Maize

Botanical Name: Zeamays
Important Varieties: Yellow Maize, White Maize, Maize Meal, Butterfly Popcorn

The stems of maize look like bamboo tree. The lower leaves are like broad flags. The stems are erect with many joints and casting off flag leaves at every joint. Under these leaves grows the corn covered by several layers of leaves. When the corn bursts out it looks like tufts of horsehair. It is green at first and then changes to red or yellow. The top of the stems have flowers called the tassle.

Drying
Maize is harvested when its moisture content is in the range of 18 to 24 percent. Damage to the kernel is related to moisture content at harvest. Drying of maize can be done by the following methods:

Layer Drying
The harvested grain is placed in a bin one layer at a time. Each layer is dried by forcing air through perforated floor or through a duct in the bottom of the bin. The partially dried grain is stirred and mixed with the new layer.

Portable Batch Dryer
These are moving dryers for maize that makes drying easier for farmers. These dryers operate with air heated to 140 to 180 degree F.

Contonuos Flow Dryers
The principle behind these dryers is the continuous flow of grain through heated and unheated sections so that it is discharged dry and cool.

Uses
Dried maize is versatile in its uses. It is popularly used to make hominy. It is also called nixtamal. It is a dried treated maize used to flavor many recipes. It offers several significant nutritional advantages over untreated maize products. It helps in improving availability of the amino acids and supplements the calcium content. Several delicious recipes can be made using dried maize.

It is also used to make aromatic potpourris and eyecatching sachets. It is growing in world popularity due to its energizing effects, fertility enhancement and aphrodisiac qualities. Other traditional uses include increasing energy, stamina and endurance in atheletes, promoting mental clarity and helping with menstrual irregularities. It is also used for weaving purpose and creating useful baskets. It is fermented and further processed into natural and synthetic substances.