Strains of Popcorn There are several popular varieties of maize that are cultivated in the United States. However, only one of them, the Zae mays everta variety, will actually pop. Though this may seem limited, there are about one hundred different strains of this corn and each of them vary according to flavor, texture, and how they pop.
Search for:. Brief History of Popcorn Archaeologists have discovered that people have known about popcorn for thousands of years. For example, one strain of popcorn pops up into a snowflake pattern and another looks like a mushroom.
The pericarp or hull is usually white or yellow in color, though the range of colors includes red, black and many colors in between. Popcorn seeds are bred to produce desirable traits such as stalk strength, grain color and successful popping. Plant breeders select popcorn for genetic traits by using inbreeding. Inbreeding is taking the pollen from the tassel male flower from a single plant and using that pollen to fertilize the silk female flower of that same plant.
Inbreeding leads to genetic segregation, whereby the plant breeder is able to identify, select and save the seed of desirable plants. The breeder then takes the seed and inbreeds it again, and continues to select for desirable traits. It takes eight years of inbreeding until the plant selection is stable and is no longer segregating. Finally, two inbreds are crossed together to produce a hybrid, which is then planted as popcorn seed. That's nearly 28, seeds per acre.
Popcorn seed will germinate in approximately seven days and emerges from the soil in 10 days. It is the moisture in the soil, which dissolves important elements for the plant such as nitrogen, phosphate and potash. The popcorn roots absorb this nutrient rich moisture to "feed' the seed and cause it to germinate.
When the sun shines on the new leaves, the green chlorophyll in the leaf contains water, which is combined with the carbon dioxide in the air, creating sugar. The plant uses the sugar to build more leaves and roots, and eventually ears of popcorn. This process is called photosynthesis. As the popcorn plant grows, the stalk will reach approximately eight feet in height and produce long, green leaves. Popcorn requires inches of water during the growing season.
As the plant grows, it begins to produce ears of corn, covered with a green husk. Feathery tassels form at the top of the plant and produce pollen, a yellowish powder.
The ears form silks or long strands that "catch" pollen as the wind blows. The pot was covered, and heat from the sand popped the kernels. The heavier sand stayed at the bottom of the pot, and the popped kernels rose above it where they could be reached. Over types of popcorn were being grown in the Americas by the time Columbus discovered these continents. French explorers in saw the Iroquois people popping corn in clay pots; and the Winnebago Indians who lived near the Great Lakes simply drove sticks into the cobs and held the cobs near the fire.
Popcorn soup was a favorite method of using the grain among the Iroquois, and the Indians of Central America even made popcorn beer. Early explorers observed ornamental necklaces, bouquets, and headdresses made of popcorn. In early America, popcorn became a ritual part of many festivities including quilting bees and barn raisings. In cabins and homesteads, corn could be popped in the fire-place, seasoned with grease or butter, and shared by the family.
Popped kernels were used as teeth in Halloween pumpkins and strung in long ropes to festoon Christmas trees. Popcorn was the accompaniment to banjo playing, singing, and the telling of ghost stories and folktales.
In the s, the first puffed cereal was created by pouring milk and sugar over popped corn; this breakfast dish was popular from Boston south to the Carolinas. Popcorn was grown in family gardens or farms or bought from neighbors who grew more than they needed until about when it started to become recognized as a legitimate cash crop.
The first automatic popcorn popper was a steam-powered machine invented by Charlie Cretors in ; before Cretors' invention, street vendors popped corn in wire baskets over open fires. By about , the glass-sided popcorn machine with its gasoline burner became a popular feature of the circus, carnival, sideshow, local fair, and small town streets where popcorn vendors would sell bags of popcorn as dusk fell. The packaging of popcorn for use at home began in about In , Fred and Louis Rueckheim used the Chicago World's Fair to kick off their blend of popcorn, peanuts, and molasses.
These German brothers made their name in America by manufacturing Cracker Jack, as this mixture came to be called, in a small kitchen and then at the World's Fair. In order to claim a prize, the consumer could mail in a coupon found in every box of Cracker Jack. After the Fair and until World War II, prizes were actually packed in the boxes, although this practice stopped during the War because the prizes were made in Japan.
After the War, a bonus prize returned to every box. When moving pictures became the rage and movie houses opened across the country, the street vendors of popcorn would rent space outside the theaters and sell bags of popcorn to movie ticket buyers. In , Charles T. Manley perfected his electric popcorn machine, and popcorn vendors moved inside the theater where the trapped sounds and smells of popping corn often made more money than the feature film.
During the Great Depression in the s, vendors sold popcorn in five-cent bags, and popcorn became one of few affordable luxuries. Meanwhile, back in the theater, the paper bucket replaced the bag as the container for popcorn because the rustling bags made too much noise. During World War II, popcorn was taken overseas as a treat for American servicemen and was adopted by other countries. In , Percy Spencer applied microwave energy to popcorn and found that it popped; his discovery led to experiments with other foods and development of the microwave oven.
Television brought popcorn into the home in the s, when electric popcorn poppers and pre-packed corn for popping were developed and marketed. The s and s witnessed a boom in electric poppers, hot-air poppers, and microwave popcorn as the videotape industry brought movies and the desire for all the customs associated with movie-going into the home.
Now, take the pile of cracked popcorn kernels that you cut with a knife and add them to the pot. Swirl the pot slightly and keep it on medium heat with the lid tilted on top.
Leave the pot on the stove for two minutes, swirling slightly in between, and observe what happens. Take the pot from the stove after two minutes and assess your popping results. Did all the popcorn kernels pop?
How does this popped popcorn look compared with the previous batch? Do you notice any differences? How big are the flakes this time?
Repeat these three steps but this time use the 20 popcorn kernels that you had previously heated in the oven. How do they look after two minutes of popping? Are there any unpopped kernels? Do you notice any size or color differences compared with the other popcorn? If there are differences, why do you think this is the case? Take the three small cylindrical glasses and fill each one with a different batch of your 20 popped popcorn kernels regular, cracked and preheated.
They should each contain the same amount of popped kernels. Place them next to one another so you can assess the different volumes of the popcorn flakes. Are all the glasses filled up to the same height? Which popcorn kernels expanded the most? Which were the smallest? Can you explain the differences? Finally, you can sample the popcorn from each of your piles. Which popcorn tastes the best? Is one more chewy or crisp than the other?
Extra: Test to find the ideal popcorn popping temperature. Set your oven to — degrees C — degrees F and put a heat-resistant bowl with a lid with 20 regular popcorn kernels inside. Swirl the bowl occasionally and wait long enough so that the popcorn starts popping. After the popping slows down and stops take the bowl out of the oven using the mitts and count the popped kernels. Did all of the kernels pop? Repeat the same experiment but this time set the oven to about degrees C degrees F.
Wait exactly as long as it took to pop the kernels at — degrees C then take the popcorn out of the oven. How many kernels popped at the lower temperature? What can you infer from your results about the optimal popping temperature?
Extra: In addition to preheating the popcorn kernels, take another 20 kernels and soak them in water for a few hours, then dry them afterward.
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