The plant is also used integrally for various purposes, some examples are: the use of the sweet sap of the stem as a substrate to make alcoholic beverages, the use of the modified leaves that cover the cob to wrap the tamales, and as raw material for the manufacture of handicrafts or fodder.
In fact, corn was an essential part of life in Mayan culture many years ago, and still is important in our traditions and its uses have been transformed and traveled the entire world. For more information, visit our websites: www. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to content. Post navigation Previous. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.
Indeed, according to Mayan legends, humans were created from maize after two unsuccessful attempts to create humans out of mud or wood. In addition to the creation story, many of the Mayan legends revolve around maize, and images of maize have been found on archeological artifacts, murals, and hieroglyphs of these early civilizations.
The Foliated Maize God, on the other hand, symbolizes a still young, tender and green maize ear. Native Americans, even today, grind maize into flour for cornbread, tortillas, and other uses using a mortar and pestle or a metate a stone with a depression in the middle , and mano a handheld stone used for pounding.
They also use all parts of the plant: the husk can be used for mats, baskets, mattress stuffing, and dolls; the cobs are burned for fuel. Furthermore, maize production and pricing are important to both food security and political stability in Mexico. However, it is agreed that teosinte a type of grass is one of its genetic ancestors. Ancient Mesoamerican farmers realized this genetic mutation of teosinte resembled food and saved seeds from their best cobs to plant the next crop.
Through generations of selective breeding based on the varying preferences of farmers and influenced by different climates and geography, maize evolved into a plant species full of diversity. As Popol Vuh , the Mayan creation story, goes, the creator deities made the first humans from white maize hidden inside a mountain under an immovable rock. To access this maize seed, a rain deity split open the rock using a bolt of lightning in the form of an axe. This burned some of the maize, creating the other three grain colors, yellow, black and red.
The creator deities took the grain and ground it into dough and used it to produce humankind. The foliated maize god represents a still young, tender, green maize ear. Maize was the staple food in ancient Mesoamerica and fed both nobles and commoners. They even developed a way of processing it to improve quality.
Nixtamalization is the Nahuatl word for steeping and cooking maize in water to which ash or slaked lime calcium hydroxide has been added.
Nixtamalized maize is more easily ground and has greater nutritional value, for the process makes vitamin B3 more bioavailable and reduces mycotoxins. White hybrid maize produced through cross pollination in Mexico has been bred for making tortillas with good industrial quality and taste. However, many Mexicans consider tortillas made from landraces native maize varieties to be the gold standard of quality.
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