When you pick up a box of Corn Flakes or Corn Pops, have you actually ever stopped to think about what's inside?

Well, if you said corn for starters, that would probably be pretty good guess. The primary ingredient in both is milled corn and both have probably existed longer than you've been alive. Using various grains for cereal is hardly a new concept, but learning more about the history and facts behind grains might just be. Over the next couple of week, we'll take a look at the common grains in cereal and learn a bit more about them.

The History of Corn
Corn is not a naturally-occurring plant, but rather one that was developed by humans and thus, must be cultivated by them. While the first record of corn dates back over 7,000 years ago, the type that was first grown in Central Mexico bore little resemblance to the corn you are familiar with today. A wild grass known as teosinte produced small kernels that were located further apart than current ears of corn. Eventually corn, also known as maize, was the crop that Indians relied upon as a primary food source and spread south into Peru. It was when Indians began migrating over 1,000 years ago that corn was widely introduced in North America.

The name corn was bestowed by English and German settlers, who used the German word 'korn,' which referred to any cereal grain. The crop was originally called corn as a generic term to indicate it was an edible grass seed, and to differentiate between other crops, was called Indian corn.

The term maize, also commonly used for corn, is derived from the word "mahis," which meant "source of life" to the Taino people, who lived on the Northern Antilles islands where Christopher Columbus first landed. The Taino people gave Columbus corn to take home to Spain, after which it became widespread throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

The Indians were likely to first group to use corn as cereal, as they turned the crop into many types of food, including porridge.

Corn Facts
Corn is the number one field crop in the United States. In fact, corn production in the country is two times greater than any other crop. It accounts for 70 to 80 million acres of land each year, with an annual yield of about nine billion bushels worth approximately $30 billion.

There are an average of 800 kernels divided over 16 rows in an ear of corn, while one pound accounts for about 1,300 kernels. One farmer in the U.S. is responsible for providing corn to an average of 97 people in that country, and another 32 overseas.

More than half of corn production in the U.S. takes place in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota, with those states, plus Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, South Dakota, Kentucky and Missouri forming what is known as the "Corn Belt."

In 2006, over half of all corn produced in the U.S. was used for food, while 19 per cent was exported, and 18 per cent went toward the production of ethanol. It is estimated that over half of corn crops are used toward the production of food for domestic livestock. Less than one per cent of the corn supply in the country was used toward cereal.

Corn in cereal
The first known use of corn in cereal the way we know it today was developed by two brothers, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, W.K. Kellogg (yes, as in those Kellogg's). John first invented granola using wheat, oats and corn around 1876 or 1877, and eventually in 1894, the brothers invented the world's first pre-cooked flaked cereal using wheat, as part of John's effort to develop healthy food for his medical patients. In 1906, W.K. Kellogg founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, after taking the initial flaked cereal concept, but using corn to create the cereal instead. That company eventually became the Kellogg company you are probably familiar with today.

One of the patients of John's Sanitarium, C.W. Post also began to produce cereals and sell them. While the Kellogg's success spawned many other attempts at copycat businesses in the area, Kellogg's and Post became the long-standing success stories. Both companies produced versions of corn flakes, which were by far more popular than the wheat versions of the cereal.

Today, corn flakes are still widely sold and other corn cereals such as Corn Pops - also manufactured by Kellogg's - are successful corn-based cereals. Corn Pops are described as "sweetened popped-up corn cereal," as opposed to the flaked varieties that were created long before.

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