Indian Corn
My grandson asked me this question the other day, and I was stumped—Does “Indian corn” grow with multicolored kernals, or are they dyed to look that way?
Question: My grandson asked me this question the other day, and I was stumped—Does "Indian corn" grow with multicolored kernals, or are they dyed to look that way?
Answer: They grow that way. Colorful "Indian corn" is a type of flint corn, or Zea mays indurata, a very hard-kernalled corn that is typically used for grinding into meal that can be made into tortillas, or used as a popping corn.
A corn cob holds hundreds of seeds, or kernals, that each possess their own genetic makeup. Naturally they can be any of a range of colors, depending on their genes. Single-color corn varieties are "manmade"—they were bred that way by selective cross-pollination.
You can find more information plus a great range of varieties for purchase at Victory Seeds.
Meghan ShinnAuthor
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