What is the difference between maize and corn?
In this brief article, we are going to answer the question,”What is the difference between maize and corn?”, and discuss what maize and corn are, the different types of corn along with the uses and health benefits of maize and corn.
What is the difference between maize and corn?
The difference between maize and corn is that, maize is an agricultural crop grown in the field, whereas corn is the product which is harvested and found in the food markets and on the kitchen plates at home.
Corn can also be used as a reference for various types of grains, whereas maize refers to the same variant of crop, commonly known as corn. Corn is popularly used in North America, whereas maize is used in the Uk and other parts of the world.
What is maize?
Maize is a type of crop which the farmers grow, and sell it to the market to be used as food. The appearance of maize can be identified as a solid stem with leaves that are long and narrow growing alternately. Some plants of maize grow longer with tastier kernels than others. They can be selectively bred to produce more nutritious flavourful plants.
What is corn?
Corn is among the most versatile plants which is grown from particular grass seeds. The word “corn” is often used for items of food which are prepared with the use of maize grains. Corn is not a preferred term in formal, scientific and international applications.
What are the different types of corn?
The different types of corn include:
- Dent or field corn – is used as an animal feed, to make corn syrup and as a fuel.
- Sweet corn – has high levels of sugars but is interestingly less in starch as compared to dent corn. Sweet corn is eaten from the cob, and is considered as a vegetable, not a grain.
- Baby corn – is the corn that is harvested early and therefore is small in size, meaning it hasn’t been matured. Baby corns are grown in Thailand and transported in cans and jars
- Popcorn – The type of corn which pops when heated. The popped corn has a white fluffy morsel. It is to be noted that not all the corns can be popped. They only come from a particular variety of corn.
- Flint corn – is a tough multicoloured variety of maize and is the type which undergo milling to form cornmeal or corn flour. Flint corn is sometimes referred to as Indian corn.
What are the uses and health benefits of corn and maize?
Corn is beneficial as a gluten free food for patients of celiac disease, and also acts as a replacement to wheat based products and flours. The byproducts of corn are used in explosive paints and other different chemicals, dyes and solvents, in the pharmaceutical industry and in various types of plastic.
The high levels of carbohydrates in corn makes it a good food source for energy provision to humans.
Corn can also be made into corn syrup, corn flours,and as livestock feeds. The corn is also fermented to ethanol to act as a power fuel for vehicles. Corn is used to make cornmeal, corn flour, corn starch, corn syrups, hominy, grits, and polenta.
Sweet corn which is actually corn early harvested gives the crunchy sweet taste and popcorn, when the kernels of corn are cooked, are also commonly used as foods. Boiled corn is a healthy alternative snack for people on weight loss diets.
Corn is rich in proteins compared to other vegetables and contains a large number of antioxidants, carotenoids and fibre, making it beneficial for muscle and tissue repair, and prevent various chronic diseases, helps in the improvement of vision and aids in digestion, weight loss reducing constipation.
Maize is used as a staple food in some parts of the world. Apart from being a food source, it is also used as a filler in plastics, insulation and adhesives, chemicals, and explosives, paints dyes etc, and these uses are similar to those of corn. The crop of maize is a rich source of carbohydrates, Vitamin A, B and C.
The health benefits of maize include the capacity to decrease the risk of hypertension and diabetes. In various parts of South Asia, such as India and Pakistan, the maize or corn flour are used to make chapati, and is eaten joyfully with a green leafy vegetable commonly known as saag. This combination makes it a very healthy and tasty alternative to junk foods.
Other FAQs about Corn that you may be interested in.
Why does corn come out whole when you poop?
Are corn tortillas bad for you?
Conclusion
In this brief article, we answered the question,”What is the difference between maize and corn?”, and discussed what maize and corn are, the different types of corn along with the uses and health benefits of maize and corn.
References
http://www.differencebetween.net/object/comparisons-of-food-items/difference-between-corn-and-maize/
