Teosinte Grass:
The Most Amazing Super Vegetable in the
World and Also Butter’s Best Friend

By Uncle Paul

Today I would like to take a journey back in time more than 5,600 years ago. We will travel first to the amazing Grand Canyon, then down past the Rio Grande river and into the heart of Mexico. Our travels will take us through jungles filled with jaguars, spider monkeys, and anteaters, where we will eventually arrive at the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.

Here the Aztecs used an unusual system of gardening called chinampas, also known as floating gardens. These were constructed throughout the series of lakes that once formed the city that we know as Mexico City today.

It is here we will find the most amazing wild grass in the world, Teosinte Grass, otherwise known as maize, or corn. This grass, which resembled oats or barley, was found to have a few edible kernels. The Aztecs selected grasses with more kernels and kept planting and selecting them until the kernels developed on cobs.

From this ancient city the practice of growing corn spread to Peru and eventually to North America. Corn is a human invention, a plant that does not exist naturally in the wild. It can only survive if planted and protected by humans.

The most common types are flint, dent, sweet, flour, and popcorn.

Flint corn (Zea mays indurata): Also known as Indian corn, it has a hard outer shell and kernels with a range of colors from white to red.

Dent corn (Zea mays indenata): White or yellow, it is often called “field corn” and its primary use is livestock feed. Dent corn is also the main variety used when making industrial products and various foods.

Sweet corn (Zea saccharata or Zea rugosa): This variety is often eaten on the cob, and also can be canned or frozen. Sweet corn gets its name because it contains more sugar than other kinds of corn. Sweet corn comes in white, yellow, and bi-colored varieties. Because it takes longer for the starch to turn to sugar in this variety, the corn will stay sweet for up to one week after picking. My favorite is the bi-colored variety called peaches and cream.

Flour corn (Zea mays amylacea): Flour corn is used in baked goods because it has a soft, starch-filled kernel that is easy to grind. Flour corn is primarily white, although it can be grown in other colors, such as blue corn. One of the oldest types of corn, flour corn was commonly grown by Native Americans.

Popcorn (Zea mays everta): Did you know that not all corn is popcorn? Popcorn is a variety of flint corn, with a soft starchy center that is covered by a hard shell. When popcorn is heated, the natural moisture inside the kernel turns to steam. It eventually builds up enough pressure for the kernel to explode. When the kernel explodes, it becomes the white starchy mass most of us like to eat.

Corn is one of the most amazing plants in the world. Farmers grow it on every continent, except Antarctica. It is also the most widely distributed crop in the world. Corn can grow at altitudes as high as 12,000 feet in South America’s Andes mountains and as low as sea level. It can also grow in tropical climates that receive up to 400 inches of rainfall a year or in areas that receive only 12 inches.

Corn is a major component in many food items like cereals, peanut butter, and snack foods. Corn is low fat, saturated fat-free, cholesterol free, and a good source of vitamin C.

Corn not only tastes incredible, it is one of the very best dietary sources of two antioxidant carotenoids — cousins of vitamin A — called lutein and zeaxanthin. Like other carotenoids, these seem to play a role in preventing heart disease and cancer.

Try this incredible gift from Mother Nature that was helped along by the hands of the Aztecs.

Uncle Paul, along with his wife Calla, owns Uncle Paul’s European Style Open Air Produce Market, 2310 SE Hawthorne, 503-484-8612 or visit www.unclepaulsproduce.com