Maize (lat. Zea Mays) – the usually golden yellow grain (there are also some dark red varieties) from the field is food for humans and animals at the same time. Maize belongs to the sweet grass family (lat. Poaceae) and is one of the most important staple foods worldwide. Originally, the crop was native to Central America.

Many maize varieties have a high starch content and are used as a fodder crop. Increasingly, however, maize is also being used as a renewable raw material for the production of biogas, biofuel or even bio (plastic)materials.

The special thing about sweet corn (also called vegetable corn), on the other hand, is that the sugar stored in the kernels is only slowly converted into starch during ripening. This explains the pleasantly sweet taste of the maize kernels. It is precisely this taste that we love in the kitchen.

There is a great variety of maize types and varieties, which can be classified according to their grain type. This results in different uses: For example, ground maize is used to make dough and bread, soft maize is used to make tortillas and hard maize is used in the form of maize starch flour for cooking and baking. Moviegoers and idlers enjoy puffed maize in the form of popcorn. And sweet corn is used, for example, as grilled corn on the cob.