A grass bred so far from its wild ancestor that it can no longer seed itself, and the only major grain that needs an alkali treatment to give up its nutrients.
Where it comes from
Maize was domesticated in southern Mexico from teosinte, a grass with a handful of hard seeds in a brittle spike. Thousands of years of selection turned that into a cob with hundreds of soft kernels fixed to it — an ear cannot shatter and scatter, so maize now depends entirely on people to reproduce.
Wherever it travelled as a staple without the technique that went with it, pellagra followed. Maize’s niacin is chemically locked up, and soaking the grain in an alkali — wood ash or slaked lime — releases it. That process, nixtamalisation, was worked out in Mesoamerica and is what separates masa from plain cornmeal.
Varieties
- Dent — The commodity maize of the Americas, mostly grown for feed, starch and syrup. Named for the dimple in the dried kernel.
- Flint — Harder starch, holds its shape when ground coarse. Polenta and many African and South American porridges.
- Nixtamalised maize — Lime-treated and ground to masa. Tortillas, tamales, arepas, pupusas — the whole Mesoamerican bread tradition.
- Sweetcorn — A mutation that keeps sugars from converting to starch. Eaten as a vegetable rather than a grain.
- Popcorn — A flint type whose hard hull holds steam until the kernel explodes.
- Hominy — Whole nixtamalised kernels rather than ground. Pozole, grits.
In the kitchen
Cornmeal and masa harina are not interchangeable. Masa has been through the lime treatment and will form a dough that holds together; plain cornmeal will not, and a tortilla made from it falls apart.
Maize has no gluten, so anything raised with it is raised chemically or by egg, and the crumb is short rather than chewy.
Choosing and keeping
Sweetcorn starts turning its sugar to starch as soon as it is picked. The old advice about putting the water on before you go to the field is not sentiment.
Cornmeal, like wholemeal flour, carries germ oil and goes rancid. Buy it in quantities you will use.
Dishes with maize
Dikgobesamp or whole corn boiled together with beans
Sidvudvupumpkin mashed into soft maize porridge
Tinkhobeboiled whole maize kernels, chewy everyday staple
Elotes locosBoiled corn on a stick smeared with mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and cheese
SancochoHearty stew of chicken or fish with plantain, yuca and cornBotswanaBojalwahomebrewed sorghum beer for village gatheringsThailandOliangIced black coffee roasted with corn, sesame and soybean, sweet and smoky
LocroHominy, squash and meat stew eaten on patriotic May 25Maize is tagged on 319 dishes from 78 countries in the atlas. These notes are written from general knowledge and carry no per-fact citation — see About.