Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan 7:8:683399.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.683399. eCollection 2021.

Traditional Foods From Maize (Zea mays L.) in Europe

Pedro Revilla  1 , Mara Lisa Alves  2 , Violeta Andelković  3 , Carlotta Balconi  4 , Isabel Dinis  5 , Pedro Mendes-Moreira  5 , Rita Redaelli  4 , Jose Ignacio Ruiz de Galarreta  6 , Maria Carlota Vaz Patto  2 , Sladana Žilić  7 , Rosa Ana Malvar  1
Affiliations
Review

Traditional Foods From Maize (Zea mays L.) in Europe

Pedro Revilla et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the major crops of the world for feed, food, and industrial uses. It was originated in Central America and introduced into Europe and other continents after Columbus trips at the end of the 15th century. Due to the large adaptability of maize, farmers have originated a wide variability of genetic resources with wide diversity of adaptation, characteristics, and uses. Nowadays, in Europe, maize is mainly used for feed, but several food specialties were originated during these five centuries of maize history and became traditional food specialties. This review summarizes the state of the art of traditional foodstuffs made with maize in Southern, South-Western and South-Eastern Europe, from an historic evolution to the last research activities that focus on improving sustainability, quality and safety of food production.

Keywords: European food; Zea mays L.; flour; food quality; nutritive value.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

    1. Sauer CO. The Early Spanish Main. California, U.S.A: University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles; (1966).
    1. Finan JJ. Maize in the Great Herbals. Waltham, Mass., U.S.A.: Chronica Botanica Company; (1950).
    1. Revilla P, Soengas P, Malvar RA, Cartea ME, Ordás A. Isozyme variation and Historical relationships among the maize races of Spain. Maydica. (1998) 43:175–82.
    1. Revilla P, Soengas P, Cartea ME, Malvar RA, Ordás A. Isozyme variability among European maize populations and the introduction of maize in Europe. Maydica. (2003) 48:141–52. Available online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/32960
    1. Pérez García JM. Aproximación al estudio de la penetración del maíz en Galicia. En La historia social en sus fuentes de protocolos. Spain, Univ. Santiago de Compostela: (1978).

LinkOut - more resources