Field corn, also known as cow corn, is a

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

term for

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...

(''Zea mays'') grown for livestock fodder (silage), ethanol, cereal, and processed food products. The principal field corn varieties are dent corn, flint corn, flour corn (also known as soft corn) which includes blue corn (''Zea mays amylacea''), and waxy corn."Corn" at Purdue Agriculture
/ref> Field corn is primarily grown for livestock feed and ethanol production is allowed to mature fully before being shelled off the cob and being stored in silos, pits, bins, or grain "flats". Field corn can also be harvested as high-moisture corn, shelled off the cob and piled and packed like silage for fermentation; or the entire plant may be chopped while still very high in moisture, with the resulting silage either loaded and packed in plastic bags, piled and packed in pits, or blown into and stored in vertical silos. People may pick ears of field corn when its sugar content has peaked and cook it on the cob or eat it raw. Ears of field corn picked and consumed in this manner are commonly called "roasting ears" due to the most commonly used method of cooking them.

Uses

Large-scale applications for field corn include: * Livestock

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including ...

, whether as whole cobs (for hogs only), whole or ground kernels, or (after chopping and ensilage) the entire above-ground portion of the unripe plant *

Cereal A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more foo ...

products including corn flour, corn meal,

hominy Hominy (Spanish: maíz molido; literally meaning "milled corn") is a food produced from dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, in a process called nixtamalization ( is the Nahuatl word for "hominy"). "Lye hominy" is a ...

grits Grits are a type of porridge made from boiled cornmeal. Hominy grits are a type of grits made from hominy – corn that has been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization, with the pericarp (ovary wall) removed. Grits are o ...

, nixtamal, tortillas, corn bread, and cold

breakfast cereal Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...

s (such as corn flakes). * Other processed human-food products including corn starch, corn oil, corn syrup, and high-fructose corn syrup. * Alcohol and corn whiskey *Adhesives, plastic, gels, and thickeners from starch Excluding Latin America, field corn is not generally regarded as desirable for human food without commercial pre-processing. Indeed, in Mexico, field corn consumption far exceeds that of sweet corn. Outside Mexico, an exception is "roasting ears", similar in appearance to

corn on the cob Corn on the cob is a culinary term for a cooked ear of sweet corn ( maize) eaten directly off the cob. The ear is picked while the endosperm is in the "milk stage" so that the kernels are still tender. Ears of corn are steamed, boiled, or ...

, although it is necessarily roasted (rather than boiled or steamed as is usual with sweet corn), and is neither tender nor sweet even after the roasting. A variety of field corn is also commonly eaten in Andean South America and is known as Cuzco corn.

Wet mills

Field corn is processed for its various uses in what are known as "wet mills". These types of mills are different from traditional mills in that they take apart a cob of corn and process its various parts into products for consumption. The yellow skin of the kernel, for example, is separated from the dark germ, which is essentially the seed. While the yellow skin is usually used to produce nutritional supplements and vitamins, the germ is used to produce oil. The endosperm, which is the largest part of a corn kernel, has the most uses. Its carbohydrate molecules are taken apart to produce the organic compounds used in many products. Examples of these organic compounds include citric and

lactic acid Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has a molecular formula . It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with water. When in the dissolved state, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis as well as natur ...

glucose Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, usi ...

fructose Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorb ...

, and

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a h ...

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a Privately held company, privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privatel ...

and ADM are the two largest corn processing companies in the United States.

References

Maize varieties {{Panicoideae-stub