This major food crop was not known outside the Americas until Europeans found one of the favorite crops of the American Indians.
A few years ago, my brother confronted me about one of my more orthodox Christian ideas, that we should not choose to do unnecessary work on Sunday. I saw evidence in the Ten Commandments that we should do more religious things on the Sabbath than farming or other work which could be done on other days.
My brother tried to quote Scripture, saying that Jesus walked through the corn fields on the Sabbath and picked heads of corn, rubbed them together before eating them, and thus he picked corn on the Sabbath.
I had a little knowledge of the history of corn at the time and shared some of my understanding with my brother. Firstly, there was no corn where Jesus walked on Earth. When the King James Bible mentions corn, it actually means “grain”. Thus, when Jesus walked through the “corn fields” on the Sabbath, it was probably wheat or other small grain. While in earthly flesh, Jesus never saw what we now know as corn.
Corn does not grow naturally as corn. It must be cultivated and developed to become corn on the cob. The history of corn (sometimes called maize) probably began in South America when some native peoples found a wild grass which produced seeds which were good to eat. These natives worked with it and, in time, developed it to the point of having kernels growing in rows on a cob, much like what we grow today.
The newly developed crop spread as the people moved into new territories. In a few hundred years, corn was being grown in what are now parts of the United States of America.
It is now found nearly everywhere in the world, thanks partly to the early Europeans who discovered it when they landed in the Americas. They brought some of the seeds back to Europe and planted them.
Besides being tasty in various cooking styles, corn keeps for many months without spoilage. The dry kernels can be used several months after they are taken from the parent plant. They can be ground into a meal or soaked to make hominy. Also, those seeds can be planted many months after being harvested, and they will reproduce.
Although not as highly regarded as rice, corn is a major food crop that does not grow in the wild. It began as a New World plant with some human engineering to create such a perfect food for animals and humans.
You may find this article on the Internet at:
http://www.scienceray.com/Biology/Botany/Corn-a-New-World-Plant.137908
