CORN GRITS

Corn was first domesticated by native peoples in Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Native Americans taught European colonists to grow the indigenous grains, and, since its introduction into Europe by Christopher Columbus and other explorers, corn has spread to all areas of the world suitable to its cultivation. It is grown from 58° N latitude in Canada and Russia to 40°S latitude in South America, with a corn crop maturing somewhere in the world nearly every month of the year. It is the most important crop in the United States and is a staple food in many places.

Maize “the Queen of Cereals” is known as corn and is one of the most important cereal crops of the world. It is distinguished botanically as “Zea mays” and belongs to the grains family “Gramineae”. Maize is the only food cereal crop that can be grown in different seasons. It requires moderate climate for growth, grows well in loamy soils, but a surplus or poor rain adversely affects the yield as well as the quality. Depending on the colour and taste, it is classified into two broad groups i.e. Yellow and White. Yellow maize is traditionally used for animal feed and is grown mostly in the Northern hemisphere countries.

White maize which is generally considered as a food crop requires more favorable climatic conditions and is produced only in limited countries. Based on the size and composition of the endosperm several hybrid of maize exists viz. dent corn, flint corn, popcorn, sweet corn, etc. The maize is an important staple food in many parts of the world and is used as an important raw material in food processing, feed industry and in various other industrial applications.

The corn plant is a tall annual grass with a stout, erect, solid stem. The large narrow leaves have wavy margins and are spaced alternately on opposite sides of the stem. Staminate (male) flowers are borne on the tassel terminating the main axis of the stem.

The pistillate (female) inflorescences, which mature to become the edible ears, are spikes with a thickened axis, bearing paired spikelets in longitudinal rows; each row of paired spikelets normally produces two rows of grain. Varieties of yellow and white corn are the most popular as food, though there are varieties with red, blue, pink, and black kernels, often banded, spotted, or striped. Each ear is enclosed by modified leaves called shucks or husks. Many industrial varieties of corn are genetically modified for resistance to the herbicide glyphosate or to produce proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to kill specific insect pests. In addition, some strains have been genetically engineered for greater drought tolerance.

Grits are small broken grains of corn. They were first produced by Native Americans centuries ago. They made both “corn” grits and “hominy” grits. Falls Mill produces “corn” grits.

Falls Mill mills locally grown whole white hybrid corn. The corn is dried to a 14% moisture content, then each kernel is cleaned with forced air. The kernels of grain are run through the mill stone where they are ground to a certain texture and then sifted through two wire mesh screens. The three products sorted are white corn meal, white corn grits and the bran that pops off. There is a fine bran still in the grits product. This bran will never soften up with cooking. Depending on personal preference, the bran can be left in or removed by rinsing the grits before cooking Grits are an iconic southern dish that dates back as far as the 16th century. They were originally made by drying corn kernels and boiling them to create a mush.

Corn is the cereal with the highest production worldwide and is used for human consumption, livestock feed, and fuel. Various food technologies are currently used for processing industrially produced maize flours and corn meals in different parts of the world to obtain precooked refined maize flour, dehydrated nixtamalized flour, fermented maize flours, and other maize products. These products have different intrinsic vitamin and mineral contents, and their processing follows different pathways from raw grain to the consumer final product, which entail changes in nutrient composition. Dry maize mechanical processing creates whole or fractionated products, separated by anatomical features such as bran, germ, and endosperm. Wet maize processing separates by chemical compound classification such as starch and protein. Various industrial processes, including whole grain, dry milling fractionation, and nixtamalization, are described. Vitamin and mineral losses during processing are identified and the nutritional impacts outlined. Also discussed are the vitamin and mineral contents of corn.

Bihar is one of the largest maize growing state and the crop was grown primarily as a subsistence crop to meet food needs for a long time till recently. But now like in nontraditional areas (Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh), it is also grown for commercial purposes (i.e., mainly to meet the raw material requirements of the animal feed sector). It is third largest maize producing state contributing around 10 percent to national production.

Maize/corn can be utilized in many different forms by converting it into a variety of products, through grinding, alkali processing, boiling, cooking and fermenting, such as corn starch, corn flakes and cereals, ethanol etc. It also has many industrial applications, which can make it a profitable crop in the state. Maize processing and utilization pattern shows that in India, around 60 per cent of the total produce is for animal feed, 28 per cent for human consumption and 12 per cent is used by the industry (starch, brewery etc). In Bihar only 8-10% of maize (5% directly by the processors and another 3-5% is being used by road side snack joints etc.) is processed within the state despite the fact that the state has huge and rising marketable surplus.