organic corn

Hi,

Last week the corn surprised me and was added to the boxes - what fun. Although I always try to give you an expectation list and to be as close to it as possible, this time I was not disappointed at all when I had to add a note in the boxes about the change. Fresh and tasty corn is always welcome. With corn, there is no choice; it must be picked at the right time. It's sweetness is seeked and enjoyed not only by us, but by a variety of other creatures!

There's nothing like eating each thing at the right time. My children and I ate corn for breakfast! Yumm ...

So in honor of corn, "Bim Bam Bam, tiras cham" (This is not an Israeli invention),
which is one of the "sustainers of life"- the basic nourishment of the original Americans, corn, beans and squash, I will continue with them.
Here is another story from a different tribe:

Once there was a MEDICINE WOMAN who was also a mother to three daughters. At a certain point she could no longer stand the constant quarrels of the daughters and she turned to the Creator for help to find a way to stop them. That night she had a dream about her daughters. Each daughter was a different kind of seed, and she planted them all together in the same mound in the garden. She told her seed-daughters in the dream, that to succeed to grow and thrive, they must rely upon and help each other, despite the differences between them. She told them that each one was different, unique and special and that they should recognize it and understand that if they took advantage of the strengths of each, life will hold great things for them.

The next day, the mother gave the girls eggs for breakfast. She prepared a different egg for each. One sunny-side-up, one scrambled and one hardboiled. Before they could start fighting, she told them about her dream and told them that they, her daughters, are like the eggs she prepared for breakfast. They are all eggs but with different texture, appearance and taste. "I love all of you, my daughters, and each of you hold a special place in my heart," she told them. The girls understood, cried and embraced. Since then the girls, followed by the rest of the tribe for generations, celebrate their differences and difference of opinions between them. They love each other even more because of the differences between them.
From that day on, Native Americans planted the three crops together. Three Sisters that help and love each other.
Corn has always been a sacred food for the American indian tribes. With the beginning of the harvest they began celebrating the "green corn" festival that included dances, rituals and much, much food. It was a sacred period, in which it was possible to receive forgiveness for almost all bad deeds. For the Creek tribe the festival marked their New Year.
Each tribe had a different name for corn but the meaning of each of the names is "life." The Shamans of the Cherokee tribe offered a special apology to the corn spirit after corn was harvested.
In day to day life, corn was present in most of their meals. Corn was roasted, ground, baked, fermented for drinking and boiled. In addition, all parts of the corn plant were used for many purposes - fabric, dolls, basket weaving, combustion, etc..

It is told that at the first Thanksgiving (the local harvest festival) held in the Plymouth colony in 1621, a local native American named

Kovadkowein brought a bowl of popcorn.

Yam Kaax, the Mayan corn god

The progenitor of corn is Teosinte which grows naturally in southern Mexico. Its offspring migrated to North America by the movement of the Indian tribes and by trade. It arrived to Europe and to the Middle East of course with Columbus. Within a few years from then, it reached Africa with the Portuguese and also to Japan. Today Japan is the world's second largest producer of corn, after the USA.

Back to the ancient Teosinte. Unlike the corn we know, it's many ears were small and held seeds as

hard as nuts.

Unlike the Teosinte, today's cultivated corn cannot reproduce in the wild alone. Its seeds need our help to separate from the ear. This was probably one of the first mutations that people developed in the cultivating process. They wanted corn that did not loose it's seeds, but would keep them close for easy harvest.

Evidence was found that man cultivated corn 7000-10000 years ago in Mexico. You see below ears from different kinds of corn which were discovered after thousands of years in caves in Central America

Corn is currently the most common and important crop in the world. In 2003, 600 million tons of corn were grown in the world, and the number continues to rise. From a weed, probably discovered by local food gatherers, corn became a staple food and, over the years, was cultivated by local farmers into thousands of different species of corn suitable for growing in various types of climate.
The vast majority of corn is not eaten directly, but is an ingredient in other processed foods (it is very difficult to buy processed food that has not somehow touched corn) or is intended for other non-comestible uses.

Corn is used to create glucose syrup and sorbitol (sweeteners), oils, animal foods (both animals grown for human consumption and pets) and starch which is the basis for many of the processed foods today. Corn is required to prepare Whiskey and sometimes beer. Corn is also used in the plastic industry (the packaging of our sprouts is made of corn and decomposes in the compost), textiles, glue and cardboard. Ethanol fuel is produced from corn, the combustion of which is less polluting than the combustion of petroleum. In the U.S. there are already cars that use ethanol instead of gas.

In 2008, U.S. grown corn was used as follows:
• 5.25 billion bu. - Livestock feed
• 3.65 billion bu. - Ethanol production
• 1.85 billion bu. - Exports
• 943 million bu. - Production of edible ingredients - Starch, Corn Oil, Sweeteners, etc.
• 327 million bu. - Direct human consumption - whole corn, grits, corn flour, corn meal, alcoholic beverages, etc.

Another nice use of corn, to play with:

And to our smaller but most important issues:

In order to eat corn at it's sweetest, you should eat it as close as possible to it's harvest. From the moment of harvest there begins a process of converting sugars into starches - the process that ultimately makes the corn taste like flour rather than sweet. Also, cooking too long causes loss of sugars. It is best to boil water, put in the corn and turn off the flame. Within 5-10 min the corn is ready.
It is better to cook corn with the silk and outer skin still on. I peel first to check for pests/bugs, but add the skins and silks to the cooking water. This cooking water is very tasty and healthy. It's told that it is good for treating kidney problems, urinary tract infections, edema and prostate problems.

Have a good week.

Yours,

Maggie

Changes, additions and/or subtractions by Tuesday at 11:00 am, yes, 11:00 am, please.

Expectations this week:

Regular boxes
tomatoes
Lettuce, probably beautiful red
Cucumbers
Spinach
Zucchini
Green onions
Carrots
Celery or beet leaves
Radishes
Potatoes or corn again
In large boxes also:
Cabbage
Kohlrabi
Swiss chard
Parsley or mint
Fruit boxes:
Avocado
Banana
Citrus??