[Sca-cooks] corn

[Mark Calderwood]

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This has probably been talked about before, but I didn't see anything in an
admittedly hasty skim of the florilegium...please don't flame me for asking.

I noticed something in Arcimboldo's painting "Summer" here's a link to a
good scan:
http://www.abcgallery.com/A/arcimboldo/arcimboldo2.html
In place of the ear...is that corn?

On a quick web search, I also found this
http://archive.greenpeace.org/~geneng/reports/gmo/gmo017.htm
Maize cultivation in Europe started at the beginning of the 16th century in
southern Spain, followed in the 1530s by Portugal, France, and Italy
(Venetia). By 1563, maize was familiar enough around southern Europe to
appear in the painting 'Summer' by Archimbaldo. Maize rarely replaced other
grain crops - rather, it was cultivated on fallow land or in farmers'
gardens. In its first decades in Europe, maize was neglected by the
landowners and was not a commercial crop. In those times, the farmers'
gardens were the 'private areas' where the peasants grew their subsistence
products with no tax or tribute to pay. It took several decades before
landowners in some regions like north-east Italy realised the economic
potential of maize. In the 18th century, maize (polenta) became
increasingly the staple - sometimes only - food source of the poor in the
Mediterranean regions.

Can anyone confirm or deny? If corn was known in period, how was it used
and are there any recipes?

Giles
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