Skip to Main Content

Kernels of Knowledge: Harvesting for Food, Feed, Fiber and Fuel

Agriculture is a vital component of Indiana’s history, culture and future. Discover the development of corn and Purdue University’s contributions to its growth with Purdue Agriculture’s short series, Kernels of Knowledge.
uses-of-corn-infographic.jpg

Maybe the first thing that comes to mind when you think of corn is corn on the cob or hot, buttery movie popcorn. What you might not think of is minty toothpaste — but corn is found in many products we use every day. Read on to find out where Indiana-grown corn ends up.

The majority of field corn in Indiana is used for animal feed. It’s typically ground up and fed to animals like pigs, cows and chickens. Sometimes farmers store harvested field corn to sell when the market is most profitable or to use for animal feed throughout the year.

Field corn is also used to make the biofuel ethanol. Nearly all unleaded gasoline contains up to 10% ethanol, but blends with 15% ethanol (E15) and 85% ethanol (E85) are also available for vehicles with flex-fuel engines (check your owner’s manual).

During the production of ethanol, valuable coproducts are created, including distillers’ grain, a livestock feed ingredient, and carbon dioxide used to carbonize beverages and create dry ice.

Along with sweet corn and popcorn, field corn can also be found in food products like corn flakes, corn tortillas and corn meal. Sweeteners derived from corn play a critical role in many products from yogurt to jam to chewy cookies. And if you like a nightcap, you might be ending your day with corn, as well. Beverages labeled as bourbon must be made from a grain mixture that is at least 51 percent corn. Corn is also used in the fermentation of beer, whiskey, vodka and gin.

You may be surprised by how many industrial and fiber products contain some form of corn. Sorbitol, an ingredient found in toothpaste that helps create the flavoring and texture, is derived from corn. Corn byproducts are used in rubber tires, fireworks, diapers and deodorant for their chemically binding and absorbent qualities.

Purdue Agriculture researchers are also exploring how corn can contribute to the perfect texture for a popular new product: plant-based meat alternatives. Bruce Hamaker, distinguished professor and Roy L. Whistler Chair of Food Science, has been studying corn zein, a protein in corn that provides viscoelasticity, simultaneously exhibiting fluid and solid properties. Both sticky and flexible, corn zein would allow plant-based meat alternatives to be shaped into different forms that hold together well when cooked.

While Hoosiers may joke that they’re surrounded by corn, people all over the globe are surrounded by everyday products that contain some form of corn — often in surprising ways!

Featured Stories

Dog outdoors drinking water
Keeping your pets safe during the dog days of summer

As temperatures and humidity rise across the U.S., Candace Croney, director of the Center for...

Read More
Diane Wang gathers plant data with a student.
Fields of Discovery: High school students join Purdue professors in research

High school students join Purdue professors to learn about research opportunities in agriculture...

Read More
a tractor spreads gypsum across a field and a soil probe has a sample of six inches of a dark brown soil in the metal tube
How Purdue researchers and the USDA are finding ways to bury carbon beneath our feet

Soils are a rare win-win when it comes to burying the carbon released from burning fossil fuels....

Read More
Wilford tends to Gracie the cow.
Fields of Discovery: From track to trough— leaping into research

This summer, Rieko Wilford is making big leaps researching methane emissions; on the track,...

Read More
Drone over canopy
Digital forestry can help mitigate and prevent wildfires

The National Interagency Fire Center reports as of this writing that 19,444 fires have burned...

Read More
Minghao works with the machine she is using in her research.
Fields Of Discovery: Missions amidst plant-based meat

This summer, Minghao He conducts enzymatic treatment on hemp seeds to try and make material for...

Read More
To Top