In Nigeria, sweetcorn isn’t at the fore of corn consumption, at least not for corn consumed recent.
I love corn. You’ll find starchier, greater waxy varieties like flint, and dent.
But how did that name take root?
And then, there is the reference to sorghum as Guinea Corn, what we across Nigeria popularly refer to it. The Guinea Coast is the name for the forested to coastal regions of West Africa. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Guinea has existed oon maps since the 14th century – Derived from the Berber wording aguinaw, or gnawa, meaning “black man” (consequently akal n-iguinamen, or “land of the black men”), the term was first adopted by the Portuguese and, in forms such as Guinuia, Ginya, Gheneoa, and Ghinea, appears on European maps from the 14th century onward.
It is widely used in the north where it is made into Tuwon masara, a soft cooked dough. I’ve only come across the white corn flour used for this.
Corn Flour is the complete corn, ground and used in a variety of ways.
There will be a collection of recipes in a later post to show the versatility of corn, and hopefully more documentation.
I still have a lot of activity to do to unravel, in my mind at least, the history of corn in Nigeria but earliest, I wanted to take stock of all the corn products we have “Guinea” and “Indian” as the first action in parsing what I know, and moving from familiar to unknown.
- In the 1858 compilation of Grammar and dictionary of the Yoruba language : with an introductory description of the country and persons of Yoruba by Crowther. Of those, alongside 25 mentions of “Indian corn”, and 11 of “Guinea corn”.
There are 19 mentions of maize, and 43 results for a look for for “corn” in it including notes on origins, processing, as well as definitions.
Starch and In Between Flour
It is eaten fresh – added to meals, boiled, roasted, parched, and extra.
You’ll locate a variety of preparations – corn is dried then used as is, broken into grits, ground into flour, fermented for wet-milled starchy products and extra.
Corn Flour
First of all, corn starch or cornstarch, cornflour (one-word/single-worf) all refer to a starch powder made from the endosperm of the kernel.
They are moreover the peoples in prehistoric times across Mesoamerica who domesticated corn, hence the name and association. Corn is a different species of grass, and one of significance in Mesoamerica in the past, and across North, South, and Central America today.
Historically, the Indigenous peoples of North America were referred to as “Indians” and they were the earliest nations to interact using Europeans.
Parched, Flaked, and Popped Corn
It reawakened thoughts on the origins of corn in Nigeria.
I recent went to Mexico City and was surprised at the many similarities that exist between how corn/ maize is used there and in Nigeria.
General, it is somewhere in in the middle of but closer to cornstarch than corn flour.
Nonetheless, a lot more starch is preserved in the analyze of making it, and some of the fiber, from the skins are part of the debris from the analyze.
And then you have fermented corn flour which is what I reflect of ogi powder as.
But, reading a piece by Blench, Williamson, and Connell, The Diffusion of Maize in Nigeria: A historical and Linguistic Study (1994), there is a reference to a achievable West Indian relationship.
Ordinary in the north, and known as Biski, this cracked corn grits that can be cooked into a porridge, or steamed like couscous.
To produce ukwaka, a steamed plantain wrap made from super-ripe plantains, you thicken the mix together with a assortment of flours or meals. It’s grittier than corn flour but not coarse.
Growing up in Warri, we used yellow corn meal.
In Nigeria, corn comes in two main colours – white, and yellow. Field, waxy corn is common, even though in the persist decade or so, sweetcorn has become more and more popular.
Stay well and add any corn facts, thoughts, ingredients you’d like me to add to the list.
On the left you have agidi, the white, gelatinized set dish is made from soaked dried corn that’s prepared in a equivalent method to ogi but the corn isn’t fermented. Some people use ogi flour, or paste to form it. You essentially cook a mix of the starchy flour with water pending it reaches a particular point. It is then spooned into conically wrapped leaves, or bowls and left to cool and set.
And I’ve written various recipes about corn, from perspectives of how it’s classically used in Nigeria to contemporary New Nigerian explorations.
Ogi/ Akamu/ Koko, kinds of “Pap”
If you’re looking for ground corn, understood as corn flour in parts of North America (maize flour in the UK) you may not detect it in the baking aisle – in Ontario, Canada, I frequently find it the multinational aisle!
While this post focuses mostly on different corn ingredients and processes, the next one will be all about different dishes made together with corn.
I’ve done my top to search and parse, and count the number of entries but as these books have been scanned and use optical recognition technology which may not be 100% right, these are general numbers. I say this because of how corn/ maize is described in some historic works. And still, corn on its own, as Indian corn, as Guinea corn, mazie, features prominently.
And then, one of my early thoughts was that the route to Nigeria, like cassava was through the Portuguese who acknowledged the Indigenous connections.
The undisputed fact is that maize’s existence is rooted in Mesoamerica.
In the center is a fresh corn mix to produce Sapala – a fresh corn wrap, similar to Mexican tamales in form, and on the right, ukwaka.
I leave you with a gathering of corn products – and yes, a few years ago, I learned that Jack Daniel’s was made using corn.
Cooked Corn, Unlike Ways
Corn Grits
Cornflakes is a popular cereal in Nigeria, and popcorn is too a common snack/ treat.
- In the 1950 A dictionary of the Yoruba language, there are 70 results for corn, 13 of which are for Indian corn, and 10 for Guinea Corn, and 11 for maize.
It is corn starch/ cornstarch in English-speaking North America and cornflour in the UK, Australia, and Fresh Zealand.
This starch goes by different names depending on where you are.
- In the 1852, A vocabulary of the Yoruba language by Crowther, Sammuel Adjai, Owen Emeric, 1819-1854, there are 4 mentions of maize, and 49 results for corn. One describes “Agbado, s. maize, Indian corn“ “and the other “Lapata. Massa, s. a kind of cake made of maize.” There are 12 mentions of Guinea-corn.
Corn Meal
When I was writing Chop Chop, I went on a hunt for corn flour in the grocery stores in Canada, tried to figure out how to describe dried ogi flour, and learned several things.
It is sometimes pressed, and then portioned.
Made from dried whole field corn that’s soaked in water to ferment for a few days, with frequent changes of the water until fermented according to subjective preferences, the corn is rinsed, then milled up to the time that somewhat smooth. This mixture is then strained utilizing a fine-mesh cloth bag, forming somekind of fermented corn/ starchy milk. It is left to calm, separating out into a starchy corn mix, and a probiotic rich water known as omidun, or omi ogi. The pap can be stored wet – alongside some of the omidun, or water, and if often refrigerated. It could furthermore be dried into flour.
The starchy mix is our pap, variedly known as Ogi in the southwest, Akamu in the south and south east, and Koko in the north. It can be frozen in this constitute.
According to MCS Bantilan1, UK Deb2 , CLL Gowda1 , BVS Reddy1 , AB Obilana3 and RE Evenson4 in a short paper on Sorghum, it is the second major crop (after maize) across all agroecologies in Africa…and the third critical cereal (after rice and wheat ) in India.
And sorghum, and millet sort of resemble corn growing on stalks.
Below, 3 different corn wraps.
I live in Canada, and when I was writing Chop Chop, my debut cookbook, I tested many ways to make pap since I couldn’t find whole dried corn in small quantities.
The omidun – the water – can be drunk, or used to create a bunch of medicinal drinks including Adoyo, a drink made using lemongrass, citrus, sometimes turmeric, and the omidun.
For a extended time, I had no idea it was called “parched” corn pending I came across many references from ancient times, in the Bible, and amongst Indigenous peoples who typically nixtamalized the corn, parched it, ground it, and used it in a variety of ways.
Parched corn is a well-liked street snack, sold with popcorn, and roasted groundnuts. It is made by dry roasting dried corn kernels, or toasting in a lightly greased pan – in a single layer for the most success. It is common in Nigeria today. It is hard, and not for the week.
Bye x
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