Last night I was really tired (long day), but I couldn't fall asleep because I had just come back from a party (chocolate fondue). So, I made my way downstairs and started watching random things on Netflix, and I eventually stumbled upon a howstuffworks documentary on corn. Corn is actually one of the most amazing crops known to man, and I'd like to share with you what I learned about it.
Corn is in almost everything that is edible. Soft drinks, whiskey, bread, and even inedible things like synthetic rubbers and plastics. It's an extremely versatile plant, and there are 2 main reasons for it. The first is its quantity. Over thousands of years of evoloution and selective breeding, corn produces more biomass more quickly than any other grain in the world. The second reason is what it produces. Each of those little yellow kernals contains a ton of stored energy in the form of starch. Starch is a complex carbohydrate, and it carries more energy per gram than dynamite. Because of these 2 things, corn has nearly limitless potential for human and animal consumption, and industrial applications.
For instance, corn syrup is an example of a common corn product. It's produced by combining the corn with an enzyme, which breaks down the starch molecules into glucose. It's used in soft drinks as a sweetener and to keep the sugar from crystalizing inside the container.
An industrial application of corn is zanthin gum. Zanthin Gum is a type of lubricant and thickener, and is an essential part of hard rock oil drilling and other industrial operations. It's a waste product produced by the zanthinomus bacteria, and is produced in excess when the bacteria feeds on sugars derived from corn (corn syrup). Zanthin gum is a sort of viscious slime that is usually used to suspend dirt particles in oil shafts, but is also used to thicken things like toothpaste.
Corn is in almost everything that is edible. Soft drinks, whiskey, bread, and even inedible things like synthetic rubbers and plastics. It's an extremely versatile plant, and there are 2 main reasons for it. The first is its quantity. Over thousands of years of evoloution and selective breeding, corn produces more biomass more quickly than any other grain in the world. The second reason is what it produces. Each of those little yellow kernals contains a ton of stored energy in the form of starch. Starch is a complex carbohydrate, and it carries more energy per gram than dynamite. Because of these 2 things, corn has nearly limitless potential for human and animal consumption, and industrial applications.
For instance, corn syrup is an example of a common corn product. It's produced by combining the corn with an enzyme, which breaks down the starch molecules into glucose. It's used in soft drinks as a sweetener and to keep the sugar from crystalizing inside the container.
An industrial application of corn is zanthin gum. Zanthin Gum is a type of lubricant and thickener, and is an essential part of hard rock oil drilling and other industrial operations. It's a waste product produced by the zanthinomus bacteria, and is produced in excess when the bacteria feeds on sugars derived from corn (corn syrup). Zanthin gum is a sort of viscious slime that is usually used to suspend dirt particles in oil shafts, but is also used to thicken things like toothpaste.