Corn

(Zea mays)
Corn (also called maize) is, far too often, relegated to one of two categories by the gardener. Some see it as only a field crop, grown in huge monocultures and otherwise ignored. Those who do grow it tend to only focus on sweet corn. And that’s too bad, because then you miss the joys of the great variety of dry corns which can be grown at home, but which you’ll never eat if you don’t grow them. The loss is approximately equivalent to ignoring dry beans and only growing green beans.
There are several distinct types of dry corns, which are worth distinguishing. Flint corns have harder kernels, and are hard to grind finely; they tend to be lower yielding but more resistant to adverse weather and mold. Flour corns have very soft kernels which can be used to make fine corn flour. They are higher yielding, but tend to be more mold susceptible. Dent corns are in-between flints and flours, and are the corn grown by mainstream agriculture.
A disclaimer: All of these corns will readily cross with each other and with commercial field corn, including Genetically Modified corn. We live and grow seed in an area where corn is commonly grown, and recognize that there is a constant risk of contamination of our corn seed by our neighbours’ corn. The measures we take to keep seed pure are described in our article on seed saving.