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Corn
is produced across much of Oklahoma, mostly in the eastern
part of the state and in the Panhandle, where much of the
crop is irrigated.
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In Oklahoma corn
is harvested for either grain or silage, with most of the
grain going to dairies, feedlots, and poultry operations.
On an average year, around 25 million bushels are grown
for grain with a yield of 130 bushels per acre.
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Native
Americans taught the European settlers to plant corn, which
they called "maize."
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There
are many different kinds of corn. Popcorn is made from
one kind of corn that is allowed to dry on the stalk. The
corn on the cob we like to eat is called “sweet corn.
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The maize plant is
an American native. Recent evidence shows it was first
domesticated by farmers in southwestern Mexico at least
8,700 calendar years ago.
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Maize was domesticated from a wild grass called Balsas teosinte.
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Christopher Columbus found native Americans growing corn
in Cuba in 1492.
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By the time Columbus
arrived, it was being grown from Canada to the tip of South
America.
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When the colonists came
to America, they dried corn and ground it as meal for flour.
They used the ground corn in porridge, cake and bread. Fresh
or sweet corn, the kind we like to eat as corn on the cob,
was not developed until the 1700s. Before then corn was only
used in its dried form.
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Americans consume 16.5
billion quarts of popped popcorn annually, more than anyone
else in the world. About 30 percent of that is eaten outside
the home - in theaters, ballparks, schools, etc.
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One cup of popcorn provides
1.3 grams of dietary fiber.
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Popcorn has more protein,
phosphorus and iron than potato chips, an ice cream cone,
pretzels or soda crackers.
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Popcorn pops because
heat builds steam pressure inside the seed.
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Archaeologists have
found ears of popcorn in the Bat Caves of New Mexico nearly
5,600 years old.
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Most popcorn is grown
in the US, but some is also grown in South Africa, Hungary,
Spain, Greece,
Yugoslavia, France, Italy, Israel, Australia, China and most
South American countries.
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Europeans don't care
for popcorn, but the Chinese love it.
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China ranks second in
the production of corn, after the US.
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Corn has been grown
in China since the 1550s. No one knows exactly how it got
there.
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The average ear of corn
has 800 kernels in 16 rows.
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It takes 25 gallons
of water to grow one ear of corn.
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Corn is measured in
bushels. A bushel is about 72,800 kernels of corn..
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About 60 percent of
harvested corn is fed to livestock, and 25 percent is exported.
The rest is used to make an amazing variety of products.
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Corn flour, cornstarch,
cornmeal, corn oil, corn syrup and cereal are all made from
corn. Other products made from corn include baby foods, margarine,
detergents, sandpaper, chewing gum, road de-icers, antibiotics,
potato chips, plastics, cosmetics and rubber tires.
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The US Department of
Defense is testing the use of corn starch sugar, an agricultural
by-product, to quickly remove toxic materials from groundwater.
It's looking like the sugar's chemical structure attracts such
wastes as solvents, pesticides and hydrocarbons.
