“How many colors do they grow corn in?”
Maize (Photo: Sam Fentress via Wikipedia)
The Six-Year-Old, upon learning that her blue corn chip is made of blue corn and not simply soaked in blue food coloring, asked:
“How many colors do they grow corn in? Do you know, Mommyo?”
Mommyo, automatically: “No, but I can ask Caterpickles. That woman knows everything.”
The Six-Year-Old, encouragingly: “Wouldn’t it be fun if you knew everything too, Mommyo?”
Hmmm, I guess it has been a while since I answered a real question on Caterpickles. I’m kind of rusty, so bear with me.
Most of the time I think of corn as being blue, white, yellow, both white and yellow, or if it’s really fancy, a lovely multicolored bundle hanging on a door.
Turns out corn comes in far more colors than I ever imagined.
You can also find it in calico (or speckled corn), magenta, red, scarlet, pink, yellow, orange, bright blue, dark blue, light blue, black, purple, maroon, brown, white, and even cream.
The Six-Year-Old, counting: “one, two… sixteen.”
Sure, let’s call it 16.
Cornell University’s catalog of corn varieties lists 249 different varieties of corn. It’s possible we overlooked a color. But 16 will do.
(Yep. Completely rusty at this blogging thing. Need to do something about that. But not today. I’m totally exhausted from the effort of piecing this post together. Whew. Writing hard. Is it lunchtime yet?)
Related Links:
- Indian Corn: Corn of a different color (Examiner.com)
- Vegetable Varieties: Corn (Cornell University)
- Corn History and How It Grows (National Gardening Association): a description of the four main categories of corn — field, popcorn, sweet, and ornamental — and some tips for growing them.
CATERPICKLES 
3 Responses to ““How many colors do they grow corn in?””
A lot of varieties of corn, and many of them aren’t even edible. At least they’re pretty to look at… mostly. And to think, they’re a form of grass, or so I learned that once if my memory serves me right.
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[…] Gem Corn can’t be eaten fresh from the cob, but makes a colorful bowl of popcorn. There are 16 colors of corn to choose from. Try growing it as an essential part of a three sisters permaculture […]
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[…] use the site, you still seem very interested in learning things like how do I reset my storm glass, how many colors of corn there are, and (heaven help us) what else pops […]
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