“Corntine” at OCLG
Sonoran Blue Corn patch at the OCLG by Erin Midkiff and Rob Easter
In the beginning of summer, we worked with the Oracle Community Learning Garden to build and plant a patch of corn, which we nicknamed our “Corntine” project. We planted approximately 200 seeds of Sonoran June corn, an heirloom corn which has historically been grown by the Tohono O’odham tribe at their farm near the San Xavier mission, south of Tucson. A friend of ours had bought some of this traditionally white corn (from Native Seed Search) for home use, and after two seasons happened to find a few blue kernels on one ear. He took the seeds with this recessive blue gene, and has spent the last 10 years selectively breeding the corn to have a higher proliferation of blue kernels, as well as selecting for the number of ears each stalk produced. This corn traditionally has only one ear per stalk, so over the years the stalks that had happened to grow two or three ears were selected in order to replicate those genes to have a higher yield with less land use. With the blessing of the Tohono O’odham tribe, we took some of these seeds to see how they would do in the higher altitudes of Oracle.
Our plot was 10’ x 10’, divided down the middle with a walkway. We waged an experiment – planting seeds at twice the density on one side of the walkway than on the other – in order to see how many plants could comfortably grow together, as well as seeing the pollination success at different densities. Corn is wind pollinated, which means that there must exist a critical mass of plants in order to achieve a successful amount of pollen blowing down onto the silks of the ears. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the growth pattern of corn, each silk you see when you pull open the husk on an ear is tied directly to one kernel. So every silk on an ear must be pollinated in order to have a fully actualized ear, packed with kernels.
As anyone who tried to grow anything – or even anyone who maintained a semblance of consciousness over these last 5 months – knows, this was a particularly rough growing season. The rains never came, and all of our plants suffered. We had intended to grow a true Three Sisters patch, but none of our squash managed to stick it out. The tepary beans we planted did better than the squash, though the amount harvested would only be sufficient to make a small meal. These plants should have been happy to grow with the amount of rain we would usually expect during a normal monsoon season, and wouldn’t have had the need for irrigation. Being the realists we are however, we installed a drip tape irrigation system to keep a small but consistent amount of water on the crops daily. Unfortunately, it was still not quite enough.
Out of the 200 seeds we planted, we ended up with 65 or so ears ranging in size from 3” – 7” in length. The side of the patch with higher density had a higher success rate, indicating that the closer the proximity, the better the pollination. Each ear was dynamic and beautiful in its own right. Some had white and blue (truly, more purple than blue) kernels, as well as beautifully mottled kernels, while others were a deep and soulful purple throughout. We harvested the ears once they were fully dry on the stalks, and joyfully spent an afternoon de-husking them. Each one felt like a Christmas present; we didn’t know what to really expect behind the curtain of dried husks. The corn silks were beautiful as well, varying from an auburn gold to deep maroon. No part of this process was not steeped in beauty.
This past weekend, we had our first taste of the corn. We picked 5 lovely ears, shucked them, and processed them through nixtamalization. Processing the corn before eating it is essential – the kernels are cooked with a 1% by weight amount of ground limestone (also called cal or lime) mixed in to the water. By nature of its high pH (basic), this dissolves the tough outer shell of the kernel, allowing the rich nutrients inside to become more available. The ancients did this mostly with juniper and oak ash instead of limestone, which has a high pH and makes for a sustainable cooking solution, though requires a higher percent by weight. If one were to skip this process, the resulting flour will be healthful and tasty, but could not sustain a person or population if corn makes up a majority of the diet, which with native populations it did. This was a lesson the Spaniards learned the hard way, assuming that the native people who had been making their food this way for thousands of years were uselessly wasting time. They tried sustaining themselves on corn without nixtamalizing it, which led to severe nutrient deficiencies and deaths. A lesson in humility and trusting in ancient wisdom.
The smell the cooking corn makes is delicious, which I can only describe as the richest and fullest corny smell you can imagine. After cooking, the corn must sit in the water it was cooked in for 12 – 24 hours. After that time, the corn gets agitated and washed until the slimy gook that the shells turned into is all washed away. This leaves you with cooked (and very tasty) kernels that then get milled into masa. The masa can then be flattened and cooked into tortillas, or stuffed and wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves to make the tamales of your dreams. We opted for tortillas for our first batch. Our 5 ears turned into 23 taco-sized tortillas, which means 4-5 tortillas per ear. 65 ears harvested translates into approximately 300 tortillas. When we first saw our smaller-than-expected yield, we were a bit saddened. But after this round of tortilla making, and the extrapolation of yield, we are heartened to know that in a better year, a plot that size could provide a truly sustaining food source. We can’t wait to try again next year.
