Native Corn

These samples of corn come from the Santa Clara Pueblo community.  It was grown there by  farmers.  Corn is held to be an important food in the diet.   Many dishes are prepared with variations of the corn.  White corn provides posole, chicos, mush, dough, flour for bread, and is used in sacred ceremonial celebration.  Blue corn is ground and its flour is used in a drink called atole.   It is said to have very nutritious quality.  Tamales, tortillas (a form of bread), and other varieties of bread are also made utilizing this flour. Yellow corn is also used in sustinance.  It is also made into  chicos.  Corn is roasted in its husk form, in an outdoor oven called a pante.  It is then peeled open and allowed to dry in the warm sun.  The kernels are them removed by rubbing two cobs together, then they are cleaned and prepared for cooking.  They are cooked with cubbed lean pieces of pork, sometimes seasoned with red chile pods.