12: Maize Miracles

Corn is a native plant of the Americas. For centuries before the arrival of the European colonizers, many indigenous people across the Americas planted, harvested and depended on this nutritious crop. Because of its importance to the health and survival of these societies, corn often came to hold an important role in their religious ceremonies. People as far away as the Hopi in what is now the southwest of the USA, the Aztecs of present day Mexico and the Maya and Nahuatl of Central America all honored the importance of corn.

Corn still is very important to the people living in these areas today. On our trip, Patty and I have been amazed by the incredible variety of ways to prepare corn in the countries we visit. In Pueblo Nuevo, we got the opportunity to learn how to prepare some of our favorite Central American foods made from corn ~ atole, tamales and güirila. The process turned into an entire day's adventure with my Nicaraguan family.

Our first task was to harvest the corn. We took off down the road under the mid-morning sun toward the farm of a friend of the family, Freddy in the lead with his son, Enmanuel catching up from behind. At the river we left the bicycles and hopped across the boulders to the other side. Once we found the correct field, Freddy explained that were going to pick two different types of corn. When the ears of corn are completely ripe and juicy, they are called maíz tierno. When this corn is left to partially dry, it is called mazorca.

Harvesting the corn turned out to be more challenging than we imagined. The corn plants towered over our heads, forming long green tunnels that made it easy to get lost in such a huge field. Nice plump corn ears surrounded us on all sides, but we were often told that we had just picked one not quite ripe enough, or maybe a bit too dry! In addition, we found out that corn leaves can cause an itchy rash when they brush up against you ~ yet another reason to appreciate farmers! Once we had picked all the corn we needed, 50 tiernos and 50 mazorcas, we piled it into a big gunny sack and stared at its bulking size. How were we going to get that back to the house? It weighed almost 100 pounds!

Between Freddy's strength and the help of the bicycles, we were finally able to make it back with the entire load. At this point, Freddy left us in the hands of Irma's mother, Enma, who would be our guide and cooking teacher for the rest of the day. First, we needed to shuck the corn. This is a relatively easy job when you have only a few ears of corn, but when you have a big pile in front of you, it takes a long time! It took particularly long because we needed to remove the husk in a special way so that we could use them later on for the tamales. The next step was to separate the kernels of corn from the cob. This was easy for the maíz tierno because we could use a sharp knife to cut whole rows off at once. However, the dried kernels of mazorca had to be popped off one by one with our thumbs!

Setting the mazorca aside for later, we took the kernels of maíz tierno to the molino, or neighborhood mill. There they ground up all the corn into a thick liquid. This was like a batter with which we could finally start cooking. Patty had been excited about making the drink atole de elote for weeks, so she took responsibility for that project. First, she had to strain the corn liquid through a sieve. This let the sweet, starchy part of the corn through into the pot, while keeping the tough, fibrous part out. Then she added a bit of sugar and cinnamon bark. As the mixture boiled, Patty had to stir constantly so that it wouldn't burn. This became an increasing challenge as the atole began to thicken. The women who make this drink every day to sell in the market must be incredible strong!

My favorite Nicaraguan food is güirila, a sort of tortilla or pancake made from fresh corn. After learning to make them myself, I realized why they are such a rare treat. Güirila is cooked over the fire in banana leaves, so we followed Enmanuel around the neighborhood looking for leaves to use. These leaves had to be carefully washed and cut so that they didn't rip in the wrong places. Then we poured a little bit of the corn mixture into the middle of a banana leaf, covered it with another and put the whole thing into the comal over the fire. When the banana leaf on the bottom began to burn, it was time to turn it over. It took over 15 minutes to cook each güirila, but only a couple to gobble it down. YUM!

Enma directed us carefully in each step. She also took over making the fresh corn tamales. In each corn husk she slipped a few spoonfuls of the corn mixture and then folded up the ends. These she balanced together on top of corns-on-the-cob in a big pot of boiling water and covered them with more husks so that the tamales would cook in the steam.

We didn't finish our cooking extravaganza until well after sunset. By that time the entire family had returned from work or school. Together we had an incredible feast! After we were each happily full and the food all gone, Patty asked, "So, what are we going to do tomorrow with the kernels of mazorca?"

"Yikes!" I thought, "A another day of cooking. There is just so many things you can make with corn!"