Corn, indigenous to the Americas, is one of its oldest vegetables. Blue corn is one of the oldest varieties. The Pueblo tribe in the Southwestern United States was using blue corn at least as far back as 1540, when Spanish explorers discovered the region. But blue corn certainly goes back to the pre-Colombian era.

Blue corn is open-pollinated, so its growth is not as easily regulated as is that of commercial hybrid yellow or white field corn. Blue corn is a floury corn, and has about 30 percent more protein than the average hybrid corn. It is still widely used in the Southwest and Mexico, where it is a staple food. It can be used to make tortillas, chaquegue, a type of gruel, and nixtamal, which is a type of hominy. Blue corn was also reputed to have healing properties when offered as a beverage.

Nixtamal is made of blue corn kernels that have had their hulls removed in a lime water. The result may be cooked into hominy or ground into masa flour, suitable for tamale dough and many other uses in that cuisine. Atole de maiz is a beverage made of ground blue corn with add-ins like chocolate or chiles.

Blue corn, with its higher protein value, has also become a trendy ingredient in Mexican restaurants. Everyone is serving blue corn tortilla chips with salsa and blue corn products are now more commonly seen beyond the neighborhood bodegas. Blue corn has, in fact, expanded into the mainstream commercial market, in products like corn chips, muffins, pancakes and even breakfast cereals! Its strong, nutty flavor is a favorite in corn muffins.

If blue corn products are not locally available, they are everywhere online. A quick search will turn up numerous sites offering blue corn, cornflour, pancake mix and muffin mix. Chaqugue instructions are available as well, for the adventurous eaters.