Amazing maize: Indian corn travels the world

Chicago Tribune (MCT) - Summer's golden joy, corn on the cob, is a recent pleasure. Through history, most of the corn grown in the Americas was used for animal feed or ground into corn products such as cornmeal or masa, a lye-treated ground corn used for tortillas and tamales.

The first maize discovered by members of Christopher Columbus' exploring party was found in what is now Cuba. According to James Traeger in "The Food Chronology," they described it as "a sort of grain they call maize, which was well tasted, bak'd, dry'd, and made into flour."

Little did Columbus know that this grain was just one of more than 700 varieties that had been growing in South and Central America, tamed by the Incas and Aztec Indians. Columbus brought maize seeds back to Spain, where the plants were called Indian corn.

In the early 1500s corn made its way from Spain to Portugal, Crete and Turkey, then from Turkey to England. Corn was introduced to China by the Portuguese. It was more quickly adopted there than in Europe.

The early North American Indians dried corn kernels for use in stews and soups. And the Pilgrims learned new dishes such as succotash, hominy and pone from the Indians, according to Traeger.

But they didn't eat it off the cob, like we do today. Or baked into a rich, cheesy casserole like the accompanying recipe.

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CHIPOTLE CHEDDAR CORN CASSEROLE

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 1 hour

Makes: 6 servings

This simple casserole, adapted from "You've Got It Made," by Diane Phillips, can be made less spicy, if you wish: Use only half of the chipotle chili. You can freeze the unbaked casserole up to 1 month; thaw before baking.

2 tablespoons butter

˝ sweet onion, chopped

1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, finely chopped

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons sugar, optional

1 bag (16 ounces) frozen white or yellow corn, thawed

˝ cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and chipotle; cook, stirring, until onion softens, 2 minutes. Whisk in the flour; cook, whisking, 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk; stir in sugar. Heat, whisking, to a boil. Stir in the corn.

2. Pour the mixture into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Sprinkle cheese over top. Bake until bubbling and cheese is golden brown, 40-50 minutes.

Nutrition information

Per serving: 187 calories, 40 percent of calories from fat, 9 g fat, 5 g saturated fat, 26 mg cholesterol, 22 g carbohydrates, 7 g protein, 118 mg sodium, 2 g fiber

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