It is one of the most requested corn in the world today, so much so that those who want to order it have to put themselves on a waiting list. Its colors vary in the same cob from blue to purple to red, a veritable rainbow of shades, and depend on the combinations and quantity produced by each grain of some pigments such as carotenoids, anticancer agents rich in vitamin A useful for eye problems; anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents, and phlobaphenes. And the Glass Gem, the glass gem, which an American farmer of Cherokee origins, Carl Barnes, who had the great passion of crossing different types of corn, managed to obtain, selecting grains from cobs that had bright and colored grains. It took years of experimenting but eventually Barnes got what he wanted, a hybrid he called the Glass Gem.
A grain with unique characteristics. Each grain is a fruit in itself, and can generate a different color from the others. It is a rustic corn that does not need treatment. Plants are born from a single seed. A single plant brings up to three panicles, smaller than the traditional ones, but extraordinarily beautiful in terms of color and brightness, with all the shades of the glass, from intense blue to transparent like water, up to purple, wine and turquoise.
Here in Italy it is unknown to most, but the young Marco Zozzoli, owner of the "Il Vecjo Mulin" farm in Illegio, a small mountain village in the Carnia mountains in the province of Udine, is so passionate about the history of this variety of corn that he managed to plant it in his land and to start a production of his very rare flour from which he also obtains baked goods.
And this precious work earned him an authoritative recognition, he received the Oscar Green 2020, the award sponsored by Coldiretti Young Enterprise which aims to enhance the work of many young people who have chosen Agriculture for their future and have known combine tradition and innovation.
The young Zozzoli, 30 years old, has a family business, born from a passion for agriculture and nature, which works in an environmentally friendly and eco-sustainable way. His passion has led him to recover "forgotten" plants condemned to extinction from all over the world, which can however still amaze, through the planting of ancient seeds and rare varieties such as earth almond or sweet bunting, gem corn of glass, very rare and a symbol of biodiversity and an ancient variety of corn, called Illegio corn or Dieç corn, handed down from generation to generation and from which the renowned Illegio flour is obtained. In this way the environment and the land are preserved with processes that respect nature.
The Glass Gem was initially considered strange due to its appearance and its nutritional content, but was re-evaluated thanks to its thousand and particular varieties available. Six types were officially recognized: dent, flint, pod, popcorn, pod flour and sweet. In fact, it seems that this type of corn is in great demand for the production of popcorn (which however is not pigmented like the grains) and was widely used by the American people. Later it was also used to create tortillas, tacos and tamales.
In the digital world, some photos of Glass Gem Corn began to be published, which thanks to its extravagance, became an original food to show to guests and friends in daily life. Thus the importance of an original element that had been forgotten is rediscovered.
Corn was very important to early Native Americans, along with beans, because they were the first items they learned to grow. Maize was very important not only because it was a characteristic food of their diet, but also for their religious life: in fact, when the maize was ripe, it was presented as a sacred ritual and the Green Corn ceremony was performed. It was mainly the women who took care of the corn, while the men concentrated on hunting and fishing.
