10 Neat Things about Corn
Corn is some kind of magic plant. It feeds the world as it sweetens our lives, though it might make us fat. It can also be part of the solution for cleaning the world and getting us around it.
But first, did you know that it is a vegetable, a grain and a fruit?
1. Vegetable, grain or fruit?
Surprise! It’s all three. Botanically, it’s a fruit because it is from the ovary of the plant. When we eat it as corn-on-the-cob, it’s a starch-heavy vegetable. And when the cows eat it as hardened kernels, it’s a grain.
2. Earworm.
You know when you have a song verse stuck in your head? Corn earworm is different, and worse. They don’t overwinter in Canada (except perhaps in BC) but they fly here as moths and have a few generations per year. You can prevent infestation by putting a drop of oil mixed with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) on the tip of each ear once the silks have emerged.
3. Big three.
It is one of the three most-eaten foods worldwide. Corn, wheat and rice make up almost two-thirds of the calories taken in worldwide.
4. One of three.
Three sisters, that is. The three sisters of Indigenous American legend are corn, beans and squash. They were planted in mounds. The corn acts as a trellis for the beans, the beans replace nitrogen in the soil and the big squash leaves shelter the soil like mulch.
5. Soil suck.
As it grows, corn takes a lot of nitrogen and other nutrients out of the soil. As a home gardener, you are advised to plant beans or some kind of legume after you’ve grown corn in an area. And definitely add lots of nutrients to the soil while corn is growing.
6. Even
Here’s a strange little fact: the number of rows on a cob of corn is always even. Most varieties have between eight and 20 rows, but they never have nine or 19.
7. High fructose corn syrup.
You may have heard we should avoid this stuff that is used to sweeten foods, but why? Some researchers believe that high fructose levels lead to fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes. The fructose that occurs naturally in fruit is at a much lower rate and is not blamed for any illnesses.
8. Biofuel.
The starch in corn can be broken down into sugar and then fermented into a liquid known as ethanol. It’s added to the gasoline you buy in Canada. This is great news, because ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline. It’s not so great news because a 10 percent ethanol to 90 percent gasoline mixture has only 97 percent of the energy that 100 percent gasoline does.
9. Corn in plastic?
10. What else uses corn?
Get ready for this weird list. It is found in: toilet paper, drywall, toothpaste, crayons, diapers, spark plugs, hand soap, hand sanitizer, aspirin, rubber tires and fireworks. Thanks to the Nebraska Corn Board for all this information. You can read how it’s used in each product here. [https://nebraskacorn.gov/cornstalk/corn101/ten-products-you-didnt-know-were-made-with-corn/]
