Lagkitan Corn on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Lagkitan corn, also known as white lagkitan corn, is an heirloom
Lagkitan corn are harvested when the husk is still green. It is the traditional and preferred corn cultivar to be boiled on the cob and eaten as is, though in modern times, it is increasingly being replaced by imported
cultivar
A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
of waxy corn
Waxy corn or glutinous corn is a type of corn characterized by its sticky texture when cooked. It has big round kernels that have endosperms that are almost universally white, though the aleurone layers can sometimes be purple or red which cause ...
from the Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. It is one of the two most commonly cultivated native corn varieties in the country (the other being the Visayan white corn
Visayan white corn, also known as Visayan white flint or Tinigib, is an heirloom cultivar of flint corn from the Visayas Islands of the Philippines. It is considered a secondary staple food, staple cereal in the Philippines (particularly in the ...
). It is made into various traditional dishes like ''binatog
''Binatog'', also known as ''bualaw'' or ''kinulti'', is a Filipino boiled corn dessert topped with freshly grated coconut, butter, and salt or sugar. It is commonly sold as street food in the northern Philippines by vendors known as ''magbibin ...
'' and '' cornick''.
Names
Lagkitan means "sticky" in Tagalog. It is known under a variety of regional names which also mean "sticky", includingVisayan
Visayans ( Cebuano: ''mga Bisayà'' ) are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, to the southernmost islands south of Luzon, and to a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous di ...
, Tagalog , Ilocano , and Bikol , among others. Many of these names may also reflect genetically distinct regional strains. These names are also shared by various heirloom cultivars of glutinous rice
Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals.
Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...
.
Description
Corn
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...
is native to the Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
, but it was introduced early into the Philippines (through Cebu
Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
) during the Spanish colonial period (1565–1898). The earliest records of corn crops in the Philippines is from Cebu in the 1700s, though it was probably introduced earlier, along with tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
and cacao. Through natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...
and human-directed plant breeding over centuries, the introduced corn has developed into multiple local varieties with considerable genetic variability.
Lagkitan is one of these cultivars characterized by being sticky when cooked. It has medium to big soft and typically white kernels. It is an openly pollinated variety (OPV) of corn. From planting, it can be harvested after 72 days, with an average marketable ear yield of 40 tons/hectare.
Uses
Lagkitan corn are harvested when the husk is still green. It is the traditional and preferred corn cultivar to be boiled on the cob and eaten as is, though in modern times, it is increasingly being replaced by imported sweet corn
Sweet corn (''Zea mays'' convar. ''saccharata'' var. ''rugosa''), also called sweetcorn, sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring rec ...
.
It can also be made into various traditional dishes including ''binatog
''Binatog'', also known as ''bualaw'' or ''kinulti'', is a Filipino boiled corn dessert topped with freshly grated coconut, butter, and salt or sugar. It is commonly sold as street food in the northern Philippines by vendors known as ''magbibin ...
'' and '' cornick''. When dried, it can also be ground into cornmeal, grits
Grits (stylized as GRITS) is an American Christian hip hop group from Nashville, Tennessee. Their name is an acronym, which stands for "Grammatical Revolution In the Spirit". GRITS is made up of Stacey "Coffee" Jones and Teron "Bonafide" Carter ...
, or cornflour.
See also
*Visayan white corn
Visayan white corn, also known as Visayan white flint or Tinigib, is an heirloom cultivar of flint corn from the Visayas Islands of the Philippines. It is considered a secondary staple food, staple cereal in the Philippines (particularly in the ...
References
{{Authority control Maize varieties