corn addict

USDA photo by Keith Weller

Our professor loves to show us different variaties of corns he grows, and I was amazed by the diversity of corn here. My grandma is a fan of corn. She insists on eating corns everyday because corn is a nutritious and has medical values. According to Chinese traditional medicine, corn is good for liver and gall, and can postpone senescence.

But corn is actually an American crop which has beening growing on this continent for thousands of years. In mid-16 century, corns began to be grown in China. The present data shows that the top corn producing countries are USA (over 40% of world's production), China, Brazil, Mexico...

Corn's popularity depends on its diverse uses, from food to industry. Actually only 5% of maize production are used as food, and most of them are practiced from their industrial values.
http://www.ontariocorn.org/classroom/products.html
This website shows zillions of uses of corn.

In Global Warming class, we learned that corn is also an important biofuel source. Even though it has a lower efficiency than sugurcane, it is still considered to be cheap and green that is used in many countries.

After getting to know more about corn, I feel like planting some colorul corn myself now.

Xiyue Sally Zhang