What do taco shells, high fructose corn syrup, grits, renewable fuel and bourbon have in common?
If you’re a bourbon lover you may already know the answer — all of these things are made from corn. And more specifically dent corn!
Now there are A LOT of books, websites, blogs, Instagram posts etc, that talks about bourbon but have you found one that talks about the corn used to make bourbon?
I mean, if people care what types of grape a cognac is made from, or what type of agave makes the best mezcal, or what strain of oak is used to make a barrel, why do we just say that “bourbon is made from corn?”
Types of Corn
There are six categories of corn that are common:
1) SWEET CORN (Zea mays convar. saccharata var. rugosa)
Sweet Corn could be used to make bourbon but it’s typically the type that you’d buy at a grocery store to eat as corn on the cob, frozen corn or canned corn. It comes in white, yellow and coloured varieties but regardless of type is usually just labelled as “corn” in grocery stores. Sweet corn is picked when it’s “immature” in something called it’s “milk stage” where it’s still high in sugars that haven’t been converted into starches and is picked to be consumed as a vegetable as opposed to being dried out and consumed as a grain. Confused about that “milk stage” thing?
During corn’s kernel development process, there are six phases it goes through. We aren’t going to dive into the deep details of them but they are:
A corn’s ‘silk’
Phase 1: Silk Stage — Kernels develop and silk grow out of stalks (those long stringy things)
Phase 2: Blister Stage — White-ish blisters full of clear fluid form on the kernels
Phase 3: Milk Stage — Kernels become yellow and blisters are full of a milky white fluid
Phase 4: Dough Stage — Starches accumulate and the liquid becomes a doughy consistency
Phase 5: Dent Stage — Kernels begin to dry and exterior of kernels begin to dent
Phase 6: Full Maturity — Kernels are dry and ready to be harvested
As I mentioned, this type of corn is picked in Phase 3 when it’s still milky.
2) POPCORN (Zea mays everta)
Popcorn can’t just be done with any type of corn, it has to be made with popcorn corn! Popcorn is specifically cultivated to have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy interior with only a tiny bit of moisture left in it (Phase 6 with low moisture). When the corn is heated the moisture causes the popcorn to explode and go inside out.
Popped popcorn comes in two basic shapes: snowflake and mushroom with snowflake being used in movie theatres and ballparks because it pops bigger (so all the savoury styles of popcorn) whereas mushroom style popcorn is used for candy confections (aka things like caramel corn) because it doesn’t crumble.
Image from Ailmentarium
3) FLINT CORN (Zea mays var. indurata)
Flint corn is the colourful varieties that are sometimes referred to as Indian Corn or Calico Corn. If you’ve ever had corn as decoration around Thanksgiving it was probably this type of corn. Flint corn is high in nutrient value and therefore used to make cornmeal, polenta and livestock feed. It is named after its texture as it is hard like flint.
4) FLOUR CORN (Zea mays var. amylacea)
Flour Corn is composed largely of soft starches that are easy to grind. I bet it doesn’t come as a surprise that Flour corn makes corn flour.
5) POD CORN (Zea mays var. tunicata)
Pod corn or ‘wild maize’ is a type of corn that develops leaves around each kernel. You probably haven’t seen it before!
6) DENT CORN (Zea mays indentata)
Dent Corn, which is also known as “field corn” is characterized by it’s dented appearance and is the most commonly grown type of corn in the US. Dent corn is harvested once the sugars have converted into starches. It is used for many purposes including oils, syrups, grits, flours, bio-fuel, animal feed and of course, bourbon.
Dent corn has a higher starch content and lower sugar content than sweet corn, meaning that no matter how much butter you slather on a freshly picked cob, it’s going to be hard to choke down. Unlike sweet corn, dent corn isn’t picked fresh — it’s harvested at the mature stage (Phase 6) when the kernels are dry.
So there you have it friends, bourbon is typically made from Dent Corn, and more specifically Yellow #2 Dent Corn.
There are exceptions to this and some distilleries have starting making bourbons with other types of corn. Examples include Balcones Distilling’s Blue Corn Whisky from Texas, USA, High Wire Distilling’s Jimmy Red Whisky from South Carolina, USA and Sierra Norte Native Oaxacan Black Corn whisky from Oaxaca, Mexico.
