Corn silk
The fine threads from a maize cob, dried and infused as a mild golden drink. It is a Korean household staple and a by-product of a food crop rather than something grown for the purpose.
Identity
- Botanical name
- Zea mays
- Family
- Poaceae
- Part used
- Aerial parts
- Origin
- Mesoamerica, by way of the global spread of maize
- Drunk in
- Korea, China, Turkey
Character
Mildly sweet and corn-like, very light, and easy to drink in quantity. Frequently blended with roasted corn for more body.
Notes: sweet corn, hay, light grain
History
Maize reached East Asia in the sixteenth century through Portuguese and Spanish trade, and the drink is a local invention long after the plant arrived — a good example of a botanical tradition younger than the plant it uses.
How it is drunk
Sold in bottles in every Korean convenience store and brewed at home, frequently blended with roasted corn kernels. It is drunk as an everyday thirst-quencher rather than as a speciality.
Production
Silks are stripped from the cob at harvest and dried in shade. They are a by-product taken during processing of the crop for food.
Preparation
Infusion · Cold infusion
Herbal infusion (tisane)
1–2 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 5 min
Category-typical practice rather than a measurement for this specific botanical. Most infusions are far more tolerant of a long steep than tea is.
Related botanicals
- Mugicha — Two Korean household staples kept cold in the refrigerator and drunk in place of water.
Comparisons
- Corn tea vs corn silk — Two drinks from one plant — Zea mays, native to Mexico and Guatemala — using entirely different parts and tasting nothing alike.
Evidence for this page
The botanical name, family and distribution above are checked against an external authority. Zea mays L. — GRIN-Global Taxonomy record— retrieved and read, not countersigned by a named human. That source covers naming and distribution only. Everything else on this page — history, culture, production, flavour, preparation and buying advice — is TeaHQ’s own synthesis with no external source behind it.
Brewing parameters here are typical practice for the category rather than measurements of this plant, and each set says so.
This page makes no safety claim. It describes what Corn silk is, where it comes from and how it is prepared — not what it does to a person. The absence of a safety note here is not a statement that the plant is safe. How TeaHQ handles this.