Popcorn

[ilex]

This year I managed to start a popcorn landrace. Did multiple plantings of a docen varieties, mostly old native ones. Will try to post updates here:

General view of about 200 plants out of 400 planted. Some dry, some tasseling.



First crop (85 days), will probably keep it separate:



Some close ups:









This one is strange to me with that white cap. Not likw the few dent I've seen:

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Sept 9, 2012 10:50:21 GMT -5 ilex said:

This one is strange to me with that white cap. Not likw the few dent I've seen:

Great work on the popcorn landrace. I would expect that cob to not pop very well because it has so much soft starch in it. Also I wonder about some of the dark purple cobs with the flat kernels not popping.

If you have the time and inclination I recommend popping a little bit of each cob as individuals. It sure helps identify which cobs pop the best.

[ilex]

Sept 9, 2012 11:39:26 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

If you have the time and inclination I recommend popping a little bit of each cob as individuals. It sure helps identify which cobs pop the best.

Any easy way to do that?

[oxbowfarm]

Use a paper cup in a microwave oven?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

To pop corn in the microwave, I use paper lunch bags. I put a measured amount of popcorn (1 Tablespoon) into the bag and set the timer for (I think) 3 minutes. Then I listen and turn the microwave off about 10 seconds after the last pop.

Then I measure the volume of popcorn and write it on a piece of tape which gets attached to the cob. At the end of popping all the cobs I sort the cobs and replant only the best popping cobs. I think this year I will also count the number of grannies and write it on the cob.

Some cobs won't pop at all. Some pop really really well.

I do not use oil for test pops, and I use the same bag over and over again. It takes me weeks to pop so many individual cobs, and the popping test uses about 20% of the seeds on the cob, but it seems worth the effort to me.

[ilex]

First crop was at 85 days. The long brown ears are from a volunteer Chapalote (aka pinole maiz).

[ilex]

Sept 9, 2012 11:39:26 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

about some of the dark purple cobs with the flat kernels not popping.

Which ones are those? I'm not sure to which one you are refering to.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

ilex: I think I was mis-looking.

[flowerpower]

Ilex, in the first pic, 2nd row 6th ear. Kind of gold/tan color. Would you know the name? That is very cool looking.

I will post pics of my colored popcorn tomorrow. I have to upload them.

[ilex]

That's Chapalote (aka pinole maiz). In real life it's brown. Very big plants and kind of long season.



Last year I got it with very uniform color, so I hope it means it crossed with the others

[mnjrutherford]

I was wondering about those white caps! Any idea what causes that? We have it A LOT. I'm wondering if it's our moister conditions? I know that when Mike went to pop some of our last year crop, it didn't do well. That is probably why.

Why do you work with a volume measure rather than a weight measure Joseph? Is there a particular reason or is it simply a convenience issue?

[flowerpower]

Thanks, Ilex. Great selection of corn.

[ilex]

Sept 17, 2012 7:17:18 GMT -5 mnjrutherford said:

Why do you work with a volume measure rather than a weight measure Joseph? Is there a particular reason or is it simply a convenience issue?

This is popcorn and we want to meassure how much it expands (volume). Once popped it should weight the same or less.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I want to measure how much the popcorn expands during popping. That is a volume measurement. If I pop a Tablespoon (15 ml) of popcorn and it expands to 500 ml (makes the math easier to work in metric), then that is an expansion of 500/15 = 33 Times. I don't actually do the math though... I simply pop a Tablespoon of corn, and then measure the volume in ml and write it on the cob. Then I sort the cobs according to how well they popped.

Popcorn before popping contains about 14% moisture. I haven't actually weighed corn before and after popping, but I expect that the moisture would mostly boil off.

I could also do the selecting by weight... If I separated the kernels after popping into "Those that popped" and "Grannies", and then weighed either the popped kernels or the Grannies. "Nearly Every Kernel Popped" is a great marketing slogan, but it's also a great popcorn breeding selection criteria.

[raymondo]

What's a 'grannie'? Is it simply an unpopped kernel?