Can you eat glass jewel corn? What are the characteristics of glass gemstone corn produced?

Is corn corn? In some places, it is called that, in the process of planting corn, the fertilizer of corn is very important. Some people say that gem corn is the most beautiful vegetable in the history of mankind, also known as glass gem corn. It is not only beautiful in appearance, but also has a ⋯⋯story behind it.

The colorful crop became popular in 2012 after pictures of the gem corn were uploaded to social media.

Soon after, Native Seeds, which sells the rare corn seeds, began to increase production to meet customer demand. At the same time, someone has set up a Facebook page dedicated to sharing gem corn, where growers can share their corn photos.

The story behind the gem corn is also wonderful. The story begins with the Indian Carl Barnes (Carl Barnes), a man who wants to find his own Native American roots.

Carl Barnes is an Oklahoma farmer. Barnes, now in his eighties, is half Cherokee Indian. He began to grow older varieties of corn when he was young, and in this way he wanted to reconnect with Indian cultural heritage.

In order to find the lost ancient varieties of Indian corn, Barnes traveled all over the United States to exchange seeds of ancient varieties of corn and became friends with many people. Barnes began to pick, store and replant corn that was particularly brightly colored; over time, he developed rainbow-colored corn.

Greg Shane, also a farmer, met Barnes at an exhibition of native plants in Oklahoma in 1994. The latter was displaying his corn crop at the time. Sheen was captured by colorful corn, and Barnes sent some rainbow corn seeds to Sheen, opening the way for Sheen to grow rainbow corn.

At first, Sheen planted only a small amount of gem corn in New Mexico. In 2005, near the state's Santa Fe city, Sheen began to grow gem corn on a large scale in addition to ordinary corn varieties. The mixture of rainbow corn and traditional varieties has produced a new variety. After continuous planting for many years, the corn shows brighter colors and brighter flower patterns every year. Shane named the various colors and patterns that appeared, such as "Circus Color", "True Rainbow", "Deep Blue" and so on.

So how to eat colored corn?

Unlike sweet corn, gem corn is generally not eaten directly because its shell is very hard and rich in starch. Most people grind the corn into tortillas, or grind it into coarse flour for use. This kind of corn can also be made into popcorn, but the popcorn is no longer rainbow color.