Barbequed Maize, Corn on the Cob

Corn on the Cob Close-Up, just off the BBQ Grill and ready to eat.

INFORMATION ON THE CORN PLANT:

Maize, known as corn in some countries, is a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents. After European contact with the Americas in the late 15th century and early 16th century, maize spread to the rest of the world.

Maize is the largest crop in the Americas (270 million metric tons annually in the U.S. alone). Hybrid maize, due to its high grain yield due to heterosis ("hybrid vigour"), is preferred by farmers over conventional varieties. While some maize varieties grow 7 metres (23 ft) tall at certain locations, commercial maize has been bred for a height of 2.5 metres (8 ft). Sweet corn is usually shorter than field-corn varieties.

The term maize derives from the Spanish form (maíz) of the indigenous Taino term for the plant, and is the form most commonly heard in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Canada and Australia, the usual term is corn, which originally referred to any grain (and still does in Britain), but which now refers exclusively to maize, having been shortened from the form "Indian corn" (which currently, at least in the US, is often used to refer specifically to multi-colored "field corn" cultivars).

Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other grain. While the United States produces almost half of the world's harvest, other top producing countries are as widespread as China, Brazil, France, Indonesia, India and South Africa. Worldwide production was over 600 million metric tons in 2003 — just slightly more than rice or wheat. In 2004, close to 33 million hectares of maize were planted worldwide, with a production value of more than $23 billion.

Source: Wikipedia