Maize Day, on the day after Thanksgiving, recognizes the importance of a plant common across the Americas.
- The European settlers began grinding corn kernels to make meal that was later used to make bread.
- colonial farmers also found that different parts of the plant had a number of useful by-products and purposes. They used cobs to start fires and to fuel slow-burning fires.
- They used husks to make brooms and chair bottoms as well as to pad mattresses and collars for draft animals.
- Maize was the first-ever crop to be domesticated by Native Americans and this impressive crop is now used in numerous types of food including chewing gum, bread, corn flakes, and popcorn.
- Maize is an Indian word meaning “sacred mother,” or “giver of life.”
- The ear or cob is part of the flower, while the individual kernel is a seed.
- The average ear has 800 kernels in 16 rows.
- A cob will always have an even number of rows.
- There are over 3,500 different uses for corn products.
- The grain is used as a major ingredient in many food items like cereals, potato chips, cooking oil, and more.
- Even juices and soft drinks contain sweeteners from the grain. A bushel (about 56 pounds) can sweeten 400 cans of soft drink.
- Corn and its by products are also found in many non-food items such as fireworks, rust preventatives, glue, paint, dyes, laundry detergent, soap, aspirin, antibiotics, shoe polish, ink, cosmetics, the manufacturing of photographic film, and in the production of plastics.
- In 2014, the United States produced 35% of the worlds maize, while China produced 21%.
- Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky make up the “Corn Belt,” a region that has the ideal conditions to grow the crop.
- In the days of the early North American settlers, corn was so valuable that it was used as money and traded meat and furs.
- Maize is believed to be a human invention, domesticated from a grass called teosinte about 7,000 years ago. Read more.
- The grain can be produced in many colors including blackish, blue-gray, purple, green, red, white and yellow.
- The maximum size of kernels is about 1 inch.
- 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.
- The six major types of corn are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, and sweet corn.
- Corn is a cereal crop that is part of the grass family.
- An ear or cob of corn is actually part of the flower and an individual kernel is a seed.
- A bushel is a unit of measure for volumes of dry commodities such as shelled corn kernels. 1 Bushel of corn is equal to 8 gallons.
- The corn’s scientific name is Zea mays.
- Most processed foods contain corn. To name a few, those are cereals, potato chips, ice cream, baby food, peanut butter, mayonnaise, marshmallows, cooking oil, margarine, salad dressing, and chewing gum.
- The top 5 countries that spent the most on imported corn during 2019 are Japan with $3.5 billion, followed by Mexico ($3.1 billion), South Korea ($2.4 billion), Spain ($2 billion), and Vietnam ($1.9 billion).
- One cup of corn (145 grams) has 125 calories.
- One cup of corn (145 grams) has 2 grams of fat.
- One cup of corn (145 grams) has no cholesterol.
- One cup of corn (145 grams) has 22 milligrams of sodium (salt).
- One cup of corn (145 grams) has 27 grams of carbohydrates.
- One cup of corn (145 grams) has 5 grams of protein.
- One cup of corn (145 grams) has 3 milligrams of calcium, 1 milligram of iron and 390 milligrams of potassium.
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