June 11 is National Corn on the Cob Day!

June 11 is National Corn on the Cob Day! 🌽🧈🌽🧈🌽

Corn is native to North America and all modern-day corn descends from a variant developed thousands of years ago in present-day Mexico. Early Native American farmers bred corn from a grass-like plant (teosinte) into maize. The sweet, tender kernels that we enjoy today are a more recent development, bred from a mutation in the mid-1700s.

Did you know? Due to its messy nature, people have been using corn cob holders for a long time. One of the first corn cob holders was patented in 1897 by Mary Donnelly. The design of the three-pronged forks helped keep hands butter-free.

In 1909, Carl Bomeisler patented another corn accessory – tiny swords engraved with corn kernels, the ancestor of the corn holders we find in the supermarket today.

The Two Kings: Corn and Cotton, Elizabeth H. Remington, 1876

-Written by Anna Zemaitaitis, Communications and Design Officer