The Science of the World's Most Colorful Corn

[@SciShow]

To discover more about Nature’s Fynd, visit naturesfynd.com. To learn about their remarkable nutritional fungi protein and fermentation process, visit kzbin.info/www/bejne/qaDHgIGijLece5I

[@thesilentone4024]

Tada and people think I'm nuts when I tell them I grow 1 acer of corn start to finish uses 60,000. A normal farm 1 acer uses 600,000 start to finish

[@rockets4kids]

Only for optimists?! Isn't that like racist or something?

[@mambito]

Do more research, In Mexico it has been grown since pre-columbian times, and we have a lot more variety, even blue corn.

[@ArealMrsSmith]

So, if I eat these with every meal does that cover my need to “eat the rainbow” in my vegetables?

[@ravoniesravenshir3926]

Did you know, you can breed "Indian" corn and Sweet Corn, and get something amazing :)

[@Aphelia.]

My mom said they would occasionally find colourful corns in their farm of normal corns. They would hang them to dry and use as an ornament because they were pretty

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

They sold decorative dried corn all over the place in the part of Iowa I used to live in. The local Indian tribes grew and sold it to the regional grocers chain.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Once dried, you could have had it ground up and used it for polenta or even tortillas!

[@kellydalstok8900]

I remember people using colourful cobs as decoration in the sixties. I’m from Europe.

[@heimdall1973]

@@MaryAnnNytowl Would that make blue polenta?

[@heimdall1973]

Picking out odd special seeds and saving them as ornament means she selectively bred corn to make it more and more yellow, I expect.

[@NathamelCamel]

Just finished my first harvest of glass gem, saved the seed of the most colourful cob and now they're growing

[@CapriUni]

Hooray!

[@lordgarion514]

How do the colors hold up to different kinds of cooking?

[@NathamelCamel]

@@lordgarion514 I haven't cooked them. It's a very hard type of horn, it isn't soft like sweet corn. It's main uses are for flour, popcorn and decoration. My first harvest want very good so hopefully a winter crop will keep the aphids away and it won't get cold enough to damage the crops

[@TheGIGACapitalist]

Where did you get the seeds from originally?

[@robertomorales8751]

@@TheGIGACapitalist same I need to know! I want to grow some of this type of corn!

[@gregoryferreira3929]

These are some really cool looking pieces of corn

[@Eneov]

"Carl's corn. It's colorful AF."

[@biggusdickusiv5883]

Follow the leader is my favorite

[@nonameguy2092]

Makes for interesting poop.

[@gunnarneumann8321]

The glass gems look more tasty than regular corn

[@probablynotdad6553]

@@gunnarneumann8321 you don't eat it like a normal corn cob, it's for milling or decent popping corn.

[@SandyRiverBlue]

The Glass Gem corn is what is call "flint corn" and is used for corn flour. If you're looking for a beautiful multicolor sweet corn Painted Hill sweetcorn is one of my favorites. It's a little smaller than the store-bought "Luthers" but really nice if you're looking for variety in you meals. Also you can let it dry out at the end of the season to make a passable flour.

[@Jay-ho9io]

👍🏽♥️

[@scarletletter4900]

I wonder how well glass gem cooks into hominy.

[@pendragon_cave1405]

I was looking for information like this. I figured from the pic they showed it was flint corn but I'd really like to grow some sweet corn that has these cool colors

[@Jay-ho9io]

@@pendragon_cave1405 it's a different cultivar that's sweet and multicolored. And it (gem) makes a good hominy.

[@SandyRiverBlue]

That sounds wonderful.

[@VintageFenrir]

"a fungi based food company-" Oh that sounds interesting "-for optimists." Well fine then, I didn't need fungi based foods anyway.

[@VeganAncientDragonKnight]

As a pessimist, I felt left out....

[@JohnSmith-qq7fm]

A fungi based food company for optimists. I'd agree with that

[@ginnyjollykidd]

Do you "pessimists" like mushrooms? They are fungi. And mushroom spores brought to America from France were some of the poorest kinds. But over the years, American mushroom growers cultivated white mushrooms that are now some of the most nutritious worldwide. A testament to food science in America. Try marinating a Portabello mushroom cap in balsamic vinaigrette and grilling it. Already there's the taste of a well - grilled burger! I'm sure this company can create some great tastes. I want to try the seaweed that is known to taste like bacon! (Is it red seaweed?) If you don't have access to it, try using smoked paprika. It has a surprising bacon taste.

[@KalRandom]

@@ginnyjollykidd I love mushrooms, they really help you open your mind.

[@mayoite160]

I'm pessimistic about whether fungi have enough biomass to feed billions of people

[@DeRien8]

I spent some time in college playing around with cross breeding colorful corn. My favorite was getting color variation in the husks too!

[@chinmayeelenka9589]

Wow 👍👍

[@jayknight139]

Didn't know that was possible.

[@sneeringimperialist6667]

Purple husks are the best, but nobody sells it.

[@gapetheapegod7976]

@@sneeringimperialist6667 best tasting or best looking?

[@KSWfarms]

I love growing older cultivars. It's interesting to see how the grow. My father was a gardener and when he died, I decided to keep a garden growing almost every year (only missed one year) since he died in memory of him and the fact I am but a servant to my rabbit overlord and she only gets the best.

[@badluckbro661]

Sames

[@unclejoeoakland]

Whats your bunny named? Sampras? ALL HAIL SAMPRAS, ETERNAL LEADER!

[@sminthian]

Before you run out to get some glass gem corn, there are two kinds of corn, flint corn and sweet corn. Sweet corn is what you're used to, you just eat it right off of the cob. Flint corn doesn't taste good as kernels, you use it as cornmeal or pop corn. Glass gem is a kind of flint corn.

[@aste4949]

Very, very important to know! Thank you.

[@boabab95]

There are 6 main types. Flint (var. indurata), sweet (convar. saccharata var. rugosa), pod (var. tunicata), dent (var. indentata), flour (var. amylacea), and popcorn (var. everta)

[@Jay-ho9io]

Hominy! You can make hominy with it!

[@Nikki0417]

Thank you. I was watching the video and wondering how these would taste. Also, I've learned even more about corn by just scrolling these comments.

[@sendmorerum8241]

You forgot waxy corn, flour corn, dent corn, popcorn, pod corn.

[@kingjames4886]

I thought this video was going to be kinda corny, but it was a-maize-ing.

[@samuelromero5786]

😕

[@mfk301]

No

[@benjamincarlson6994]

Boo

[@iggysixx]

Ghehe ;)

[@zoesolanki961]

I see what you did there

[@rileymannion5301]

Fun fact: anthocyanins are also what makes some strains of Marijuana purple

[@marymelchior9558]

I was hoping you could include the fact that corn color is partly determined by transposable genetic elements and not simple Mendelian effects. Then segue into the life of the great biologist, Barbara McKlintock. Oh well, another video....

[@flux.aeterna]

Ooooo yes cite those sources 🔥🔥🔥

[@nensondubois]

Or how much more edible they are and some insight on the nutritional value that is affected.

[@PlumpChickenButtocks]

yea, that was the first thing i thought they would talk about when they mentioned the "science" of colourful corn

[@AmberAmber]

@Mary Melchior Right??

[@ambulocetusnatans]

I thought they would mention Xenia.

[@LShropper]

As an aspiring botanist, I LIVE for these plant videos

[@SerendipityIsHere]

I remember reading about Carl Barns a decade or so ago and was on a waitlist for some of the seeds for years. I was so excited when they finally came and have been growing my own glass gem corn ever since.

[@cristiaolson7327]

I grew some of that corn last summer! It's super pretty. There is also a stunning black heirloom corn with variegated pink, green and white leaves that is so attractive that you can grow a patch in the front yard. Also, I'm not vegan, but I can still appreciate a good mushroom patty. Mushrooms are delicious.

[@sarakru2]

His work was so important and he helped bring more attention to crop preservation and heirloom crop growing. I hope he’s resting peacefully and I am growing some of his beautiful glass gems now!

[@elizabethshaw734]

Growing up in Maine I knew of many different colored corns and we would dry out some of them and put a bunch on our front door as an Autumn decoration. There are hundreds of colors of corn and these glass gem corn are very beautiful.

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

my evil mother was cruel she would say I always put a corn out saying I have a daughter for marriage and no one is interested what a waste, I don't hate the decoration just the other.

[@masterdemon21]

In Peru (and some countries near Peru), we have purple corn, we make chica morada and mazamorra morada with it, and they are delicious. Sad you cant have it anywhere else in the world

[@pendragon_cave1405]

Hmm, might see if I can buy the ingredients online and make it. Looked up the recipe and it sounds wonderful!

[@guidoylosfreaks]

We have much more than just purple corn in Mexico... We have it of all colors. We invented corn.

[@Traubeere]

In Asia corn drinks are yellow. Love the purpleness of chica morada.

[@trishapellis]

@@Traubeere European here: you *drink* corn?

[@Traubeere]

@@trishapellis When I am in Asia yes. I have not seen it in Europe though. Its called corn milk.

[@marxtheenigma873]

Reminds me of the fantastic birds we get just by letting all the chicken breeds together in the same yard

[@andrewsuryali8540]

Remember, it's all pecky fun 'n games until one of them remembers it's a dinosaur.

[@frostincubus4045]

@@andrewsuryali8540 *Jurassic Park intensifies

[@diceman199]

we had a couple of chickens of a variety that apparently comes from south america.....blue eggs

[@diceman199]

@@phosphorescentfungi Never could get that name to stick in my head :-)

[@RaumBances]

Great video. Happy to see Nature's Fynd supporting SciShow as well. Thank you both!

[@samrakita4279]

Flashbacks to honors bio where we had to count the number of kernels with different Mendelian traits like color and shape, then calculate which ones were most likely dominant based on the ratio of distribution.

[@isaach.1135]

Oh heck yeah, bring that practical application to life. However, surely there's some kind of more efficient process than counting the kernels individually... not sure how though... "What you learn in bio today?" "We counted kernels of corn for several hours..."

[@SpiritaeliaWolf]

I grew this corn earlier this year. The popcorn it made was a slightly more pleasant taste to the popcorn I usually buy from the shops. Normally you need to have butter and or salt to make it more palatable but with the glass gem popcorn you could get away with not adding anything to it. And it was just really pretty.

[@_Mercival_]

"Noone has specifically looked into the genetics of Carl's corn" Barbara McClintock's entire scientific career and nobel prize: "Am I a doki joki to you?!"

[@ancientswordrage]

It's the Damascus Steel all over again 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@theorangevestarmy4255]

I grow 3 acres of heirloom corn every year. In 2023, I planted my field with a majority crop of truckers' favorite white, a hominy cotton belt corn, as a compliment to it, I mixed in Bloody Butcher Red. The result was spectacular. Most of the stalks grew 10-14' tall, some even 15'. The ears were huge, averaging 11", with many over 12", some 15" long. It makes flavorful hominy! You taught me much in this video, thanks!

[@RealBradMiller]

Almost got Bloody Butcher, but I went with Oaxacan Green, Montana Morado, and Red Seneca Stalker, as well as Mexican Annual Teosinte for further crossing.

[@AnimeShinigami13]

Thank you for covering my favorite variety of corn. I'm teaching myself how to save seeds, including how to breed corn and grains to adapt to my local area. I LOVE diverse colorful produce, so I make sure to order heirloom or traditionally bred open pollenated seeds.

[@XenXenOfficial]

So you're telling me we missed out on calling them maize mazes??

[@fish-o]

mostly mais or maiz around the world

[@johanneshalberstadt3663]

@@fish-o You sort of missed the point

[@cameoshadowness7757]

Just missed such an A-Maize-ing pun.

[@stax6092]

There are actual Maize Mazes though.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

@@stax6092 We call them Corn Mazes in the US.

[@ottebya]

this was the BEST video youve EVER done (and Ive loved this channel fer a while now) ------> please do more biodiversity videos and videos related to exploring Indigenous Cultures

[@splashmt99]

Growing up we just called this: “Indian Corn”. You saw it all the time in Halloween or TG displays.

[@kairon156]

This is really cool. I've known about multi coloured corn but not the science of how they breed or function. One part said something about grinding them into flower which makes me relived sense wheat is very fragile in it's mono breeding.

[@pri.sci.lla.]

Modern sweet corn was invented at my university and we have a sweet corn festival every year 🌽

[@alejandromartinez3475]

My university does a lot of work about corn, we have a random field on campus where they grow new varieties and such. We get corn flavored ice cream pop at the dining halls

[@zatar123]

Glad to see stuff like this. The more we can get back to natural genetic diversity and away from the insane mono crop model of agrimegacorps the better.

[@thedduck]

Just encountered this at the traditional market (farmer's market) couple of days ago. At first I was like, bruh why do they sell these rotten maize?! And now thanks to this video I know what it is. 😄

[@maryrosekent8223]

[maize]

[@thedduck]

@@maryrosekent8223 ahh right, my bad. Hey thanks for the correction. English is not my native tongue, and coming from a country that uses Cyrillic alphabet, it's kinda confusing sometimes with the spelling and stuff, but hey I'm getting better now. 😄

[@maryrosekent8223]

@@thedduck DUDE! I remember how challenging it was when I was in Greece-I got good at figuring out how to pronounce the words, but I seldom understood what they meant.

[@isaach.1135]

@@maryrosekent8223 There's some really interesting psychology going on there. When we grow up learning a language, we have absolutely no context or real intermediate language and thus learn the nuance and actual in depth meaning of words and grammatical use naturally. Not out of deliberate intention, but from necessity and context. Trying to learn another language when you're older is much more difficult. We can't help but translate meaning between the new language to our native tongue but that's not how you "learn" the language and how to use it, only how to translate it. It gets real bad when you loose a lot of meaning through translation. When someone mentions, "it's hard to translate", that's a real thing. Much of the emotion, intention, and deeper meaning may not be conveyed. One of the best but most frustrating and time consuming ways to *learn* a language is to lock yourself in a room with someone who speaks that language natively where you aren't aloud to use your own native tongue. It forces us to learn like we would when we're really young. Having no intermediate but learn the delicate nuance and use through brute force, context, and reaction. We learn a language best as a child, and it's the most effective way to learn. Want to learn a language like you would natively, got to be taught like a child, and treated like one. This method was how my psychology professor learned French while only knowing English as his first language. It took a long time and was frustrating but very effective on a deep understanding of the language.

[@maryrosekent8223]

@@isaach.1135 At 65, I’m happy I remember how to speak my own language! Actually, when I was gallivanting around the world 20 years ago, I picked up enough French and Thai to do simple transactions like order food, get a room, and ask for directions (and understand them when given)-but I will never be fluent in anything but English. Fortunately, I have a massive vocabulary, so when it starts to fall away, I have lots of words I know but seldom use that can be used as fodder.

[@ficialintelligence1869]

Fascinating. Thanks.

[@brokeannbroken2547]

Growing up on a small farm we always took the multi colored corn as a fall decoration & called it Indian Corn. Thanks for this info.I never knew why corn grew different colors. Until a few years I used to go to small farms for my produce. There is nothing like fresh corn,my favorite is white sweet corn.

[@andymanaus1077]

You missed the important bit. Is the glass gem variety for popping, grinding or eating?

[@dgill441]

Most use for cornmeal for tortillas or popping. It’s a bit too hard/fibrous for cobb eating

[@PlumpChickenButtocks]

its a popping corn, but can also be used as a flour corn - most use it as an ornamental decoration

[@Jay-ho9io]

I find if you nixtamlize it you can make good hominy with it.

[@pendragon_cave1405]

@@Jay-ho9io does the nixtamalizing change the colors?

[@Jay-ho9io]

@@pendragon_cave1405 they get a little muted, yeah.

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

Glass gem is actually a decent popcorn. Most of it pops fully. The variation goes beyond color. Mine varies from waist high to eight or nine feet tall. It occasionally tillers, which no modern corn does. The number of ears per stalk varies from one to four, position from ground level to five feet.

[@LimeyLassen]

I've read that the Inca do something similar with potatoes. They grow dozens of varieties in one field, so no matter what happens at least some of it will survive.

[@kelcritcarroll]

Wow! Corn is mich more interesting than id ever imagined!

[@Infernoraptor]

Since (some?) anthocyanins and carotenoids are nutrients, are different colors more or less good for you? Also, if the carotenoid content is in the starch, why is popped corn white?

[@OrigamiMarie]

My guess is that typical popcorn happens to be the kind that's white inside rather than yellow. Would be interesting to pop some corn that's yellow inside.

[@Alpha13Wolf]

It’s full of air pockets which makes it white. Just like how pulling sugar makes an amber liquid white.

[@Infernoraptor]

@@Alpha13Wolf oh, right. That makes sense. Thanks

[@guidoylosfreaks]

Plant pigments are mostly polyphenolic compounds that are antioxidant. That's how they're good for you. They help you prevent DNA damage thus cancer.

[@tommunyon2874]

We had a decorative bunch of colored corn hanging in our dining room back in the 1960s. Our cousins from Minnesota were visiting us in New Mexico and they thought that the kernels had been hand-painted.

[@eliscanfield3913]

Someone at my local farmers market has rainbow popcorn. I love it because the colors on the shelf amuse me as I work through the bag. :)

[@trishapellis]

According to the video the colors are in the seed skins, not in the actual seed (the part that becomes popcorn). So, out of curiosity, you're sure this rainbow popcorn is not dyed? Or do they sell it unpopped? (purely because it would be even cooler if the colors actually stuck around)

[@eliscanfield3913]

@@trishapellis I buy the kernels, then pop them at home; the interior is the usual white color. Of course, they might have a way to dye the outside, mimicking the gem type of kernels really well. (The kernels are a bit smaller than average, too). That stall is one that has several varieties of heirloom this or that, tho, so hopefully they wouldn't.

[@2aminitials]

I've grown a variety of popcorn called "cutie pops" that sounds just like you describe. IIRC not only were the kernels colored but a few stalks had a purplish tinge. AS you stated before the kernels were smaller and the popcorn was crunchier. The ears were only a third as long as normal sweet corn and as big around as a quarter.

[@vgee72]

These purple corns and varied diversity maize are quite common in Mexico, where corn is deeply rooted in the culture. Purple tortillas are a commonly seen in traditional restaurants.

[@Claireimation]

Barbara McClintock should probably at least be *mentioned* in a video talking about colorful corn.

[@milesprower8]

The amount of of understanding of time to continually breed new harvestable plants over generations will never not astound me

[@axiezimmah]

I have been in Peru and the variety is delicious. They even have different names for them. I like choclo, even though it's white, but it tastes different than typical maize.

[@SarAnna2195]

They look like piñatas XDDDD So beautiful, they look like candy XDDDD

[@stevens9625]

"...not everyone prizes such a shallow gene pool." Alabama intensifies.

[@Chromia1]

I laughed at this harder than I should have. 🤣🤣

[@megadestroyer454]

"Get that corn outa my face" - Ignacio

[@matthewford2532]

Americans making the word "corn" really whiffed on the golden opportunity for maize mazes.

[@pumpkinsproutarts]

I have such a huge desire to chomp gemstones and now that desire can be somewhat fulfilled

[@sdfkjgh]

@Pumpkin Sprout Arts: Mebbe you were a Discworld Troll in a past life.

[@noahmadrigal162]

Rock candy is your friend lol

[@pumpkinsproutarts]

@@noahmadrigal162 omg I totally forgot that was a thing thank you for reminding me lol

[@noahmadrigal162]

@@pumpkinsproutarts Hahaha, I used to love it as a kid, funny how many different kinds there are, some pretty realistic ones made out of chocolate too

[@jameswiggle]

this is a popcorn variety so you cannot chew on it. lol

[@RobinTheBot]

Golly gosh, it's almost like non-industrial crop harvesting has benifits beyond profit

[@robertmcgovern8850]

Monsanto will probably sue you for saying that. Then they'll sue SciShow for saying mean things about GMO monoculture. Then they'll sue the late Mr Barnes and let Roundup 'accidentally' drift into his fields. Nice folks.

[@jeremyjdl713]

Took a school field trip to the Dallas Heritage Village in Dallas Tx as a kid and they had this type of corn there. I remember it was October the air was cool. They had pumpkins and other Autumn things out. One of my favorite memories.

[@tullaholicful]

Been growing this corn for 8 years now. Good tasting too.

[@garrettt.0806]

How to you go about preparing your corn?

[@tomtheplummer7322]

Why Monsanto doesn’t like you growing your heirloom corn 🌽

[@ps.2]

Wait, what? When did they weigh in about heirloom corn?

[@ps.2]

@@phosphorescentfungi Right. So, when I asked when they had weighed in on this issue, I guess the answer is ... they didn't. OP invented that out of whole cloth, possibly based on your standard talking points, but not based on facts or quotes.

[@MrSister127]

I've got two packets of glass gem seeds and I'm so excited to grow them this year!

[@benw9949]

I think I'd rather get multi-color Indian corn at the store than regular yellow sweet corn, but I don't recall seeing it. Besides, I'd love seeing the dried cobs with seeds. They're really beautiful.

[@rogerhorky3178]

When teaching my history class about native american culture, i mention that corn is a grain and grains are grasses--and a cob of corn does NOT look much like the heads of wheat, bamboo, or bluegrass. that gives me the opportunity to bring up the artificial selection of teosinte, zea mays' ancestor, the head of which DOES look like a grain head.

[@AmberAmber]

This was A‐MAIZE‐ing!! (I'm such a corn‐ball) 😁😁

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

There might be a kernel of truth to that.

[@Soodlenoup3781]

(Ugh) such corny jokes 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@kathyl9429]

I wonder if the glass gem is good for eating, popping or grinding into flour

[@KryssLaBryn]

Flour, apparently, according to comments above; but there is a similarly-colourful sweet variety called Painted Hill corn! Gonna go see if I can order 'em online :D

[@davidconn3222]

Excellent show, learned a lot from this one.

[@victoriawilliams2786]

As always this was absolutely fascinating too! Thank-you!

[@sdfkjgh]

2:40 Colonel Colour: lamest supervillain ever.

[@jiujennie]

Wow! I learned about how corn reproduce today! AMAZING!

[@blitsriderfield4099]

"several cultures, including Native Americans..." Maize is culturally very specific to the Americas, having been first cultivated in Mexico and not spreading to Europe Asia or Africa until the Columbian Exchange.

[@trishapellis]

I think the idea behind this wording is that the original inhabitants of the Northern American continent are often referred to by the umbrella term of 'Native Americans' because their individual cultures were comparatively similar, and South American cultures are more frequently known by their tribe/culture names like the Maya, the Aztecs and the Inca. The tribes of the Southern continent also grew maize - so the wording in the video basically means "several cultures including the Incas and the Maya etc, but the example we'll refer to specifically is the 'Northern Native Americans'". But yeah it's clumsily worded.

[@KA-uv8gq]

@@trishapellis Mexico is in North America. The Aztecs and Most of the Maya civilization were in what is now called Mexico. Geography should be brought back to U.S. schools. The Aztecs are actually an offshoot of Hopi. All of the South West of U.S. was part of Mexico. Also, Native Americans are present in all of the AMERICAS. The video is right in saying Native Americans and other cultures if he is speaking of present times. But he made it seem as if corn came from somewhere other than the Americas originally. He should have done it in reverse.

[@ps.2]

The Columbian exchange was a lot of years ago, though. There's plenty of cultures now outside the Americas that grow a lot of maize.

[@blitsriderfield4099]

@@ps.2 my point is they don't have the same cultural significance as in the Americas

[@citrusblast4372]

@@blitsriderfield4099 potatoes on the other hand

[@KnighteMinistriez]

I have always wondered what this type of corn tastes like. I have never gotten to taste this type of corn, so I have always wondered what this rainbow corn tastes like. Why can't we have cans and cobs of this type of corn selling in Walmart? I think that'd be awesome.

[@OnlyFactsPlease]

"You are what you eat." So if I eat fungi foods will I become a.... fun guy?

[@marley7145]

Couldn't hurt. Might help. (Note: Couldn't hurt where fungi = edible)

[@isaach.1135]

Maybe, could be a fun trip at the very least

[@newsviewstoday5689]

THANK YOU ! Excellent episode. 💖

[@robertmorgan2723]

I have grown these for years now, they don't make good table corn but they do make good pop corn and the corn pops with light shades of the colors from the corn.

[@suicune2001]

I hope to see more diverse plants at the store some day.

[@davechristensen8299]

Glass gem has so many colors for 3 reasons. 1) Someone purified the line for rare "pastel" genes. Normally pigment is strong and the dominant color blocks out other color genes. With pastel colors, when there is more than one color present, they blend and make new colors. 2) A second reason is that the aleurone layer is governed by 3 genes, not the usual 2 with other genetic traits. With 3 colors possible combining, there are 9 possible combinations in the aleurone layer alone, not to mention the hull and the white or yellow starch. 3) Glass gem contains additional modifier genes that change the shades of the basic colors. It has true blues that are prettier than the common gray-blue or purple-blue. It has genes that turn lavenders into actually pinks, etc. I raise Painted Mtn Corn, which has all the same colors, but it is a flour corn with very soft starch which grinds easily into soft flour for corn bread or any cooking process. Like Carl, a friend of mine, I rescued Native corns from extinction, mine from the colder and dryer Northern Plains with short growing seasons. My corn is feeding thousands of people in the harsh climates of the world, especially because of climate change and drought.

[@EvanBoyar]

Absolutely a-maize-ing, if you'll pardon the corny puns!

[@sweetsagehomesteadfarm5045]

I like the corny pun 🌽😂

[@mr.aldave8308]

In Peru it's really common the purple maize, usually we use it to make juice but also for any other uses we give to the other maizes.

[@schnapps77]

I recommend checking out the corn palace in South Dakota!

[@Aaron_b_c]

Thank you for pronouncing fungi correctly

[@trashcatlinol]

....i wish I had the equipment to mill my own corgn, because I want to grow this variety! I adore multicolored veggies!

[@suelane3628]

Interesting. I think I will grow some. Also interesting: when Quorn was first launched in the U.S.A. it was not popular because it was claimed to be made of Fungi! Unfortunately a lot of people (including British citizens) are not science aware, in this case, there is a basic misunderstanding of Taxonomy.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Heirloom varieties of many plants are endangered, because too many want the stuff grown hundreds of miles away, instead of stuff they can get at their local farmer's market. But if you can grow your own veggies, definitely grow the heirlooms - you can save the seeds from the best of the crop to plant next year, too! My favorite heirloom tomato, for example, is called Cherokee Purple. The taste is better than anything from the store, and better, IMO, than any other variety, period.

[@808BLAddict]

I work at a corn seed company and I just have to say that Corn is an amazing plant!!!

[@wyattqueen1791]

Now modify it to not get stuck in your teeth and I’m sold

[@probablynotdad6553]

Glass gem corn is cool, if you find one with colors you like you can keep growing those few seeds and eventually the cob will mostly be all that color over the generations.

[@sweetsagehomesteadfarm5045]

This is really cool!!!

[@user-zw5jj2uf1p]

In Mexico we still have a lot of colorful corn, specially "blue" corn with which we make blue tortillas. Kids love em cause they look so different from the commercial ones.

[@AngryKittens]

I grew up in the Philippines. In the 90s, aside from popcorn and glutinous corn, we grouped corn crops by two general kinds: yellow and white. And yes, it's based on the color of those strains. Yellow corn were the recently introduced western strains (mostly GMOs). White corn is a heritage crop, locally known as "Tinigib'. It is softer when cooked than yellow corn, and thus commonly used as poverty food in rural communities back then as a substitute for rice. White corn is a nativized direct descendant of the original Aztec corn strains brought to the Philippines from the Americas by the Spanish. And because of this, they are very prone to being colorful. Some of the corn cobs can even be almost entirely black. Even the cobs were distinctively dark red in color. My parents were farmers and owned a mill. I used to sift through shelled kernels of white corn, find the colorful ones, and color grade them by how purple or red they were. They were really pretty, especially if you hold them up against sunlight. Nowadays the cornfields are all mostly the yellow giant GMO ones. Because they're the most profitable for sale to food factories. Kinda sad to be honest.

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Is that Glass Gem corn? It's beautiful, but a bit hard to keep from getting cross-pollinated with other, nearby corn. I'd grow it again in a heartbeat, though! Didn't get seeds for it this year; maybe next year!

[@kamalneupane3660]

Some of the pigmented corn/variable pigmentation are due to Transposal element (TE) which are also known as 'Jumping gene'. They particularly are inserted into a segment of the normal pigment gene and the color is lost. Excision of those TE can help restore the original color.

[@isabel.bolivia]

In my country purple maize is common and it's mainly use to make beverages rather than to chew it's cob like the regular white maize

[@TELEVISIBLE]

I am grateful to the Native giving us this great gift 🙏

[@jameswiggle]

I grow this variety. it is pretty cool. Never got to try it..because it is a popcorn variety.

[@radiclelife]

I can’t wait to buy this~!

[@jessicabauer9225]

Hey we have some rainbow corn, its fairly good to eat if you eat it early ^^ thank you for talking about this !

[@heimdall1973]

I did consider buying and growing glass gem because I wanted to grind it and cook polenta that wouldn't be just yellow. But it seems that grinding blue grains won't exactly give you blue polenta, as the inside is still between white and yellow. Or is the colour of the outer layer strong enough?

[@auroran8951]

You can buy blue cornmeal, It makes a pretty purple blue polenta (that is very soft). If you add lemon juice or vinegar it turns magenta.

[@heimdall1973]

@@auroran8951 I wanted to grow and grind my own, but this sounds cool, too. Where do I get it? Actually, I'll check Amazon...

[@heimdall1973]

@@auroran8951 Interesting. I'll check my local Holland and Barrett as well then.

[@orsonzedd]

Love field corn. Wish it was easier to find

[@zuttoaragi8349]

As long as all the kernels taste the same, I don't care if they're different colors since it makes the food more viable long term. I'd say the same about bananas, but I'm fairly sure that ship has sailed and they're basically doomed at this point.

[@maryrosekent8223]

When I was living in Thailand, I got to try a bunch of different banana types-the small fat red ones were my favorites. I no longer even like the standard yellow ones we get in the U.S.; they’re too mealy and starchy for my tastes.

[@zuttoaragi8349]

@@maryrosekent8223 I've never even HEARD of red bananas.

[@maryrosekent8223]

@@zuttoaragi8349 If you enter *Bananas* in Wikipedia, it includes a photo with a yummy red banana!

[@zuttoaragi8349]

@@maryrosekent8223 Oh that's cool. I never looked because it never really occurred to me there'd be more than yellow and green ones. And brown if you don't pay attention.

[@trishapellis]

I was actually surprised yesterday upon finding that my supermarket has a temporary offer on red bananas. I'm in Europe, and while I know about a few different types of bananas and plantains through Latin-American friends, I never knew a red type existed. Supposedly these were grown in Ecuador.

[@applewhiskey5927]

Growing up we called it indian corn. Beautiful.

[@nariu7times328]

I have a packet of these seeds ready to plant tomorrow :)

[@kolinmartz]

0:54 and this is why it’s advantageous to just make our own corn that’s both efficient but also resistant to pest and drought. As humans we get to have both if we are willing to.

[@daddyleon]

I love this so much!

[@erinhollow773]

Yesss! I love this stuff and hearing the story behind it is so cool!

[@cmoor8616]

How long before a maize corn video display unit? Refresh rate? :)

[@ManzanitaStarwood]

I inspired to grow some unique corn next year!