If I asked you what grain is the most harvested in the world, you’d probably answer either wheat or rice. But the answer is actually corn, more accurately called ‘maize.’
I have never heard of teosinte before and was compelled to look up more information about it. It would be a fun little research project for my kids to see if they can develop a new variety of corn from teosinte. I know that in my garden one year I had gourds and zucchinis cross pollinate to grow a gourd shaped zucchini; it was very fascinating. I wonder how difficult it would be to see if you can develop your own new variety of corn this way.
On a side note: I also have a friend who makes her own hominy and says there is no comparison between homemade and the canned variety. Something else I need to try. I don't even know where I'd get field corn for human consumption around here.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Jeannie. I don't know where you might find teosinte seeds or plants to try your idea out. As you probably know, corn is wind pollinated; the pollen grains which come from the male flowers on the corn tassels. The pollen sticks to the threads on the silks of the developing corn cobs. They penetrate the threads and move through the threads to the cob and pollinate the female flowers on the cob. That's why sometimes there's a 'missing' seed on a cob; that little flower didn't get pollinated. This is also why it's important to plant corn that's going to be eaten from the cobs far away from any garden that's growing field corn of some kind, such as multicolored corn for decoration. Pollen from the seed corn could pollinate some of the flowers on your plants, creating a hard seed instead of a sweet juicy one.
An interesting little maize factoid: I took a Latin American Literature class (in Spanish). One of our topics was the Mayan holy book The Popol Vuh. A Dominican Friar translated it into Spanish in the 1700s. The excerpts we read included the topic of maize.
I just watched an interesting show on Nature (PBS) about the evolution of humans from gatherers to agriculturalists - and teosinte played a starring role!
I have never heard of teosinte before and was compelled to look up more information about it. It would be a fun little research project for my kids to see if they can develop a new variety of corn from teosinte. I know that in my garden one year I had gourds and zucchinis cross pollinate to grow a gourd shaped zucchini; it was very fascinating. I wonder how difficult it would be to see if you can develop your own new variety of corn this way.
On a side note: I also have a friend who makes her own hominy and says there is no comparison between homemade and the canned variety. Something else I need to try. I don't even know where I'd get field corn for human consumption around here.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Jeannie. I don't know where you might find teosinte seeds or plants to try your idea out. As you probably know, corn is wind pollinated; the pollen grains which come from the male flowers on the corn tassels. The pollen sticks to the threads on the silks of the developing corn cobs. They penetrate the threads and move through the threads to the cob and pollinate the female flowers on the cob. That's why sometimes there's a 'missing' seed on a cob; that little flower didn't get pollinated. This is also why it's important to plant corn that's going to be eaten from the cobs far away from any garden that's growing field corn of some kind, such as multicolored corn for decoration. Pollen from the seed corn could pollinate some of the flowers on your plants, creating a hard seed instead of a sweet juicy one.
An interesting little maize factoid: I took a Latin American Literature class (in Spanish). One of our topics was the Mayan holy book The Popol Vuh. A Dominican Friar translated it into Spanish in the 1700s. The excerpts we read included the topic of maize.
I’ll have to find that on my TV. Thanks for the note, Wendy!
I just watched an interesting show on Nature (PBS) about the evolution of humans from gatherers to agriculturalists - and teosinte played a starring role!