Does it take a particular kind of corn to make popcorn?!
Does it take a particular kind of corn to make popcorn?
Answers:
At the site below they do have seeds for growing popping corn. I bet the other guy is correct in that you don't need a special corn. The drying process might be more important than the corn because you need to retain the correct amount of moisture in the corn for it to pop.
But as you see the breeders have worked to make the perfect popcorn seed.
1. Breeding the Popcorn Seed
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.
Source(s):
http://www.vegetableseedwarehouse.com/co...
http://www.popcorn.org/teachers/snack.cf...
You can use any corn.
But if you grown your own corn, make sure you leave corn in the garden until the stalks and husks are brown and dry. When you can no longer leave a mark on the kernel with your fingernail, it's time to harvest.
Twist and snap each ear from the stalk. Do this before the frost hits. To prepare corn for indoor curing, carefully strip away the dried husk from each ear. The kernels will be partially dried or "cured," a necessity for long-term storage.
Besides drying on the stalks, corn requires another four to six weeks of thorough drying in a warm, well-ventilated place.
Place the ears in mesh bags or spread them out in an area where they'll have warm air circulating around them. You can also hang mesh bags full of corn ears in your garage for about four weeks. After curing, hang the bags of corn in a cool, dry place. The corn can keep for years in the cool, dry, dark conditions.
After a month of curing, the kernels can be taken off the ears and stored in airtight jars. Whether you're removing the kernels before storage or just before popping, there's no real trick to it. Simply grasp the ear firmly in both hands and twist until the kernels drop out.
i usually use popping corn from the supermarkets.