The

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

of Ecuadorian

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

are the repository of a rich farming and cooking tradition. Maize is

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponic ...

ped almost everywhere in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, with the exception of the

Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...

, the cold desert highlands 3000

meters above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Maize production is concentrated in the

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of Loja,

Azuay Azuay (), Province of Azuay is a province of Ecuador, created on 25 June 1824. It encompasses an area of . Its capital is Cuenca. It is located in the south center of Ecuador in the highlands. Its mountains reach above sea level in the nationa ...

, and Pichincha, and to a lesser extent Bolívar,

Chimborazo Chimborazo () is a currently inactive stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes. Its last known eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 A.D. Chimborazo's summit is the farthest point on the Earth's surface from th ...

Tungurahua Tungurahua (; from Quichua ''tunguri'' (throat) and ''rahua'' (fire), "Throat of Fire")) is an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador. The volcano gives its name to the province of Tungurahua. Volcanic activity resta ...

, and Imbabura, provinces located in the mountains. Maize is also found in the coastal provinces, Manabí, Esmeraldas, and Guayas, as well as Pastaza, part of the Ecuadorian

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

Use as food

Most traditional foods are strictly linked to specific maize kernel types as well as

grinding Grind is the cross-sectional shape of a blade. Grind, grinds, or grinding may also refer to: Grinding action * Grinding (abrasive cutting), a method of crafting * Grinding (dance), suggestive club dancing * Grinding (video gaming), repetitive and ...

and cooking techniques. Cooked or toasted grains, and

pudding Pudding is a type of food. It can be either a dessert or a savoury (salty or spicy) dish served as part of the main meal. In the United States, ''pudding'' means a sweet, milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, ins ...

s of partially ripe grains, are prepared with mostly

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

y kernel varieties; * ''

Chicha ''Chicha'' is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer (''chicha de jora'') made from a variety of maize land ...

'' - brewed drink of ground maize kernels, * ''Chullpi'' - sweet maize, * ''Maíz tierno'' - soft maize, at the milk ripeness stage, * ''Maíz cao'' - waxy stage maize, * ''Mote'' - boiled maize with beans, * ''Canguil ''- popcorn, * '' Pan'' - bread of maize flour, kneaded and baked, * ''

Tamal A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tamales ...

'' - maize and meat rolls, * ''

Tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of Me ...

s'' - flatbread of maize flour, kneaded and cooked on a hot plate, * '' Tostado'' - toasted maize with or without fat.

History

Maize is believed to have crossed the

Isthmus of Panama The Isthmus of Panama ( es, Istmo de Panamá), also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien (), is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country ...

around 5,000 years

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

reaching

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and later the Ecuadorian coast. Since then,

domestication Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. ...

and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

of native varieties followed this pattern; * adaptation to the low and middle highlands of the Eastern

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, * creation of the primitive races and extension of the adaptation area, * introgression by

hybridization Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to: *Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid *Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals *Nu ...

with ''

Tripsacum ''Tripsacum'' is a genus of plants in the grass family native to the Western Hemisphere. Gamagrass is a common name for plants in this genus. Species formerly included see ''Anthephora Apluda Chionachne Coelorachis Elionurus Hackelochloa Hem ...

'', * partial introduction of maize from other regions, * inter-racial hybridization and creation of hybrid races in the highlands, * selection of the

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and ...

composition,

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

size and shelling fitness, taste, and the suitability for

chicha ''Chicha'' is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer (''chicha de jora'') made from a variety of maize land ...

and

chicha morada Chicha morada is a beverage originated in the Andean regions of Perú but is currently consumed at a national level. The base ingredient of the drink is corn ''culli'' or ''ckolli'', which is a Peruvian variety of corn known commonly as purple ...

brewed drinks. The first description of Ecuadorian maize varieties was written by the

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

chronicler Father Juan de Velasco (1727–1792); * ''Amarillo'' (Yellow) - large and soft, * ''Blanco'' (White) - large, long, very soft, used for bread flour, * ''Canguil'' - small, hard, pointed, used for popcorn, * ''Carapali'' - medium size, white with red apex, * ''Chulpi'' or ''Chullpi'' - white, medium, very soft and sweet, sweet corn, * ''Morocho'' - small, medium, yellow, hard, used to brew chicha, * ''Negro grueso'' - black, large, and hard, * ''Negro mediano'' - black and soft, * ''Tumbaque'' - large, flat, dark green, and soft.

Contemporary classification

Kernels of maize varieties eaten in Ecuador are the outcome of the

of varieties of the following morphological groups described by

Alfred Sturtevant Alfred Henry Sturtevant (November 21, 1891 – April 5, 1970) was an American geneticist. Sturtevant constructed the first genetic map of a chromosome in 1911. Throughout his career he worked on the organism ''Drosophila melanogaster'' with ...

; * ''Zea mays everta'' -

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

, known locally as ''canguiles'', * ''Zea mays amylosaccharata'' -

sweet corn Sweet corn (''Zea mays'' convar. ''saccharata'' var. ''rugosa''), also called 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 recessive muta ...

, known locally as ''chullpi'', * ''Zea mays indurada'' - dark maize, known locally as ''maíz morocho'', * ''Zea mays amylacea'' - soft maize, known locally as ''maíz suave''. During 1962 and 1963

Aureliano Brandolini Aureliano Brandolini (August 8, 1927 – September 5, 2008) was an Italian agronomist and development cooperation scholar. Born in Calolziocorte, Italy, after studying at Liceo Alessandro Manzoni high school in Lecco with Giovanni Ticozzi, he gra ...

collected 458 seed samples of the Ecuadorian varieties within the

equatorial zone Equatorial may refer to something related to: *Earth's equator **the tropics, the Earth's equatorial region **tropical climate *the Celestial equator **equatorial orbit **equatorial coordinate system **equatorial mount, of telescopes * equatorial b ...

, between 2° North and -6° South. The comparative study of the behavior of these accessions resulted in the identification of racial complexes corresponding to those described earlier by D.H. Timothy and collaborators. A few races, ''morocho'', ''harinoso dentado'', ''montaña'', and ''candela'', were not included in the sampled varieties, while a few new races were described, such as ''colorado puntiagudo'', ''harinoso cónico'', and ''huaco sara'', as well as ''tunicata'', a variety cropped in Bolívar Province. The

classification Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

of Ecuadorian maize was based on the following data; location and environment (

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

and photoperiodic response included), plant and

ear An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of ...

characteristics,

cytological Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

analysis of the

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s, and historic and

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

information concerning the crop. The tripsacoid races of ''everta'', ''indentata'', and ''indurata'', sections were separated from the primitive ones of the ''amilacea'', ''amylosaccharata'', ''indurata'', and ''tunicata'' sections, and from maize imported or derived in historical times from the ''amylacea'' and ''indurata'' sections. This study underlined that: * The ''Canguiles'' group from the Andean highlands is not sensitive to

photoperiod Photoperiodism is the physiological reaction of organisms to the length of night or a dark period. It occurs in plants and animals. Plant photoperiodism can also be defined as the developmental responses of plants to the relative lengths of light a ...

change, as well as the ''Lima'' varieties of possible recent introduction. These varieties apparently have

gametophytic A gametophyte () is one of the two alternation of generations, alternating multicellular organism, multicellular phases in the life cycles of plants and algae. It is a haploid multicellular organism that develops from a haploid spore that has on ...

isolation characteristics. * The varieties of lowland tropical origin are luxuriant, reaching over 5.5 meters of height, tassel excluded. By comparison, ''Canguiles'' and the flint kernel maize from the highlands sierra, ''Morocho'', ''Patillo'', ''Perlilla'', and ''Tusilla'', have a plant size lower than 2.0 meters. * The tassel size varies greatly and is not linked to the environment; the shortest tassel is that of the tropical ''Dentado'', the largest, 55 cm, is that of the sierra ''Uchima''. Studies enabled the identification of the following racial complexes and races:''Recursos fitogenéticos de América Latina'', Brandolini A., G.V. Brandolini, p242, CRF Press, Bergamo, 2005. * ''Zea mays everta'' ** a. ''formas primitivas'' (primitive forms) ***Canguil ** b. ''formas derivadas'' (derived forms) *** Canguil grueso * ''Zea mays indurata'' ** a. formas primitivas *** Clavito *** Enano gigante *** Morocho 8 hileras *** Pira ** b. formas derivadas *** Andanqui *** Morocho Colorado *** Uchima *** Yungueño ** c. ''formas de reciente introducción'' (recently introduced forms) *** Cubano * ''Zea mays indentata'' ** Dentado ** Sintético * ''Zea mays indurata'' ** a. ''grano blanco'' (white kernel) *** Morocho (Sabanero) *** Perlilla *** Tusilla ** b. ''Grano colorado y semivítreo'' (Reddish and semi-flint kernel) *** Kcello / Nal Tel *** Patillo * ''Zea mays amylacea'' ** a. grano blanco *** Harinoso 8 hileras ** b. ''grano amarillo'' (yellow kernel) *** Mishca ** c. ''grano rojo'' (red kernel) *** Harinoso cónico *** Harinoso puntiagudo *** Racimo de uva * ''Zea mays amylosaccharata'' ** Chullpi * ''Zea mays tunicata'' ** Huaco Important primitive, derived or imported traditional varieties still cropped are: * Highlands sierra ** ''Maíz suave'' (soft maize) *** Huandango *** Maíz cónico dentado *** Maíz de los Chillos *** Maíz harinoso dentado ** ''Morocho'' (dark maize) *** Montaña *** Morochón *** Sabanero ecuadoriano *** Tusilla *** Uchima ** ''Maíz precoz'' (early maize) *** Kcello * ''

La Costa LaCosta Tucker (born December 12, 1951) is an American country music artist who recorded in the 1970s and 1980s as La Costa. The sister of country singer Tanya Tucker, LaCosta charted several singles of her own in the 1970s on the ''Billboard' ...

'' (The Coast) & '' El Oriente'' (The East) ** ''Maíz duro'' (hard maize) *** Chococeño *** Cubano ** ''Maíz blando'' (soft maize) *** Candela *** Gallina *** Tuxpeño

References

External links

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center official site
{{corn Maize varieties Ecuadorian cuisine

Use as food

History

Contemporary classification

See also

References

External links