Corn Cereals
Corn
Corn is a gluten-free cereal and belongs to the plants of the sweet grasses. It was originally brought to Europe by C. Columbus and first cultivated in Spain. Today, corn is not only a food for us humans, but is also used as feed for farm animals worldwide.
As some of you may not know yet, there are quite a few different types of corn. In Austria we know mainly our “Kukuruz”, but there are several different types of corn, such as the hard corn, the spelt corn or the puffed corn. Popcorn is made from the latter. In Italy, for example, you can find Marano corn, Nostrano di Storo corn or tooth corn.
I’m sure you’d also like to know what’s in corn and whether it’s healthy, right?
The main component of corn is water. Protein, fat and carbohydrates (fructose, glucose and sucrose) are also found in this cereal. Because the sugar converts to starch over time, corn has the sweetest taste after harvest. Besides these ingredients, the corn is also rich in vitamins and minerals. This, in turn, suggests that corn is healthy. However, especially after harvesting – i.e. in fresh corn – the most important minerals and vitamins are still present, which are now no longer to be found in such a high proportion in canned corn. Alternatively, frozen corn is even richer in vitamins and minerals than “canned” corn.
Now for us humans, corn is edible in many different forms and varieties. If it is fresh from the field, then the corn should be either boiled or grilled/broiled before eating. The so-called polenta, a porridge prepared from corn semolina, is also a well-known side dish. Another example would be corn oil, which in turn is made from the kernels of corn kernels. You are probably also familiar with the cornflakes from breakfast.
Puffed corn is used to make the ever-popular movie snack – popcorn. The puffed corn is enjoyed in a salty or sweet version, but is then – also due to the addition of fats – not quite as healthy as a fresh corn on the cob.
Of course, you can also make corn flour. But you can learn more about that in another post!
Bye for now!
Sources
https://www.getreidemuehle.com/de/wichtige-informationen-ueber-mais/
https://www.gesundheit.de/ernaehrung/lebensmittel/gemuese/mais-gesunder-genuss
https://www.getreide.org/online/getreidearten/mais
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mais
