They’ve been ground and cooked with dehydrated table corn until their resemblance to coarse hominy is close enough to fool the eyes and tongue.

The sweetener is derived from genetically modified Bt corn, which is highly processed and unlike the sweet table corn that many people eat.

Farmers use chemical sprays to protect sweet table corn from the fungus, but spraying weekly and after every rain is too costly for the growers of corn raised for animal feed.

Mr. Pomerene, a solemn, bookish man with a Websterian manner, whose hobby is growing early table corn, is not a banker.