Rheintaler Ribelmais facts for kids
Rheintaler Ribelmais, also known as Rheintaler Ribel or Türggenribel, is a special type of maize (corn). It's grown in the Swiss Rhine Valley and Liechtenstein. This corn is ground into flour.
Since the year 2000, Rheintaler Ribel has had a special label called AOP. This stands for "Appellation d’Origine Protégée," which means "Protected Designation of Origin." It's the only cereal product from Switzerland with this protected status. The name Ribelmais comes from a traditional dish called Riebel, which is made from this corn.
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The Story of Ribelmais
Maize has always been very important in the Rhine Valley. This area includes parts of St. Gallen and Grisons in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Vorarlberg in Austria. The Rhine Valley has a milder climate because of a special wind called Foehn wind. This mild weather made it a good place for maize to grow. Maize is a big part of the culture and history of these regions.
Rheintaler Ribelmais has many different types of genes. For hundreds of years, farmers picked the best cobs to plant for the next year. This careful selection helped the corn adapt perfectly to the local weather and soil. Ribelmais is special because it grows well in cool spring weather. Modern corn types, like those used for animal feed, don't grow as well in cool conditions. Because of this, Rheintaler Ribelmais is now used to create new corn varieties in Switzerland.
Maize in Switzerland and Liechtenstein
People first started growing maize in the Rhine Valley around 1571. Back then, they thought it came from the Balkans. That's why they called it Türggen or Türggenkorn, meaning "Turkish corn." Once maize became common, people ate it as a breakfast porridge called “Ribel”. This is still its name today, and it's where "Rheintaler Ribelmais" gets its name.
In Liechtenstein, maize was first grown around 1680. By 1871, more than half of all the farmland in Liechtenstein was used for maize. Maize and potatoes were the main foods for the people living there.
The "Usschellete" Tradition
Long ago, every family grew their own maize in their garden or field. After the harvest, they had to remove the outer leaves (husks) from the corn cobs so the cobs could dry. This was a special family event called “Usschellete” or “Hülschete.” The whole family would gather to do it together. They would peel most of the husks, leaving just a few. These remaining husks were tied together so the cobs could hang and dry for months. This "Usschellete" was one of the most important events of the year.
Bringing Ribelmais Back
From the 1960s to the 1990s, fewer and fewer farmers grew Ribelmais. By the 1990s, only about 4 hectares (about 10 acres) were left. But in 1998, a group of farmers and food makers created an association. Their goal was to bring back Rheintaler Ribelmais. They wanted to make sure the corn and its seeds were high quality. They also wanted to support local food businesses and keep the tradition and different types of corn alive.
Thanks to their hard work, about 65 hectares (about 160 acres) of land are now used for Rheintaler Ribelmais. The association grows the seeds and gives them to farmers. To make sure the product stays high quality, Rheintaler Ribelmais was given the AOP label in 2000. This label means it's a traditional product from a specific area.
Where Ribelmais Grows
Rheintaler Ribelmais can only be grown in certain parts of the Rhine Valley. This area stretches from north to south, above Lake Constance.
The growing areas include:
- The towns of Rheintal, Sarganserland, and Werdenberg in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
- The towns of Fläsch, Jenins, Landquart, Maienfeld, Malans, Untervaz, and Zizers in the Canton of Grisons, Switzerland.
- The country of Liechtenstein.
How Ribelmais Is Processed
Harvesting Ribelmais starts in mid-September. The corn kernels are then taken to special storage buildings. The only place that stores Rheintaler Ribelmais is Lütolf AG in St. Margrethen. When the kernels arrive, they are dried with hot air at about 50°C (122°F) for a day. This is different from the old way, where whole cobs were air-dried on racks. After drying, the kernels can be stored for up to two years.
For further processing, the kernels go to “Meyerhans Mühlen AG” in Rheineck. Here, the kernels are milled (ground) into different types of flour. An important part of making Ribelmais flour is that the germ (the part that would sprout) is ground along with the rest of the kernel. This gives the flour a special, nutty taste.
What Ribelmais Is Used For
Rheintaler Ribelmais is used to make many delicious foods. In the Rhine Valley, it's used for the traditional maize dish that shares its name. Sometimes, it's also used to make polenta. You just need to let Ribelmais soak longer than other corn varieties.
Bramata Flour
This type of flour is made by “Meyerhans Mühlen AG” and sold by “Lütolf Spezialitäten AG.” It's different from regular Ribelmais flour because its grains are larger.
Chips
“Lütolf Spezialitäten AG” also makes whole-grain chips entirely from Ribelmais. The only other ingredients are Swiss sunflower oil and salt.
Corn Whiskey
Making whiskey from grains became allowed in Switzerland in 1999. Soon after, Arnold Graf, a master brewer from Sonnenbräu in Rebstein, started making whiskey with Ribelmais. This whiskey is sold as “Ribel Swisslander Whisky.”
Beer
In 1991, to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Sonnenbräu brewing company created a new beer using Ribelmais. Since 2008, this beer has been sold under the name “Ribelgold.” Ribelgold is a light beer with an EBC of 8.5 and about 5.0% alcohol. It's made from brewing barley and Rheintaler Ribelmais.
Corn Poultry
“Geflügel Gourmet AG” works with local farmers in the Rhine Valley to raise poultry like geese, poulards, and guinea fowl. These birds are mainly fed Ribelmais. The poultry raised this way has a distinct yellowish skin and meat color, and a strong, rich flavor.
Rheintaler Ribelmais and Old Corn Types
Why Old Corn Types Are Important
Before modern farming, farmers grew "landraces" of crops. These were types of plants that had grown in the same area for a long time. Farmers would plant, harvest, and save seeds from their best plants for the next year. This helped create many different types of plants within the same crop. Modern corn types, called "hybrids," are all very similar genetically.
Because of the "Green Revolution," new high-yielding varieties of crops were developed. These helped feed more people around the world. But this also meant that many old landraces were no longer grown and were lost. This loss of different plant types is called "genetic erosion." It's a problem because it means we lose valuable genetic material that could be used for future breeding.
With Climate change happening, it's more important than ever to find and save these old landraces. They can help us breed new varieties of important crops like corn, Rice, and Wheat that can handle changing climates. This helps ensure we can feed the world's growing population.
Swiss Corn Landraces
Switzerland has many different types of maize landraces. These are different from the corn types found in nearby countries. A landrace isn't just one type of corn, but a group of corn plants grown in the same region. Scientists have studied Swiss corn from areas like Ticino, the Rhine Valley, Valais, and other valleys. They found that Swiss maize landraces are different depending on where they grow. This means that Swiss maize landraces can be told apart by their region and also by their genes.
However, there's also proof that people traded corn seeds between regions. For example, the “Rheintaler” landrace likely shared genes with corn from the nearby Linth valley and other southern parts of the Rhine Valley. Scientists have found three main groups of Swiss landraces: northern landraces (which include Rheintaler), southern landraces, and landraces from Valais. These groups match the way the Swiss Alps separate the regions.
When compared to corn from other countries, the southern Swiss landraces are most like an Italian type of corn. But the northern Swiss landraces, like Rheintaler, are more closely related to types of corn from North America. This is interesting because corn first came to Europe from America in the late 1400s.
The “Rheintaler” Landrace
The products made from Rheintaler Ribelmais use only corn from the Rheintaler landrace. This corn is a type called Flint corn. Flint corn has hard kernels with less water, which makes it good for grinding into flour. It's not usually used for eating off the cob or for popcorn.
Many Swiss landraces were named after the color of their cobs. In the Rhine Valley, the cobs are often light yellowish, but other colors are also known. There were also "small" (Kleiner Rheintaler) and "big" (grosser Rheitnaler) types of Rheintaler landrace. These types differed in how many rows of kernels they had (8, 12, or 16) and the size of the kernels.
The color of the cobs can change over time because of the many different types of genes within landraces. Sometimes, corn cobs have kernels of different colors, like sprinkles. For a long time, this was a mystery. But an American scientist and Nobel Prize winner named Barbara McClintock discovered that "jumping genes" (called Transposons) in maize were responsible for these sprinkled kernels.
Because some Rheintaler cobs are white, some people think that white-corn varieties from south of Venice might have been brought to the Rhine Valley. These might have mixed with the original landraces there, changing the cob colors. Today, we know that the Rheintaler Landrace originally came from North American flint varieties. These types were better suited to the colder climates of northern and central Europe than corn varieties from South America.
How Ribelmais Adapts
Landraces and Stress
Rheintaler Ribelmais is a "landrace." A landrace is different from modern corn types. It has adapted to its local environment, including poor soil or traditional farming methods. It also has more genetic variety than a modern "hybrid" corn. This means Rheintaler Ribelmais might be better at handling stress. If a modern hybrid plant gets sick, all the other identical plants might get sick too. But with a landrace, the variety means some plants might be stronger.
However, maize plants are pollinated by wind. In Switzerland, farms are often small. On small fields, there are fewer nearby plants, which can reduce genetic variety. This can increase the risk of problems. In recent years, Ribelmais has become more likely to get pests that weren't a problem before. This shows that even landraces need care. To keep the quality high, Rheintaler Ribelmais is now watched and sometimes changed through breeding programs. Modern corn types might actually be better adapted than traditional landraces in some ways.
Cold Tolerance
Maize originally came from warm, tropical places. So, it doesn't like cold weather. In Europe, it's planted in late spring to avoid the cold. To get more corn, farmers often choose types that grow quickly. Another idea is to breed corn that can handle cold better. This would let farmers plant earlier and have a longer growing season, which could lead to more corn. It would also help young corn plants compete better against weeds. However, there isn't scientific proof yet that Rheintaler Ribelmais is more cold-tolerant than modern hybrid corn.
