Mexico's heirloom corn strains are resurging amid more demand
nbcnews.com
nbcnews.com
Even more amusing, he says there was a conference at the Univ. of Illinois in 1969 on this, and it was so contentious (even getting personal at times) that no papers resulted.
If, ten thousand years ago, you had been asked to guess which would be the seat of the greatest future civilizations, you would probably have settled on some part of Central or South America on the basis of the amazing things they were doing with food there. Academics call this portion of the New World Mesoamerica, an accommodatingly vague term which could fairly be defined as Central America plus as much or as little of North and South America as are needed to support a hypothesis.
Mesoamericans were the greatest cultivators in history, but of all their many horticultural innovations none was more lastingly important or unexpected than the creation of maize, or corn as it is known where I come from.* We still don’t have any idea how they did it. If you look at primitive forms of barley, rice or wheat set beside their modern counterparts you can see the affinities at once. But nothing in the wild remotely resembles modern corn. Genetically its nearest relative is a wispy grass called teosinte, but beyond the level of chromosomes there is no discernible kinship. Corn grows into a hefty cob on a single stalk and its grains are encased in a stiff, protective husk. An ear of teosinte, in comparison, is less than an inch long, huskless and grows on a multiplicity of stems. It is almost valueless as a food; one kernel of corn is more nutritious than a whole ear of teosinte.
It is beyond us to divine how any people could have bred cobs of corn from such a thin and unpropitious plant – or even thought to try. Hoping to settle the matter once and for all, in 1969 food scientists from all over the world convened at ‘An Origin of Corn Conference’ at the University of Illinois, but the debates grew so vituperative and bitter, and at times personal, that the conference broke up in confusion, and no papers from it were ever published. Nothing like it has been attempted since. Scientists are now pretty sure, however, that corn was first domesticated on the plains of western Mexico and are in no doubt, thanks to the persuasive wonders of genetics, that somehow it was coaxed into being from teosinte, but how it was done remains as much a mystery as it ever did.
I think I ignored his last sentence. But then he doesn't tell us what the controversy WAS.
Somehow, it had to be selective breeding, since what other explanation is there? But WHY people did it, and what motivated them -- I don't know what evidence there could be.
ChatGPT tell us:
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The transformation of teosinte into maize (corn) is considered one of the most significant achievements in agricultural history. Mesoamericans, the indigenous peoples of present-day Mexico and Central America, were responsible for this domestication process, which occurred over thousands of years. This transformation involved careful selection and cultivation of teosinte plants with desirable traits, leading to the development of the maize we know today.
Here are the key steps involved in how Mesoamericans turned teosinte into maize:
Observation and Gathering: Mesoamerican communities initially observed wild teosinte plants growing in their natural habitats. Teosinte is a wild grass with small, tough kernels. Over time, they realized that some teosinte plants had slightly larger and more accessible kernels, which could potentially be useful for food.
Selective Harvesting: They started to selectively harvest teosinte plants with the most desirable traits, such as larger seeds or fewer hard outer coverings. By saving and replanting the seeds from these chosen plants, they promoted the propagation of desired characteristics in the next generation.
Controlled Planting: Mesoamericans began to cultivate teosinte near their settlements, providing a controlled environment for its growth. This controlled planting allowed them to have more influence over the breeding and development of teosinte plants with preferred traits.
Repeated Selection and Domestication: Over generations, Mesoamericans continued to save seeds from the teosinte plants that exhibited the most favorable traits. Gradually, the teosinte plants underwent a process of domestication, with their characteristics evolving to become more like those of modern maize.
Artificial Selection: The process of domestication also involved artificial selection, where humans intentionally chose plants with specific features and bred them together to enhance those traits in the next generation.
Increasing Yield: As the domestication process progressed, the size and yield of the maize cobs increased, and the seeds became more substantial and easier to process as a food source.
Cultural Significance: Maize became deeply ingrained in the culture and traditions of Mesoamerican societies. It played a crucial role in their diets and rituals and became a staple crop in their agricultural practices.
This process of gradual domestication led to the transformation of teosinte into maize, creating a crop that was much more productive and nutritious for Mesoamerican communities. It's essential to note that this domestication was a result of generations of careful observation, selection, and cultivation by the indigenous people of the region, showcasing their knowledge and understanding of plant genetics and agriculture.
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Honestly, I'd like to hear what's controversial about this.
Now I have to know.
Update: I think Bryson is behind the times. In 1969, genetic sequencing hadn't advanced very much, and some people couldn't believe teosinte could become corn via selective breeding. However, they've lost the argument now.
There is a rich diversity of crops around the world that need examination, you never know what you'll find.
How is this different from other nitrogen-fixing species that are already known? Some olives, plenty of legumes such as soy beans, clover and alfalfa all have symbiotic relationships with bacteria for this.
It does it in a radically different way - pulling bacteria up from the soil into weird drippy goo from roots dangling midair. The video and various articles aren't totally clear on this point, but it suggests it can pull a lot more nitrogen out of the air than other known nitrogen fixing plants (which keep the bacteria underground on their roots).
The video of the natural form of this showed what appeared to be some very wet slime that was fully exposed to the open air. I'm guessing extra water requirements to keep this mass wet for the bacteria would be prohibitive at modern farming scales.
Yes, Masienda rocks, and making one's own masa from homemade nixtamal is extraordinary. Many of us learned the idea of using an Indian wet grinder from "Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico", where Bricia Lopez recommends the Premier Small Wonder Table Top Wet Grinder that I have used for years. It takes 40 minutes of scraping every now and then, adding water to yield a too-wet masa one dries with a bit of masa harina.
A dramatic improvement comes by instead using a chocolate refiner based on the same unit, with custom hardware. My favorite hardware store puzzle: Who else has my problem? Home chocolate makers are famously particular.
https://www.melangers.com/products/premier-chocolate-refiner...
Masienda sells a tabletop "Molinito" masa grinder. I've eaten tortillas at a restaurant that uses this grinder, and I was not impressed. It could be that they chose a coarser texture to impress on their customers that this was artisan food! However, the original method of hand grinding masa took time. An Indian wet grinder more closely replicates this process than any "one and done" mill.
Rancho Gordo beans are transformatively good - I absolutely love them as long as they're not criminally overcooked. I still hate other normal beans from the supermarkets.
They're really THAT good. Highly recommend them to anyone.
For mass market commercial production, probably not.
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-corn-based-e...
Even if the only thing ethanol in gasoline did was increase octane, it's such a big improvement in safety compared to MTBE that it would still be a success. If you think early 2000s america gave a fuck about carbon emissions when the current administration was literally an oil baron, IDK what to tell you.
Of all places I could think of spreading the word HN was definitely the last place :D
Masa Harina is becoming pretty easy to find though. Most asian (for some reason) grocers carry it.
More interestingly, I was extremely surprised to discover that nixtamal is completely absent in South America, despite the high consumption of corn products. I lived in Peru for a time, and buying nixtamal was impossible, not one vendor, physical or online, carried it.
US industrialized food is almost universally bland and tasteless compared to home grown because they're picked too early and bred for aesthetics and transport - it's an issue every immigrant I know struggles with. On top of that, there are dozens if not hundreds of different varieties that haven't been commercialized for every fruit or vegetable in the grocery store so there's a whole world of flavors and textures that most people haven't experienced.
I'd guessing lots of other warm season grasses which need not be corn. Most gardens grow many things that are not warm season grass. That is plants that don't grow very tall.
There are also general quirks with growing them. Experience lends me to suggest that heirlooms are more immediately sensitive to the environment that convention varieties. Buying from baker creek who are out in the Midwest, Seeds are going to have a different response in the growing in the SE Atlantic region, that response seems more pronounced although I have no idea of how to quantify it.
Ultimately I think it is worth it, it is fun, and it taps into more of the holistic aspects of gardening. For example, learning how to make quesadillas because your heirloom corn gets infected with corn smut, so instead of an infection you have a product.
That kind of frame-shift i think goes into the nostalgia of Doing It How We Used To.
There are heirloom sweet corn varieties, but they have to be cooked in minutes/hours from harvesting to remain sweet.
As far as the starchy corn, you won't get a lot of flavor difference.
Hybrid seeds usually do not come true to type if kept.
Commercial varieties also often have some kind of IP restriction which makes it illegal to grow from seed you kept.