Corn

Corn comes from Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras originally, but the plant which is its ancestor is a botanical mystery and researchers from different camps have argued about it for a long time. The so-called "corn-war" is still in full fling. The oldest finds of cultivated corn come from the Tehuacan valley in Mexico and are ab. 5000 years old. Finds, several thousand years old, have been made all over Central- and South America and even in southern USA. Between 200-300 different sorts of maize were already cultivated when Columbus arrived such as the sweet corn we are used to and sorts for animal fodder and in many colours.  

As soon as Columbus had brought seeds to Europe the corn spread, at top speed, to Africa, India, Tibet and China where it was commonly grown after only a few decades. Corn is now grown all over the world in lots of varieties and has become one of the most important grains but, sadly, most of the old sorts have disappeared and the Market is now almost completely dominated by hybrids and transgenic species.