What Is Corn?
Corn, also known as maize, is a starchy vegetable that comes as kernels on a cob, covered by a husk. Corn is one of the most popular vegetables in the U.S. that sometimes gets a bad rap because it has a lot of natural sugar and carbs. But don’t overlook the health benefits of this versatile veggie.
Corn is a favorite of summertime cookouts. Popped, it makes the perfect snack for movie nights or parties. Dried and ground into flour, its seeds become cornmeal for tortillas, chips, and crackers. In this form, it’s a grain, not a vegetable.
Farmers in southern Mexico first cultivated corn about 10,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte. Teosinte kernels were much smaller than modern corn kernels. As farmers carefully chose which corn seeds they replanted, corn evolved into the version you know today.
Natives of North and South America grew corn, which they called maize. Europeans who came to New England learned about it and brought it back to their home countries. The pilgrims of Plymouth Colony and members of the Wampanoag Tribe probably ate corn at the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621.
The sweet corn that you eat at cookouts comes in yellow, white, or a combination of the two colors, and it has a mildly sugary taste
Popcorn, before you prepare it, has a soft, starchy center surrounded by a hard gold-colored shell. Inside is a tiny drop of water. When you heat popcorn in a pan or in your microwave, the moisture inside gives off steam. Pressure from the steam builds to the point where the kernel explodes, and the center opens into a fluffy white nugget.
