Chilean Corn and Vanishing Species

Chilean Corn and Vanishing Species

On Monday of this week, in Chile’s Altacama desert, I was invited to cook pataska, a traditional corn stew, with a group of local families.

It was fascinating to prepare the corn the old fashioned way – by pouring ashes from the fire and some water onto the dried kernels to loosen the husks and render the corn edible – but it was actually more fascinating to see the many varieties of corn available to these rural Chileans. There were red, red and yellow, white and purple, brown, and some jet black varieties, all with different names, uses and subtly different tastes (though I was able to taste just a few).



Fifty years ago, a work entitled “Races of Maize in Chile” [http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADQ458.pdf] cataloged 19 different types, or “races,” of corn in Chile.

In downtown Santiago, it was not clear that any more than a handful of these varieties are still available to the general population.

However, in the countryside, these small breeds of corn can still be found, harvested by rural folks whose families have grown this brilliant spectrum of corn for many centuries.

The reason these many varieties of corn do not appear in urban areas may be due to lack of demand, or it may simply be impossible to grow these lesser known varieties in numbers sufficient to supply an urban population (and a very high percentage of Chilenos live in cities – something like 75%).

It is also possible that the corporate supply chain, designed to maximize efficiencies, has determined that these lesser known species of corn proved inappropriate for a business model that understandably values consistency and the capability to turn out predictably large quantities of product with predictable and generally popular characteristics. Just as many breeds of cows, pigs and chickens are vanishing because they were deemed inappropriate for mass production, so do many vegetables fall out of favor and become unavailable because for one reason or another they do not fit the needs of the industrial farm model for doing business.

This time of year, at the Oak Park Farmers’ Market, I always make a stop at the corn stand to pick up some of the golden ears familiar to all of us in the Midwest. I can’t help but think, though, that our eating lives would be so much richer if we could find a way to keep less popular or less corporately appropriate species of food alive and reproducing, for the benefit of our table and the continuing evolution of all species, including our own.

Interesting post. I personally find corn (and maize genetics) fascinating. CIMMYT has a very large array of seeds stored and available to farmers. Additionally, there is a maize bank near ames in iowa that makes seeds available to farmers for free upon request. Also on the science aspect, maize geneticists are the friendliest and nicest scientists you could meet, I have never met one that was not willing to share their knowledge and love for differences in maize varieties and history.

Superbly simple corn stew, prepared by a Mapuche lady (actually, a member of the the Pehuenche, or “people of the pinon,” whose name and principle dietary staple is the pinion nut, as seen upper right (bringing home a bottle of these nuts, which this year proved rare, as the harvest was not so good).

Oddly, in Chile, I did not see a lot of beans, though there were some manteca beans in this stew. I'm told Chileans eat a lot of beans, thus the expression, "Mas Chileano que los porotos." (More Chilean than beans).

Realize I speak more Mexican than Spanish; certain words here have no or very different meanings: tortilla, frijoles, zocolo, torta, and many others.

Are those fried potatoes on the edge or something else? Looks simply delicious!

boudreaulicious wrote:Are those fried potatoes on the edge or something else? Looks simply delicious!

Plantains. Yes, it was a stupendously simple and delicious dish...and those pinon nuts were the first I'd had that I actually enjoyed eating (they need help from garlic and olive oil).

At the Chicago Flower & Garden Show(?) last spring we were quite excited to find seed packets of a red sweet corn: "Ruby Queen Hybrid~~Maize Dulce~~Hibrido rojizo"~~~"First Ever Sweet Red Corn".
We delayed planting a bit, waiting for the arrival of an earth box. Out of twelve plants in the earth box and additional 6 or 8 transplants, we now have about half a dozen producing plants (thanks to desperately thirsty squirrels and not enough pepper spray). We've got maybe 6 or 8 developing ears--their silk is a wonderful rosy red. I'm tempted to pull an ear in its' "baby" state just to check on the color, but I've resisted so far. Hopefully in a week or so we'll have something edible.
I'll try and put up pictures if interest arises.
If anyone's got squirrel deterrent suggestions, I'd love to see them--the varmints essentially wiped out our tomato plants this year.

bean wrote:At the Chicago Flower & Garden Show(?) last spring we were quite excited to find seed packets of a red sweet corn: "Ruby Queen Hybrid~~Maize Dulce~~Hibrido rojizo"~~~"First Ever Sweet Red Corn".
We delayed planting a bit, waiting for the arrival of an earth box. Out of twelve plants in the earth box and additional 6 or 8 transplants, we now have about half a dozen producing plants (thanks to desperately thirsty squirrels and not enough pepper spray). We've got maybe 6 or 8 developing ears--their silk is a wonderful rosy red. I'm tempted to pull an ear in its' "baby" state just to check on the color, but I've resisted so far. Hopefully in a week or so we'll have something edible.
I'll try and put up pictures if interest arises.
If anyone's got squirrel deterrent suggestions, I'd love to see them--the varmints essentially wiped out our tomato plants this year.

bean, I'd like to see your pix. I've been toying with the idea of planting corn, and I think I've actually removed enough grass from my backyard to accommodate a decent sized planting.

Regarding squirrels and tomatoes, I put offerings of tomatoes along the top line of my fence, and that seems to satisfy the squirrels (who may be hesitant to forage at ground level; we have lots of cats prowling our garden).