Crop: Corn (Abelmoschus esculentus)

Use/Type: Flint

Breeder: Nicholas Fevelo Seed and Winnowing Italia

OSSI Pledge Date: 4/17/2019

Release Date: 4/17/2019

Bred for Organic Systems: No

Commercial Availability: Yes

Variety Type: Finished Variety

Description

“Our original polenta variety. For milling & ornamental. This is a true farmer’s variety. It is a workhorse. Padernello is an authentic Italian flint corn (hard protein rich kernels) that makes a high quality cornmeal adapted to polenta production. It is great for traditional American cornmeal use as well but with less of the simple white starch found in dent varieties. We inter-flowered traditional landraces and modern Non-GMO flint material onto a landrace called “Nostrano di Storo.” We put so many improvements into it, we renamed it. The red ears are from commingling with other Alpine varieties at some point in it’s past. There is nothing really like this present in the United States. This variety has excellent resistance to mycotoxin accumulation making it a lot safer in the face of fungal disease pressure. It is named after the medieval castle Padernello where we collected many of the parents from farmers in the Bassa Bresciana, Italy. We have selected this population for mid-plant ear placement and ears that hang down at maturity to help fall rains drain off easily. Averages 7”-8” ears between 12-16 rows and sometimes higher. It has some Italian non-GMO dent corn influence and it consistently comes back negative in GMO testing. It is uniform in the important ways but expect the variation found in farmer’s varieties. 90-100 day cycle plus dry down”

Availability from OSSI Seed Company Partners

• Seed and Winnowing Italia