Hi everyone, especially those of you in this community. How are you all doing? I'm sure you're all well and doing well. I am very happy to be in this community. On this occasion I would like to share about one of the most important carbohydrate-producing food crops in the world, apart from rice and wheat. Especially in South and Central America, Africa, and parts of Indonesia, the fruit of this crop is used as a staple food. The plant I am referring to is Corn, known by its scientific name Zea mays. And the familiar name for this plant in my area is Jagung.
In some places in my area, corn grains are used as animal feed, a source of food oil, and a base for cornstarch. According to a study, archaeological clues point to primitive maize cultivation in southern Mexico, Central America, dating back 7 000 years. This is due to the discovery of ancient corn cob remains in the Guila Naquitz Cave in the Oaxaca Valley that are about 6250 years old. The Olmek and Maya peoples are thought to have cultivated throughout Central America as early as 10,000 years ago. Corn was introduced to the archipelago in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers.
The stalk is branched with each internode approximately 20 centimeters. From the place where two internodes meet, there is a leaf blade that hugs the stem. Leaves do not have stalks. The leaf blade is usually 9 centimeters wide and can be up to 120 centimeters long.
It is a monocotyledonous plant that has fibrous roots that reach as deep as 80 centimeters, although they are usually in the 20-centimeter range.
The stem is upright and easily visible. The stems are fibrous and feel wrapped in leaf midribs. Corn stalks are quite sturdy but do not contain much lignin. Corn leaves are perfect leaves, having midrib, stalk, and leaf blade. The shape is elongated. The leaf blade is parallel to the mother leaf blade. The leaf surface is smooth and some are hairy.
The flowers of this plant have a separate arrangement of male and female flowers in one plant. Flowers are arranged compound, male flowers are arranged in the form of panicles, while females are in the form of cobs.
Corn kernels are rich in carbohydrates. Most of them are in the endosperm. The carbohydrate content can reach 80% of a grain of dried corn. Eating corn directly after boiling without adding salt, sugar, coconut milk, or butter is the most recommended way.
The nutritional content in corn includes water, calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber, sugar and others. From this, corn is very good for health, especially for preventing diverticulosis, maintaining pregnancy, gaining weight, lowering blood sugar and cholesterol, reducing the risk of anemia, maintaining eye health, protecting the urinary tract, increasing immunity and much more.
But despite its benefits, corn has side effects that are harmful to your health. This is due to over-consumption. Consuming it excessively will result in allergies, risk of pellagra, not good for diabetics, cause bloating, cause indigestion, cause intestinal irritation and diarrhea, cause tooth decay and others.
That's a little bit about the Corn patch. Hope you find it useful and like it. Thank you very much for everything. See you in the next post. Greetings from me to all of you.
@bordan