Corn
We had corn last night from a friends farm in Ranger (Riverview Farms). It was delicious -- some sort of a bi-color variety. I need to ask what kind. Our crop is almost ready (photo below), and we are really looking forward to it this year. Celia grows and excellent variety -- "Luscious", and a few others. Corn is one of those classic crops that everyone looks forward to mid-summer.
I remember seeing examples of corn's genetic predecessors on display in the Oaxacan Etno-Botanic Garden, in Mexico. Short reedy plants, small fruit. Not nearly as appetizing looking as our current selections and species, but good enough, it seems, to be planted, selected and replanted for thousands of years. Modern corn varieties that we would recognize as corn probably originated in valleys of central Mexico -- and most likely right around Oaxaca, Mexico, at the confluence of two tremendous mountain ranges. Teosinte, as it was called, was a grass-like plant before 7,000 years worth of selections helped derive the sweet, large kerneled affair we love. I think its fun to ponder the context and history of our "southern" vegetables, and to think how many hands it took to get here.
