La Fondita a La Mexicana

      Artist Mario Chacon        My blog started as an authentic Mexican cuisine where I intended to create videos of recipes using maize as the base of all Mexican cuisine. My researched led me into the origin of the theory of how maize was created and how it evolved. I have learned maize was not only used as food, but it has meticulously cured to avoid pellagra, which could have wiped out an entire civilization if it was not processed correctly. European settlers tried to grow maize, but most of them experienced a vitamin deficiency known as niacin and got pellagra. They did not have the knowledge nor how to make it in a healthy manner. Maize was a key ingredient in human life and vital for the survival of people and animals.        It was interesting to have learned how maize was brought to the United States and how it populated in most parts of the country. It was made into a beer called chicha and was part of an offer...

     Corn proper's name is Maize. Maize is the technical term for the plant Zea Mays, which is called corn. Corn is the most cultivated plant in the world, it would be a disaster if corn would vanish. Maize was the engine to ancient American Civilization allowing them to survive and flourish. It was transformative and a key component to a way of life.      Maize could not have grown without human intervention, and it was a continuing process as corn got bigger and produced in different colors. In Mexico there are 50 types of maize. Natives grew The Three Sisters together which were beans, squash, and maize. The maize provides a stalk for the beans to grow, beans provide nutrients in the soil, and squash provides shade and protects the roots of the maize. By planting them all together it provided additional sources of nutrients.      Eating just maize can lead to nutritional deficiencies. It does not provide amino acids lysine, ...

     Maize was domesticated from teosinte, a type of grass native to Mesoamerica. Teosinte is a hard seed, and it was used to make larger cobs and edible corn. The fibrous husk was used to make baskets, clothing, toys, and sleeping mats. Many strains of corn were produced in size and taste, but the number one breed of corn was yellow dent. Dent corn got its name because of the small indentation at the crown of each ripe kernel. Today, cornstarch is used as a thickening agent for everything from gasoline to glue, and it is processed into a low-cost sweetener known as High-Fructose Corn Syrup. The use of High-Fructose Corn Syrup has caused diabetes and obesity. Less resources were used when ammonium nitrate was sprayed on maize. Ammonium nitrate is a type of chemical in order to enhance the soil to grow corn at a faster pace. This process not only cut the period for growth of maize, but in the long run it polluted nearby water sources. Feeding maize to farm animals bec...

Maize: The Engine of American Civilization - YouTube The meaning of the Maize God is how symbolic the cycle of life for crops is. The Mayan God was decapitated during the harvest time and reborn at the beginning of the next growing season.