What Ancient Farmers Had Right About Corn That We Ignore | WIRED

maize or corn is one of the most widely grown grains in the world and is a staple in many of our diets but what you might not know is that the way that much of it is processed has contributed to making millions of people sick and killing hundreds of thousands over the past 500 years i'm dr bill schindler food archaeologist chef and director of the eastern shore food lab at washington college our modern approach to food processing which prioritizes convenience and profit over safety and nutrition has negatively impacted the nutritional value of maize for our human bodies however there is a process that will transform maize into its most nutritious and delicious form but that process has yet to be adopted by most of the world and that's what we're going to talk about today archaeological evidence suggests that maize domestication may have started thousands of years ago in the balsas valley of mexico it comes from a wild grass known as teosente and these right here are grains from the wild teosinte plant now archaeologists are not even sure why maize domestication even started in the first place was it for food was it for the alcohol they could create out of it was it for some utilitarian purpose or was it for something else altogether what we do know is that the genetic mutations that have occurred have transformed wild teosentei grains into maize as we know it today for example early versions of maize had kernels that were individually wrapped just like this this required a tremendous amount of time and labor to harvest so early farmers were able to genetically modify maize to produce a cob covered by one husk like we know it today these types of transformations increase the volume of food and decrease the amount of work necessary to access that food however maize is one of the most difficult grains in the world for our human digestive tracts to fully break down and from which to derive the maximum amount of nutrition it is very high in cellulose and insoluble fiber that our bodies cannot break down and some of the nutrients exist in forms that our bodies just can't access however early farmers discovered a process known as nistomalization which provided their bodies access to that nutrition originally this process involves steeping kernels of maize in a solution of water and wood ash but over time wood ash was replaced with lye and even pickling lime but the process remains the same the mixture of a base with water creates an alkaline solution which chemically and physically transforms the maize into its safest and most nourishing form possible for our digestive tracts mestamalization has many benefits for instance it detoxifies grains and neutralizes anti-nutrients such as phytic acid it raises the calcium content by up to 400 percent increases the protein quality improves the amino acid balance and releases niacin from niacin its natural form which is bound up and otherwise unavailable to our bodies finally it makes the grains easier to grind and transforms the flavor aroma and texture nastamalizing maize produces niche tamale and grinding this tamal produces a dough known as masa from masa a number of different traditional foods can be made such as tortillas tamales and even a drink known as atole when made properly using traditional processing these foods are incredibly nourishing today maize is in almost every processed food and is a staple for people around the world however in modern food processing the crucial nistomalization process is almost always skipped over outside of areas with ancient ties to maize production in fact many food producers likely don't even know it's a possibility when nistomization is skipped much of the maize's nutrition remains locked up and inaccessible to our bodies no matter how we cook it when we eat maize like this we are literally passing nutrients from our food through our bodies and into our waste historically this widespread absence of nichtomization and maize processing has even led to more serious problems across the globe there is a disease called pellagra caused by a deficiency of niacin in the diet that produces symptoms such as red scaly skin diarrhea dementia and in advanced stages even death over the past several hundred years as maize has spread around the world this disease has followed in its wake because maize is incredibly cheap and filling it regularly dominates diets often to the exclusion of other food and essential nutrients cultures that become over-reliant on maize maize that has not been nastamolized do not have access to all the nutrition that it contains as a result millions of people around the world ate massive quantities of maize became deficient in niacin and pellagra ran rampant just think about how crazy that is people around the world are getting sick and dying from a niacin deficiency while eating large amounts of a food that contains niacin while this might not be a big concern for you in your area there are still places that rely heavily on maze experiencing this problem in the early 20th century millions of americans got pellagra which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands when we realized what the problem actually was instead of adopting the practice of nistomalization we made the decision to artificially enrich foods with niacin when we artificially enrich our food we're addressing one symptom but we're missing the much larger underlying problem yes it provides us with niacin but we miss out on all the other benefits of nistomalization and just as importantly we miss out on the opportunity to connect with a traditional practice that has such incredible cultural significance to meet the demand of an ever-increasing population scientists are developing things like new insecticides and genetic modifications to increase maize production but before taking such drastic measures i wonder if we shouldn't first do everything that we can to make the most of the maze that we're already growing and harvesting since maize is the most widely grown grain in the world just think about the impact that nastamalizing every single kernel of it would have on our food supply there are choices that you can make and things that you can do to make a difference make a statement with your paycheck and support small tortillas and local food producers who are doing everything possible to produce safe nourishing food remember tortillas contain one ingredient nishtamali's maize refuse to purchase tortillas that contain dozens of ingredients or better yet nastamalyze maize and make tortillas from scratch in your own kitchen for millions of years our ancestors developed technologies and approaches to food to make it safe nutrient dense and bioavailable but most modern food processing does the exact opposite today for the first time in the history of the world we can create obesity and malnutrition in the same individual that means the processed food that we're eating is so free of nutrients that we can eat massive quantities of it and still be malnourished this isn't just happening with maize it's happening in different ways throughout our food system this is a problem we don't need new food innovations to solve early maize farmers solved this problem thousands of years ago what we need to do is look to the past and incorporate those traditional practices into our modern food system

Channel: WIRED

Views: 84,423

Keywords: maize, maize food myths, food myths maize, wired food myths, nixtamalization, corn farmers, corn farm, corn tortillas, corn tortilla, food myths corn, wired maize, dr. bill schindler, ancient farmers corn, corn wired, making corn, how corn is made, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn mexico, nixtamalization corn, corn nixtamalization, corn foods, foods made from corn, wired nixtamalization, wired bill schindler, bill schindler wired, maize corn, wired

Id: EY11u32oy1o

Length: 7min 36sec (456 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 16 2020