how to turn the starch,
fiber, oils, and proteins
in field corn into in-
dustrial products
ranging from etha-
nol and plastic to
high-fructose corn
syrup. I am used in
engine fuel, farm-
animal food, sham-
poo, antibiotics, shoe
polish, wallpaper, and
aspirin. My field version
has thrived as actual food, too;
cornmeal is the foundation of your
polenta, grits, corn bread, corn chips,
hush puppies, tamales, and more. Put
my uses together, and 4,000 items in
your supermarket are made, in part,
from me.
In the beginning, I wasn’t recog-
nizable as corn at all. My ancestor,
teosinte, is a wild Mexican grass with
seeds so small, hard, and inedible
that you couldn’t possibly imagine
they’d become the kernels of today.
In 1500 BC or so, innovative Meso-
americans boiled me with limestone
and ash. That may not sound appetiz-
ing, but this nixtamalized corn, as it
came to be called, was ground more
easily into dough. It also had a whole
new flavor, and when cooked into
tortillas, it gave us one of the world’s
greatest culinary gifts—tacos.
Most important, the addition of
lime and ash helped radically increase
my digestibility and nutritional value
by unlocking two of my key aminoacids, which allowed whole popula-
tions to sustain themselves on me
alone. (Not everyone got the biology
lesson at first: The poor souls who
transported me to Europe without
the limestone trick developed a nasty
amino acid deficiency called pellagra,
which causes light sensitivity, skin le-
sions, insomnia, and a bloodless com-
plexion. It was during an 18th century
pellagra outbreak that vampire myths
got their start. That’s right—you can
likely thank me for Dracula.)SUCCOTASH FROM
SUMMER CORNIn a large Dutch oven
or pot, melt 1 stick (8
tablespoons) un-
salted butter over
medium-high heat
until foaming. Add
1 diced medium
yellow onion and stir
until beginning to
soften but not brown,
about 3 minutes. Add 4 cups
(about 5 ears) of corn kernels (frozen will
work, too), the diced flesh of 1 large red
bell pepper, and 1 pound diced zucchini
and/or yellow summer squash. Cook, stir-
ring, until vegetables are tender, about
10 minutes, then add 1 teaspoon minced
fresh thyme leaves. Add 2 cups frozen lima
beans along with ½ cup water (to moisten)
and cook until beans are tender and a but-
tery glaze coats everything, about 3 min-
utes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve
warm or at room temperature.28 july/august 2019
Reader’s Digest
matthew^cohen