Blue Cornmeal: Have it your way

GROWTH & PRODUCTION OF BLUE CORNMEAL

• Present Indigenous Communities

The Navajo tribe are not the only ones growing and harvesting this beautiful blue corn-plant (shown in Figure 1) No, there are indigenous communities in Southwest like the Zuni tribe, Pueblo tribe, and Mexicans who have histories with this plant. The Navajo culture is not one to write history about this plant, and the only stories I could find where the ones my grandmother Aretta told me. Nevertheless, from SFGATE, this website talks about how to hand-plant Zuni blue corn.

Today, some Navajo families still grow blue corn in small fields but it takes a lot of time and energy to grow and harvest this plant. Nowadays Navajos are living in today’s modern society – working and providing for their families. Therefore Navajos buy from local agriculture companies that produce the blue corn meal (as seen in Figure 2). One of those agriculture companies is NAPI, or the Navajo Agriculture Products Industry, this company grows and harvests blue corn in the native region where blue corn grows. NAPI also employs workers from the Navajo tribe for work opportunities and also knowledge about planting indigenous plants.

Figure 2, Blue corn products, NAPI, https://napi.navajopride.com/products/.

• Food Industry

SUSTAINABLE METHODS: 

The blue corn plant is still fairly new to the food industry. Blue corn is produced on a small scale, majority of blue corn is open pollinated (Grant, 2020). Compared to yellow GMO corn, blue corn has yet to be massed produced. The USDA (2021) states, “U.S. farmers have planted 91.7 million acres of corn in 2019, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).” Additionally, the U.S supplies the countries – Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Columbia with white corn. Corn is used in everything, one-third of corn production is used for cattle feed, over a third is used for ethanol (a renewable fuel additive to gasoline), and the remaining for human food and beverages (USDA, 2021). In comparison of yellow corn and blue corn, yellow corn is massed produced and uses millions of acres for production. The result of this is degradation of soil, according to Earthtalk (2020).

Additionally, Dr. George Dickerson in the video about to How to Grow Blue Corn, describes the differences from hybrid corn and open-pollinated blue corn, and in the video you can see there is no uniform growth of blue corn (2009). All open pollinated blue corn has un-uniformed field growth, varying plant size, varying maturity, and resistance to insect diseases because of its adaption to the environment. Unlike open pollinated blue corn, hybrid yellow corn is vulnerable to diseases, therefore yellow plant has to use more pesticides that often leads to “harmful runoff into streams and rivers. Pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers can all wreak havoc on aquatic organisms” (Earthtalk, 2020).

Figure 5, Chart of Agriculture Impacts and Ground Watering, Science Direct. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717302498

Likewise, a study of corn production from the University of Minnesota was conducted, and it was found that corn contributes to air pollution and the main contributor was ammonia, as “nitrogen fertilizer help plant growth but not all of it can be used by the plant – Hill” (Lambert, 2019), and the ammonia goes into waterways and is released into the atmosphere as seen in Figure 5. Not only does yellow corn impact the soil but contributes to air pollution, water pollution and health related diseases, compared to blue corn in which the environmental impacts have been low.

Dr. Dickerson adds that harvesting is more difficult open-pollinated blue corn has lodging problems (where the stalk gets too heavy and falls over), this makes machine harvesting difficult because the corn gets caught therefore is handpicked. Due to this extensive harvesting and other factors, blue corn is sustainable in the ways that it uses minimal machinery to harvest. Contrasted to yellow corn which fertilizer production, fuel and electricity use, transportation and distribution, on-farm activity contribute to PM2.5 emissions (Lambert, 2019), impacting and contributing to air pollution.

Overall, in many ways open-pollinated blue corn is sustainable in comparison to yellow corn because of its low environmental impacts of soil, water, and air. Blue corn is resistant to diseases because it’s not a hybrid, additionally minimal nitrogen fertilizer is used during production because it leads to lodging.

HISTORY OF BLUE CORNMEAL

PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION

• The Navajo Community

Based on origin stories from the Navajo, my grandmother Aretta Smiley told me the Diyin Díne or Creator  made the four elements in the four directions. The number four is a sacred number in Navajo culture, there are four main clans, four sacred mountains where emergence began, four sacred colors (turquoise, jet black, white, yellow), as well as four scared stones (white shell, turquoise, obsidian and abalone shell), all in uniform with the number four. To continue the elements of light was created in the East, in the South was water, in the West was air, and in the North was pollen. The pollen created Earth, and the elements of light, water and air can be found in nature. My grandmother then told me, “The Creator made the Holy People (or spiritual beings) from those four elements for the purpose of directing and guiding the Díne or “The People” (Navajo).” The first man was created from a united black cloud and white cloud, and with him came a perfect white corn and turquoise. The first woman was created from the union of yellow cloud and blue cloud, and with her a perfect yellow corn and white shell. Blue corn was created with first girl, and Black corn was created with first boy. As you can see, corn, or Naadáá’, and corn pollen, Táádidíín has been in our stories for many generations, we were created with it, which is why it is an important and significant part of the Navajo culture. Not only for dietary purposes but spiritual purposes. 

Traditional Navajo methods of using corn pollen include collecting the pollen from the tassels, only by women, then using the corn pollen in morning blessings and prayers in the direction of the East, where the sun comes up. The corn pollen is collected and blessed then distributed into buckskin pouches, where any Navajo can wear the pouch tied at their hips. Wearing the pouch all day serves as a blessing and protection for the person wearing it. The pre-dawn morning prayer (always done before the sun comes up) follows with opening the pouch then grabbing a pinch of pollen with your thumb and index finger then lightly sprinkling some on top of your head, then putting some on your tongue, and the remaining pollen is sprinkled in front of you as seen in Figure 6, while this is happening a prayer to the Holy People is offered.

Figure 6, Navajo Corn Pollen Path, https://standinginanopenfield.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/hozho/

The Navajo corn diet has sustained the Navajos for multi-generations, and research today shows the blue corn specifically, has anthocyanins, which are antioxidants found in purple, blue, red, and black pigments. These Anthocyanins aid in the protection of chronic diseases. In addition, blue corn packs more protein, iron, anti-inflammatories, and immune boosting zine than yellow corn would.

The main food that is associated with blue corn is blue corn mush which is created after gathering the harvest of the corn, then air drying the corn so that is can be grinded with a traditional grinding stones (Figure 7). The blue corn is transformed into blue corn meal, and this can be stored for later use, in the cold winters this was especially helpful because Navajos would create blue corn mush to feed their families. The second part to making this dish is burning Juniper trees to get Juniper ash, this provides added calcium in which Navajos need for bone health because before sheep, cows and other livestock came on the reservation, this is how Navajos got their calcium. In a recent study by a graduate student of Northern Arizona University in 2017, Daniel Begay, a Navajo Nation member conducted a research to calculate the amount of calcium in juniper ash. It was concluded that every gram of juniper there was approximately 280-300 milligrams of calcium, about the same as a glass of milk.

Figure 7, Navajo Grinding stone. https://sites.stedwards.edu/fsem1304fa20/files/2021/09/Navajo-woman-grinding-corn-2.jpg

To summarize, the history of production and consumption from the Navajo tribe is balanced with cultural connections of prayer with the corn pollen, as well as sustaining a diet based on a generational survival food that based on research is now found to be high in anthocyanins and calcium.

• NAPI

As far as the history of production and consumption of agriculture companies that market blue corn I could not find much, all expect one NAPI, or the Navajo Agriculture Products Industry. From the History of NAPI, the Navajo Nation developed NAPI to assist the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP) in April 16, 1970. The Navajo Nation created NAPI not only to assist NIIP but to support and provide economic opportunities for the Navajo people, structured on a foundation of commitment, pride, and dedication to the Navajo Nation. In later years, NAPI would have built thousands of agriculture fields with different produces, one them being blue cornmeal.

RECIPE:

Source: https://www.nrcnaa.org/pdf/cookbook.pdf

Blue Corn Mush Recipe, Fancy Navajo

1.Blue Corn Mush (Taa’niil, Tanaashgiizh)

Ingredients:
1 cup juniper ash, 1 cup cool water, 3 cups boiling water, and 4 cups blue cornmeal.

Instructions:

Mix 1 cup juniper ash with 1 cup boiling water. Strain ashes into the boiling water and stir. Add 4 cups of blue cornmeal and stir. Boil for 30 minutes, stirring constantly. Take off heat and stir.

Servings: 16

You can find more recipes such as blue corn pancakes, and blue corn bread here.