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The A-Maize-ing Story of Indian Corn
By Donna Verry Dee
With its tapestry of red, white, blue, brown, purple and yellow kernels, Indian corn is so pretty that we hang it on our front doors and use it as a centerpiece on our tables. But it was no frivolous ornament to Native Americans who, for thousands of years, depended on this vegetable for food. How did this multi-colored cob go from staple of life to seasonal decor?
Native people in Central Mexico first cultivated maize from a wild grass called teosinte. Archeologists have found ears of corn dating back to 2750 BCE in caves near Tehuacan, Puebla. When the groups migrated into what is now the United States, they brought their staple crop with them. The multi-colored variety, Zea Mays, is the original. The single and duel-hued types are the result of targeted human selection and careful pollination.
Contrary to popular belief, and despite ominous "Do Not Consume" labels, Indian corn is, in fact, eatable - but not in the way that most of us are used to eating corn. You can't toss a cob into a pot of boiling water for ten minutes, slather it with butter and then sink your teeth into it. For one thing, it's not sweet. For another, your teeth would probably break because the kernels are extremely hard. Because of this rock-hard consistency, it is known as Flint Corn, a reference to flint stone.
Native Americans dealt with the unyielding kernels by grinding them into corn meal with mortar and pestle. The meal would then be used to make tortillas, corn bread, hominy, corn pudding and other food staples. But it wasn't only the kernels that the native people put to use. Husks were saved and woven into sleeping mats, moccasins, baskets and masks. The stripped cobs were burnt for fuel, carved into darts or hollowed out to make rattling percussion instruments. Today, a few stalwart souls still grow, grind and bake with Indian corn.
Corn was part of an inter-dependent vegetable trio called "The Three Sisters." Native Americans planted squash, beans and corn in the same spot. Each "sister" did her part to help the others flourish. The corn provided a stalk for the bean vines to climb and wind around. The beans replenished the soil with nitrogen. The squash's broad leaves staved off weeds and other encroaching plants.
Corn gods and goddesses, corn dances and rituals abound in native traditions, indicating the central role that corn played in early native life. Many tribes had creation legends associated with corn, such as "The Coming of the Corn," "The Gift of Corn" and "How Corn Came to Earth," describing the mythical origins of their agricultural mainstay.
As the cultivation of corn became more widespread across North America, and farming techniques became more sophisticated, growers were able to select for the characteristics they wanted, resulting in more mono-chromatic corn for specific uses - feeding people, feeding animals, production of everything from aspirin to disposable diapers to toothpaste. But because of its beauty and its traditional association with harvest and autumn, Indian corn found new life as a decorative accessory.