The grain was so valuable in the days of early settlers that it was used as money and traded for meat and furs. Know more about the popular breakfast food
>Corn is produced on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica.
>Grits are small broken grains of corn. They were first produced by Native Americans centuries ago.
>Before Christopher Columbus’ voyage to North America, corn was grown only by the Indians of North, Central and South America.
>Petrified corn cobs that are over 5000 years old have been found in ancient Indian villages in the Western hemisphere.
>When Columbus’ ships landed in what is now the West Indies, he traded with the Indians and took corn home with him to Spain.
>The Indian name for corn was Ma-hiz which the early settlers began to call maize.
>The Indians of North America helped save the settlers from starvation during their first winter in America by providing them with corn to eat. After that first hard winter, the settlers were taught by the Indians how to grow corn by planting corn kernels with small fish for fertiliser.
>The Indians also shared their methods of preparing corn with the settlers. This included corn bread, corn pudding, corn soup and fried corn cakes.
>Corn was so valuable in the days of the early settlers that it was used as money and traded for meat and furs.
>Corn is completely domesticated, it cannot exist as a wild plant.
>This popular food is high in fiber. In fact, it’s notoriously hard to digest. But its insoluble fiber is tops at tackling common digestive ailments (like constipation and hemorrhoids) by absorbing water, which swells the stool and speeds its movement.
>Corn is a surprising source of several vitamins, including folic acid, niacin and vitamin C. The folic acid in corn is now known to be an important factor in preventing neural-tube birth defects. It’s just as important in preventing heart disease, according to studies that show folic acid can prevent a buildup of homocysteine, an amino acid, in the body. long-term elevation of homocysteine has been linked to higher rates of heart disease; folic acid helps break it down.