Facts for Kids

Maize is a tall, strong grass that people grow for its seeds. In many places—especially in North America—people call it *corn*. Long ago, about 9,000 years ago in southern Mexico, Indigenous people changed a wild grass called teosinte into the plants we now call maize by saving and planting the best seeds each year.

Because maize was so useful, it became a main food for many people. Native American farmers often grew maize together with beans and squash in a method called the Three Sisters. These three plants helped each other by sharing space, shade, and nutrients.

A maize plant has a tall leafy stalk with a feathery top and ears along the sides. The feathery top is the tassel, which makes tiny grains of pollen. The side growths we eat or harvest are the ear. Each ear is wrapped in green leaves called husks.

On the ear are many little seeds called kernels, lined up in rows around a hard center called the cob. The kernels can be yellow, white, or other colors depending on the variety. Thin silky threads, called silk, grow out of the top of each ear. Each silk can become one kernel after pollen lands on it.

Different types of maize are picked at different times. Sweet corn is picked earlier when the kernels are soft and milky, often 60–100 days after planting. Grain maize (sometimes called field corn) is left longer so the kernels dry and harden on the plant.

Today farmers usually use big machines called combines to harvest grain maize; these pull ears from the stalks and remove husks and kernels. After harvesting, maize must be dry to stay safe from mold. Farmers store dry grain in bins, while in the past people used corn cribs or kept whole ears. If grain is too wet, dryers are used to lower moisture so the maize keeps well.

Maize is an annual plant, which means it grows from seed, makes new seeds, and then dies in one year. Plants usually stand between about 1.2 and 4 meters tall. Leaves grow one after another along the stalk, and the plant makes both male flowers (the tassel) and female flowers (the ears) on the same stalk.

When the tassel drops pollen, wind carries it to the silk on each ear. Each silk thread that catches a pollen grain helps form one kernel. Maize grows best in warm weather and senses daylight to time its flowering. It uses a type of photosynthesis called C4, which helps the plant use water more efficiently than some other crops. But maize is sensitive to drought, especially when the silks appear.

Teosinte is the wild grass that grew where people long ago first changed it into the maize we know. This process, called domestication, began about 9,000 years ago in southern Mexico. People selected plants with friendlier ears and kernels, and over many generations maize became a crop that needs people to plant and care for it.

Maize spread through the Americas, reaching highland Ecuador thousands of years ago and the Andes later. Civilizations such as the Olmec and Maya grew many kinds of maize and used it in food, calendars, language, and stories. After Europeans arrived, maize spread to other continents because it can grow in many climates and became important in many food traditions.

Maize is eaten in many forms around the world. People eat sweet corn fresh on the cob, or dry kernels are ground into cornmeal to make porridge dishes like polenta, mămăligă, or ugali. In Mexico and Central America, dried maize is soaked and ground into masa, the dough for tortillas and tamales. Maize can also become corn oil, cornstarch, and sweeteners used in many packaged foods. It can be fermented and used to make drinks such as Bourbon whiskey in some places.

Maize gives lots of energy because it is rich in carbohydrates. It is low in one vitamin unless treated with nixtamalization, a special soaking process that makes important nutrients, like niacin, easier for the body to use. Eating maize with beans gives a better mix of proteins, so many kitchens pair them together.