Cracked corn for popping popcorn.

Popcorn corn generally uses small corns with smaller particles and long and thin shapes. This kind of corn is called popping corn. The ears and kernels of popping corn must be smaller than our ordinary corns, and have a compact structure, hard and completely transparent, and have great exploding properties when exposed to high temperatures. Even when the kernels are smashed into pieces, the exploding power will not be lost. That’s why it’s called popping corn.

Popping corn was once classified as a subspecies or variant named Zeamays L.var.evertaSturt. The flower spikes and seeds are both small, and the seeds are basically made of cuticle starch, and the material is hard. The grain color is white, yellow, purple or with bright red patterns. There are two types: wheat grain type and pearl type. When the grain moisture content is moderate and heated, it can crack into popcorn corn that exceeds the original volume dozens of times. The seeds are mainly used as popping food. Some multi-spike species can be grown as ornamental plants.

The moisture content of popped corn kernels determines its puffing quality. High-quality popcorn kernels have a swell rate of 99%. The grains have too much water (the combined water flow is 16-20) or are too wet (8-10) and cannot fully expand well. The recognized standard is that the grain moisture content is 13.5-14.0, which is more suitable. Good popping corn has a crisp and loud popping sound when exploding, a high popping index, white behind-the-scenes exposure of the corn, and a porous structure of the fluffing agent: if the moisture content is too high, it will cause long cracking heating time and rapid popping sound. Squeaky noises, low explosion index, behind-the-scenes footage.