Today I would like to take a journey back in time over 5600 years ago. We travel south over the amazing Grand Canyon then down past the Rio Grande River and into the heart of Mexico. We'll journey through the jungles filled with Jaguar, Spider monkeys, Anteaters, Emerald Toucans, and River crocodiles, to the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Here the Aztecs used an unusual system of gardening called Chinampas, which are “floating” gardens which they constructed throughout the series of lakes that once formed this ancient city. Today this city is called Mexico City. It is here we will find the most amazing wild grass in the world, Teosinte Grass, or maize as it is sometimes called. This grass was found to have an edible kernel or two and it looked more like oats or barley. The Aztec's selected grasses with more and more kernels and kept planting them until what we know today as Maize or corn was developed on cobs. From here it spread down to Peru and upwards to North America. Corn is a human invention, a plant that does not exist naturally in the wild. It can only survive if planted and protected by humans.

The most common types are flint, dent, sweet, flour and of course popcorn.

Flint corn, (Zea mays indurata) also known as Indian corn, has a hard outer shell and kernels with a range of colors from white to red

Dent corn, (Zea mays indenata) often called "field corn" is often used as livestock feed. It is also the main kind of corn used when making industrial products and various foods. It can be either white or yellow.

Sweet corn, (Zea saccharata or Zea rugosa) is often eaten on the cob or it can be canned or frozen. r. Sweet corn gets its name because it contains more sugar than other types of corn. It comes in White, Yellow and Bi Colored. It takes longer for the starch to turn to sugar and will stay sweet up to a week after picking. My favorite is the bi-colored variety called Peaches and Cream.

Popcorn, (Zea mays everta) a type of flint corn, has a soft starchy center that is covered by a very hard shell. When popcorn is heated the natural moisture inside the kernel turns to steam that builds up enough pressure for the kernel to explode, when the kernel explodes the white starchy mass that you like to eat forms.

Flour corn, (Zea mays amylacea) is used in baked goods because it has a soft, starch-filled, kernel that is easy to grind. Flour corn is primarily white, although it can be grown in other colors, for example, blue corn. One of the oldest types of corn, flour corn was a chief type grown by Native Americans

Maize or Corn is one of the most amazing plants in the world. Farmers grow it on every continent of the world, except Antarctica. Corn is the most widely distributed crop in the world. Corn can grow at altitudes as high as 12,000 feet in the South American Andes Mountains and as low as sea level. It can also grow in tropical climates that receive up to 400 inches of rainfall a year or in areas that receive only 12 inches.

Long before the automobile became the common form of transportation in the United States, corn was being converted into ethyl alcohol, or ethanol. Many of the earliest engine prototypes were designed to run on ethanol. Do you get the feeling we took a wrong turn in America a hundred years ago. Well, now we are getting back on track. Today Ethanol is a growing market for corn. Ethanol plants are creating corn-based fuel that increases our domestic energy supply--and losses the economic stranglehold of our dangerous dependence on imported oil. Renewable corn is replacing scarce petroleum in plastics, chemicals and industrial applications — enhancing our environment, economy and energy security

There are over 3000 different uses for corn products and more uses are being found each day, like paints that are more environmentally friendly than their petroleum counterparts.

Corn is in your soft drinks. It can be in your windshield wiper fluid. Corn is in pharmaceuticals. Corn is cleaning up the air. It's cleaning up the water. And someday, corn will be in hydrogen fuel cells.

Corn is also a major component in many food items like cereals, peanut butter and snack foods.

Calcium magnesium acetate or CMA is a non-corrosive road deicer that can be made from either petroleum or corn. CMA does not contain sodium or chloride, so it is safe in watersheds and agricultural areas and will not damage roads and bridges.

Corn not only tastes incredible, it is one of the very best dietary sources of two antioxidant carotenoids-cousins of Vitamin A-called lutein and zeaxanthin. Like other carotenoids, they seem to play a role in preventing heart disease and cancer. In addition, several recent studies have shown that a high intake of lutein and zeaxanthin is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of a chronic eye disease called macular degeneration. Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is not some obscure medical condition--it is the leading cause of legal blindness among the elderly. According to the National Eye Institute, 25% of the population over 65 years of age shows signs of this progressively debilitating condition, for which there is no cure. Did You Know: The yellow pigment in corn, “lutein” and “zeaxanthin” are members of the caratenoid family? They protect a super sensitive part of the eye called the macula-a crucial part of vision that is lost as we age and causes blindness in the elderly. Only yellow corn has this pigment. Eat yellow corn! It is Low Fat, Saturated Fat Free, Cholesterol Free, and a Good Source of the antioxidant Vitamin C.

Corn is not only delicious it will help you see that it is our best hope for an incredible future. Yes Superman has returned to save the earth but he is not running through the fields of corn like in the movies he is the field of Corn. I love to eat sweet corn raw. Try it next time and enjoy this incredible gift from Mother Nature that was helped along by the hands of the Aztecs.