Area Corn vs. Candy Corn: What is the Distinction?

When most individuals consider corn, candy corn involves thoughts—the recent corn on the cob we prefer to boil or grill and slather with butter. Nonetheless, of the over 90 million acres of corn planted within the US, candy corn makes up lower than 1% of the overall crop. The remaining is starchy and dry area corn, which is generally used to feed cows.

Indigenous peoples initially cultivated corn’s wild ancestor, teosinte, over 9,000 years in the past in what’s now Mexico. That corn, known as maize, was extra just like area corn, as candy corn wasn’t cultivated until the mid-1700s.  The revered and versatile crop formed the area’s culinary panorama and performed a pivotal position within the historical past and improvement of North America.

Corn is a significant agricultural commodity used extensively for livestock feed, biofuels, and meals merchandise. In keeping with the Center for Food Safety, roughly 75% of processed meals on grocery store cabinets include some type of genetically engineered components, and corn is a major a part of this statistic on account of its widespread use in varied varieties akin to high-fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and corn oil​.

Although candy corn and area corn are associated, they aren’t the identical. Candy corn and area corn are two distinct types of corn that differ in a number of facets, together with their objective, taste, texture, and cultivation practices. To study extra concerning the distinction between the 2, I spoke with Dave Smoke-McCluskey, a Mohawk chef and proprietor of Corn Mafia, a micro-milling mission that explores native foodways. 

What Is Candy Corn?

The recent corn we get pleasure from grilled at cookouts and seize canned or frozen on the grocery retailer is nice corn, which carries a gene that develops twice as a lot sugar as starchy varieties. “This corn has a number of pure sugars that make it pleasant to eat straight off the cob or in a wide range of dishes, like creamed corn,” says Smoke-McCluskey. Mexican and American cuisines (particularly Southern) make use of candy corn in lots of dishes, together with elote, corn chowder, and succotash.

Candy corn is harvested in the summertime whereas the kernels are nonetheless tender and juicy, earlier than the sugar turns into starch. Smoke-McCluskey explains that candy corn of the previous had unstable sugar ranges that transformed into starch quickly after harvest. “You needed to eat it straight away, and it tasted fairly dangerous by the point it acquired to the grocery store,” he says. “Candy corn breeders have genetically modified right this moment’s corn to supply a lot greater sugar ranges and make it in order that the conversion of sugar to starch happens a lot slower,” which is a follow that started within the late Sixties. This longer shelf life means super-sweet varieties keep candy for as much as 10 days after harvest.

Candy corn is obtainable in white, mild yellow, and bicolored varieties, however Smoke-McCluskey says there isn’t a lot of a discernible distinction in taste. “They’re all candy and scrumptious.”

When purchasing to your sweet corn recipes on the grocery retailer or farmers market, he says to search for ears with recent, inexperienced leaves however brown silks on the prime—an indication that the corn was ripe when picked. The silk inside ought to nonetheless be gentle and the kernels ought to be plump, not shriveled, although peeling again the husk to verify the kernels understandably aggravates many corn distributors, so we do not suggest this. Ideally, you may belief your vendor and know that the corn was harvested at its peak, however you can even really feel for the complete kernels by way of the husk.

If you happen to’re rising your individual candy corn and do not thoughts poking a gap in a kernel, you may inform it is prepared when you puncture a kernel and milk comes out. If the juice is evident, it’s too early; if there’s no juice, it’s too late. Reduce it when the time is true as a result of corn does not proceed to ripen off the stalk.

Professional tip: In case your candy corn is previous its prime, Smoke-McCluskey says you may soak the cobs in sugar water (1/2 cup of white sugar per gallon of water) for a few hours to plump them again up.

What Is Area Corn?

Area corn can seek advice from any starchy selection, however most area corn within the US is dent corn, which will get its identify from the dimple on the finish of every kernel that varieties because it dries out. 

Though area corn kernels begin out gentle like candy corn, this selection is left to dry on the stalks within the area earlier than harvesting within the fall as soon as a lot of its sugar content material has transformed into starch, which means it’s not candy and juicy. And also you received’t see any area corn on the grocery retailer.

“If you happen to seize an ear of area corn and take a chew, you will in all probability chip a tooth,” says Smoke-McCluskey. About 40% of US dent corn is used as a feed grain for livestock, according to the USDA. Many of the relaxation is funneled into making ethanol gasoline, whereas a small portion is milled to make meals and drinks, akin to cereal, tortilla chips, whiskey, and grits. 

The kernels of economic area corn are sometimes a deep yellow-orange, known as “yellow gold.” Nonetheless, heirloom varieties have kernels that span the colours of the rainbow. 

Smoke-McCluskey likes to nixtamalize many sorts of area corn to make hominy. Nixtamalization, a.okay.a. lyeing and washing, is a course of wherein area corn is boiled in water and hardwood ash, says Smoke-McCluskey. “The alkaline high quality of the combination softens the kernels sufficient to peel off their powerful outer hull, making the corn extra digestible and its dietary advantages extra bioavailable.” 

Among the many Mohawk individuals of the Northeast, lyed corn is utilized in soups, stews, grits, mush, and cornbread. Smoke-McCluskey works with seed savers and growers, akin to The Congaree Milling Company, to nixtamalize and coarsely grind hominy grits on the market to cooks and specialty shops. In Mexican delicacies, the nixtamalized combination is floor into masa for tamales and tortillas.

Different Kinds of Corn

Many of the United States grows the very same number of corn from one seed, from one firm. We’re not going to get into that right here, however there are nonetheless many different flavors and nuances in numerous kinds of corn to be discovered, together with indigenous area, flour, and flint varieties which are as scrumptious and nutrition-dense as they’re lovely. 

The Takeaway

Candy corn is cultivated and harvested for its sweetness and tenderness, making it ultimate for direct human consumption—akin to boiling for corn on the cob or turning into chowder. In the meantime, area corn is grown for its excessive starch content material and flexibility. Resulting from its powerful texture and decrease sugar content material, it’s not sometimes consumed recent however is often used as animal feed and in ethanol manufacturing. It is usually nixtamalized and used to make masa, grits, mush, and cornbread.