Some call it “corn-stick,” others go with “sweet pole,” but we like to call it amazing — especially when you use those cute plastic corn-on-the-cob handles. National Corn on the Cob Day falls on June 11 — the perfect pre-summer date. (Although, for most home gardens, mid-June is still too early for the harvest.)
But you can’t blame anyone for being in a hurry. The sweetness doesn’t hang around for very long. It has to be picked at its freshest, otherwise, there’s a risk of — nothing really — it’s just slightly less incredible tasting.
- 10,000 Years Ago – Farmers begin domesticating corn in what is now present-day Mexico
- 4000 BC – Owing to new sowing techniques, kernels of corn become an inch long.
- 1700s – Corn became more widely popular in the late 1700s when it became accessible to Europeans.
- 1930 – The first mechanical corn harvester was invented by Gleaner Harvester Combine Corporation in 1930.
- 1930s – George Beadle discovers that teosinte and modern corn’s chromosomes are compatible.
- 1950s – Sweet corn is developed by Professor John Laughnan of the University of Illinois.
- In most countries, corn is called maize.
- Maize is a native Taino word meaning “sacred mother,” or “giver of life.”
- Sweet corn leaves were used as chewing gum by Native Americans.
- Each cob of corn consists of 800 kernels arranged in 16 rows.
- An ear of corn has one silk stand for every kernel.
- The maximum size of kernels is about 1 inch.
- There are over 3,500 different uses for corn products.
- While many consider corn a vegetable, it’s both a grain and a fruit.
- Maize is a Taino word that means “sacred mother” or “giver of life”.
- Corn can also be found in many non-food items such as fireworks, glue, paint, dyes, laundry detergent, soap, antibiotics, cosmetics, and the production of plastics.
- Most processed foods contain corn, like cereals, potato chips, ice cream, baby food, peanut butter, mayonnaise, marshmallows, cooking oil, margarine, salad dressing, and chewing gum
- Corn is also used to produce ethanol (ethyl alcohol), a first-generation liquid biofuel.
- In the days of the early North American settlers, corn was so valuable that it was used as money and traded for meat and furs.
- Maize is believed to be a human invention, domesticated from a grass called teosinte about 7,000 years ago.
- It takes 91 gallons of water to produce one pound of corn.
- One acre of corn eliminates 8 tons of carbon dioxide from the air.
- Corn was first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago.
- There are 86 calories in 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of corn.
- Health benefits of corn include controlling diabetes, prevention of heart ailments, lowering hypertension and prevention of neural-tube defects at birth.
- The antioxidants present in corn also act as anti-carcinogenic agents and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
- Popcorn consists of kernels of certain varieties that explode when heated, forming fluffy pieces that are eaten as a snack.
- Corn is cholesterol-free.
- Only 1% of corn planted in the United States is sweet corn.
- An acre of corn eliminates 8 tons of carbon dioxide from our air.
- There are 125 calories in a cup of corn.
- Fresh corn on the cob will lose up to 40% of its sugar content after about 6 hours of room-temperature storage. Then the sugar is converted to starch.
- Corn is the 3rd most produced crop in the world, behind only wheat and rice, but in terms of planted acres, it’s second only to wheat.
- Corn is America’s number one field crop. Corn leads all other crops in value and volume of production
- One bushel equals 112 ears of corn, weighing 56 pounds.
- One bushel of corn can make 2.5 gallons of ethanol fuel, 33 pounds of sweetener or 32 pounds of starch.
- One bushel of corn will sweeten more than 400 cans of Coca-Cola.
- A pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels.
- There are six major types of corn. In detail, the six types are sweet corn, dent corn, pod corn, flour corn, flint corn and popcorn.
- The most common color of corn is yellow. However, there are many other varieties of colors of corn such as white, green, purple, red, blackish, orange, brown, pink, cream, and bluish-gray.
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