Tuscarora White Corn
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$3.00
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Tuscarora White, also known as Iroquois White, is an heirloom of the Haudenosaunee (commonly called Iroquois) people of current New York state.
It is a delicious, creamy corn that is at its best with butter and maple syrup for breakfast, though I've also used it as hominy in beef stews, where it puffs up to the size of a chickpea and absorbs the savory flavors of what it's with, while giving a wholesome flavor that we most often associate with tortillas. The rather soft kernels puff up quite a bit when nixtamalized (boiled with lime and thoroughly rinsed). My Mexican co-worker gives it a two-thumbs-up for making pozole.
It has been native to this area for several hundred years, being brought up here in the 1600's when the Tuscarora people of the Carolinas joined the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of future New York. I acquired my seed from several sources and grew them out last year to confirm they're true to historic type. All sources were good, and now I have a healthy genetically diverse, true to type population.
It is an 8-row corn, the kernels are very large, oblong, and fill out long ears of 10-14 inches, though I see some dwarfish ears, and a very occasional 4 row aberration. I will be selecting for ear length, as that is more true to type. Typically 1 ear per plant, but I have selected some multi ear producers to see if I can safely breed it into more of the population. If the plants can support and finish out two ears or more, I like that feature.