally, plant squash to cover the ground.

Experiment with different heirloom corn, bean, and squash varieties for a diverse and sustainable garden.

Maize as Food

Photo by Katherine Volkovski on Unsplash

Of the 1 billion tons of maize produced globally each year, humans consume about 40%, mostly as sweet corn. The remaining 60% becomes livestock feed, ethanol fuel, corn syrup, and processed food ingredients. Corn flour, starch, tortillas, popcorn, and cornflakes are just a few of its culinary uses.

European settlers initially distrusted corn, believing that consuming “Indian food” might change their identities. Yet, necessity led them to adopt maize as a staple. However, without Indigenous knowledge of nixtamalization—the process of soaking maize in an alkaline solution—many suffered from pellagra, a disease caused by niacin deficiency.

Pellagra symptoms include skin inflammation, dementia, and diarrhea. The nixtamalization process, derived from the Nahuatl words nextli (ashes) and tamalli (maize dough), unlocks niacin and other nutrients, making maize more digestible and nutritious.

Recipe: Elote or Mexican Street Corn

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn
8 oz sour cream or Mexican crema
1 lime, juiced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese (or substitute with Parmesan or feta)
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Paprika, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste

Directions:

Preheat the oven or grill to 400°F.
Mix sour cream, lime juice, minced garlic, and a pinch of salt to create the crema.
Grill corn in the husk or remove the husk for a charred effect. Cook until kernels are tender and slightly charred.
Slather the hot corn with crema and sprinkle with cotija cheese, cilantro, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Serve immediately.

Maize: How Corn Shaped Civilization