Rich in healthy antioxidant carotenoids. Buttery, nutty flavor. Appealing orange color. What’s not to like about this corn variety developed by Professor Torbert Rocheford of Purdue University?
February 11, 2019 — It took more than 20 years, but here’s proof that diligent research and natural breeding can lead to an excellent corn variety without disrupting its natural genetic code. The links below give you the rest of the story, but the bottom line is that here’s a non-GMO line of corn which could open a specialty market among health-focused food retailers such as Whole Foods and Natural Grocers.
The developer, Torbert Rocheford, had in mind a corn that would deliver more Vitamin A to malnourished people in Africa. but now he’s bringing it to the United States.
You can already buy grits made from this grain at a namesake website, professortorberts.com.
We’re keen to look into the possibility of obtaining seed from the company behind this product, NutraMaize, sometime in the future.
Their website says:
“NutraMaize is an Indiana based consumer focused agriculture company. We are dedicated to delivering innovative corn-based food products that are developed with the needs of the end consumer in mind. Thats why we carefully oversee every aspect of our unique High Carotenoid Orange Corn’s value chain, to ensure the integrity of our product from seed to stomach.”
We asked the company, via the contact form on their site, if there are U.S. grower opportunities to raise their corn and develop specialty markets. For example, corn chip makers are always looking for fresh, healthy products. Our local Natural Grocers store has an entire lane of chips of all kinds. Example: Garden of Eatin’ has corn chips in blue, yellow and white … but no orange yet!
The company’s response came quickly from NutraMaize co-founder and CEO Evan Rocheford: “In the U.S. we only provide our proprietary variety to growers whom we have under contract to produce it on our behalf. However, in the future we may have contract opportunities for organic and certified non-GMO production for growers such as your clients.”
