Corn

Corn is one of the symbols of Ukraine together with sunflower. However, it is not Ukrainian by origin. Corn was taken to Europe about 600 years ago by conquistadors from America. Corn’s native land is Mexico where it was cultivated for more than 12 thousand years ago.

Corn or maize was the main crop in ancient America. However, ancient corn was much smaller in its size (about 3-4 cm long). Aztecs had a god of corn called Ketzkoatl.

Corn is rich in many useful minerals and vitamins: vitamins А, В1, В3, В9, С, magnesium, iron, potassium etc. Corn’s protein is rich in valuable amino acids.
The world’s leader if corn export today are USA and China. About 100 million tons of corn is produced every year, the half of this amount is produced in USA alone.
Corn has many culinary uses: it is boiled, canned, frozen, used in flour, baled in bread, extracted in oil, used as corn flakes.
Corn has many medical qualities. Thus, it is used to cure lever illnesses.
Ukraine exports corn mainly as a raw material in containers.