Corn By Any Other Name - My Thoughts Exactly!

Louise Clark’s accent was as thick as hominy grits. No one else in the Philadelphia branch of her family. Her mother and father had dropped theirs as soon as they crossed the Pennsylvania line. ~Fran Ross

Yeah. I’ve talked about corn before (March 6, 2025), but that post gave the topic a lick and a promise, as one of my babysitters used to say.* This edition won’t finish it up, but I’ll be adding a few kernels for your ruminations. *This was generally in reference to cleaning the floors–mopping, but not scrubbing.

We'll start with hominy

I’ll be the first to admit that hominy looks like soggy popcorn. It’s an odd duck, and not a a staple on anyone’s menu. The more I read about it, though, the more I believe we may be underestimating its usefulness. But first, a brief look at how corn loses its identity as a kernel and evolves into an altered state.

Hominy begins as field corn, which in this case means it dries in the field as opposed to sweet corn that is harvested to eat–or to be processed–while it’s tender and sweet. From there, it is subjected to nixtamalization. The Spruce Eats explains that this process originated in Mexico and has been around for a thousand years. Anyway, the dried kernels are boiled in lime, then soaked in the same water for an extended period. The chemical changes make the product softer, easier to work with, and more nutritious. And looking more like soggy popcorn.

In some ways, hominy is healthier than sweet corn, according to Nutrition Over Easy and other sources. For example, hominy’s calcium content is higher; the B vitamins are more easily absorbed, and the sugar content is significantly less than what is found in sweet corn.

The popcorn

Once again, we’re looking at a treat that is in no way new. It dates back to 300 A.D., per Pitsco. South and Central Americans not only ate popcorn, but also used it as headdresses. (What kept the birds away? I won’t be able to research that one.) When the colonists caught onto corn’s popped version, they ate it for breakfast–as cereal. Subsequent to the invention of the popcorn machine–sometime after the mid 1800s–popcorn became a go-to snack.

We’ve been eating quantities of popcorn in the U.S. for well over 100 years, and a lot of it. The Census Bureau estimates that Americans consume over 14 billion quarts of popcorn annually. Yet I doubt that more than a handful of us greasy-fingered humans ever wondered what causes corn to pop. I hadn’t either, until I began researching this topic. It’s just water, folks. Really?

No, popcorn is a specific hybrid, called Zea mays everta, per popcorn.org. However, what makes it pop is expansion caused by steam. Here’s the breakdown of the three layers of a popcorn grain that lend themselves to the explosion:

The hull is called the pericarp. It consists of cellulose and, as you know, is quite hard.
The center, or endosperm, is comprised of both hard and soft granules and is a carbohydrate. It provides energy for the “living part of the kernel.”
That would be the center section, or the germ/embryo.

It is the last portion that contains moisture. When the kernel is heated and the germ reaches 135 lbs of pressure per square inch (at about 400-460°), the hard hull explodes, basically turning the kernel inside out. Who knew?

Is popcorn healthy? You bet! Right up until you add salt and butter. It’s whole grain and high fiber and contains antioxidants, according to the American Heart Association. If you air pop it, no one can argue with the benefits. Or its resemblance to puffy styrofoam, but maybe that’s just me.

Then there's corn nuts, tortillas, and corn chips

Just a little on each.

Corn nuts – they aren’t nuts. Just dried corn kernels, rehydrated, then roasted or fried. I’m not a fan due to their hard-as-nails external surface, but if you have good dental insurance, give them a try. (Food52)
Tortillas – the corn variety is also uses kernels subjected to nixtamalization. It just often happens as part of the masa marina production, as described by the Muy Bueno blog. Their nutritional benefits are similar to hominy, due to the nixtamalization.
Corn chips – same as above, unless they’re fried rather than baked. Of course, if they’re baked they’ll have the appeal of air-fried popcorn, so there’s that. (pantsdownapronson)

Corny, but true

While I would like to say that corn is the most versatile vegetable, I can’t. It can be considered a grain or a vegetable, but botanically it is a fruit. What? I think we can all agree it’s a food, though, Well, except when it’s fuel, but let’s stick with food for now. Anyway, think of all the edible products that weren’t already mentioned in this post: oil, meal, syrup, cornstarch, and citric acid. The latter isn’t always made from corn, but it’s one of the primary sources. And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the beverages that require corn as their base: whiskey, vodka, and some liqueurs.

You may have known all that, but you may not have known corn is the base for:

Toilet paper
Drywall
Toothpaste
Spark plugs
Diapers
Aspirin

All that, plus crayons, hand soap/sanitizer, and rubber tires, according to the Nebraska Cornboard, and they should know. I have driven by plenty of cornfields, as a native Tennessean and I’ve lived in two Midwest states that number in top ten states for corn production. I say all that to say that I never, not once, considered the versatility of those corn crops, even though today’s list, plus those in my original post, still would not cover it all.

Are cornfields as magical as portrayed in Field of Dreams? Nah. But they are magnificent in the diversity of their offerings, most of which I did not know about before this week. It has been said that “knowledge is power” and that “knowledge is the beginning of wisdom”. I think knowledge can often lead to an appreciation that was missing in ignorance.