Can eating CORN turn you into a VAMPIRE?

Diving deep into corn history for some Halloween thrills!

It’s AUTUMN!!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOO!

Photo by Pixabay https://www.pexels.com/@pixabay Used with permission

Autumn is my favorite season, and I am so glad it’s finally here. After a very hot and super busy summer, things are finally cooling down and slowing down. On these chilly and sometimes rainy Autumn days, I love to heat up my oven and get into some baking. So cozy.

This time of year, I am so inspired by all the Autumn foods coming into the markets…so many shapes and colors of squashes and apples, potatoes and sweet potatoes, delicious pears, and also Spring items like greens, peas, and radishes coming back for a brief time.

I found a gigantic 5 pound butternut squash at my local farmers’ market and decided to roast it and then use some of the pureed squash to make butternut squash cornbread!

I always play around with using different recipes and tinker with them. This time, I used the basic cornbread recipe from the Weisenberger Mills cornmeal bag. If you don’t happen to have this excellent Kentucky-milled cornmeal in your cabinet, here’s the recipe I am talking about!

To make this cornbread into butternut squash cornbread, I cut a butternut squash in half, took out the seeds, then put it cut sides down on a parchment-lined backing pan. I coated the skin of the squash with vegetable oil, and then roasted it in a 400F oven until it was soft. I let it cool, then mashed it with a potato masher.

I decreased the buttermilk in the recipe to 1 1/4 cups, and added in 1/3 cup of the squash. Then I baked it as usual (although I bake it at 400F instead of 500F). My cornmeal was white cornmeal, so the color in this cornbread is just from the squash. If you use yellow cornmeal, it will be a darker color.

About Those Leftovers!!!

So we all know that cornbread tends to dry out over time, faster than wheat bread does. So if you find yourself with leftover cornbread, what should you do?

MAKE CORNBREAD CROUTONS!

Simply cut the cornbread into cubes, drizzle with your favorite oil (I prefer olive oil) and sprinkle with some salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you like. Put them, with plenty of room, on a sheet pan (cookie sheet) in a fairly hot oven (I usually do 375F) for maybe 15-20 minutes, until crisp and lightly browned. Put on your favorite salad, if they last that long ( I often just snack on them until…..somehow….they are all gone!)

Nixta-WHAT???

Have you heard about nixtamalization?

Yeah, many people still haven’t heard of it, even though it was a process invented by Aztec and Mayan civilizations about…….3500 hundred years ago.

Photo by Johann Piber https://www.pexels.com/@ironic Used with permission

I’ll discuss it in detail in a future newsletter, but basically nixtamalization is a brilliant process in which raw corn is soaked in a lime solution (the mineral, not the citrus). This breaks down the hull, making it easier to grind, and also frees up the Vitamin B3 (aka niacin) in the corn, making it much more nutritious.

When European folks came to the Americas, they learned all about corn and decided to import this marvelous grain back to Europe as a cheap, easy to grow food. Many people (typically poor-er folks) started living off corn almost exclusively.

However, the Europeans didn’t bother to learn about nixtamalization. They thought that their modern milling systems made this step unnecessary. They didn’t know about the nutritional effects of nixtamalization.

So, many poor people in Europe who were eating mainly corn, developed a Vitamin B3 (niacin) deficiency known as pellagra. Some of the symptoms of pellagra are: insomnia, very pale skin, light sensitivity, and strange marks on the neck.

Does this sound like any monsters you know about?

Like, maybe VAMPIRES???

Photo by Daisy Anderson https://www.pexels.com/@daisy-anderson Used with permission

Yes. according to some research, the vitamin deficiency called PELLAGRA may have been part of the inspiration for the idea of VAMPIRES!

Weird, huh? Read more about corn and vampires and about nixtamalization.

CORNY JOKE!

Q: should you eat corn that has fallen off the cob?

A: maize well!

I hope y’all have a great Autumn and make time for curling up with a mug of hot chocolate and a book, or going our for a hike amongst the gorgeous fall leaves, or whatever you enjoy!

You know where to find me! I’ll be in my kitchen….baking, baking, baking!!