Sweet or s alty: popcorn is the favorite among cinema snacks. But did you know that you can also easily grow popcorn corn yourself?
Crispy and preferably still warm, that's how we like to eat popcorn. Whether in the cinema, at the fair or at a movie night at home, the corn kernel snack is a must. Sometimes it has been a trend for a few years to make the corn pop in the pan yourself at home. The fact that you can also grow popcorn in the garden easily and without much care is still new territory for many.
Corn originally comes from South America and therefore needs warmth. The plant has been cultivated for many thousands of years and is now an integral part of our global diet. Popcorn corn, also called puffed corn, is just one variant of the many varieties and types, but it is a particularly tempting one. The corn plant itself is content with little space, is easy to care for and carries masses of kernels on two to four cobs, so that growing your own popcorn in the garden is really worthwhile. Here you can find out everything about the varieties, cultivation and preparation of popcorn corn.
Popcorn corn: Choosing the variety
Maize (Zea mays), which belongs to the grass family (Poaceae), is divided into separate groups of varieties depending on the intended use. A distinction is made between vegetable , sugar, roasted, flour, polenta and popcorn corn. The latter typically has a crack-resistant, hard shell around the grain. Only under high pressure from heat and the expansion of the water inside does the corn burst open and form the well-known fluffy white mass. Other types of corn only tear open slightly on the surface in the pan. Or they don't react to the heat at all because the water content is too low. Therefore, when buying corn seed, you should look out for the designation Puffmais or Popmais (Zea mays convar. microsperma).
Popcorn corn is available in every imaginable color variant, although you can usually only find it in the classic golden yellow variant in stores. But how about blue, red or green popcorn corn? After the preparation are also thecolorful variants, but each variety has its own unique taste. Here we have put together a selection of the best popcorn corn varieties for the home garden:
- 'Golden Butter': Forms the classic golden-yellow corncobs on plants that are about 1.50 meters tall. This typical popcorn is best prepared with butter in a pan, then sprinkled with a little sugar and enjoyed.
- 'Green Pearl': As the name suggests, you can admire a rare play of green tones here - the variants lime green, grass green and sea green can be found on just one cob; pops very well and delivers very good quality on plants that are only 1.20 meters tall.
- 'Heavenly Blue': This 1.50 meter high popcorn develops light blue, pinkish and almost black kernels. Already fascinating when harvesting, all the better in the pan: 'Heavenly Blue' is particularly suitable for hearty and s alty popcorn.
- 'Caritas': You will look in vain for monotony with this maize, which can be up to 1.20 meters tall. No cob is pure color, but always very brightly peppered with orange, blue, yellow and pink grains; wonderful as a decoration and then as fine popcorn to snack on.
- 'Indian Berries': Colorful strawberry corn in the main colors red, violet and light yellow to white. It forms short, thick cobs, the shape of which is somewhat reminiscent of a strawberry. The corn stalks, which can be up to 1.80 meters high, produce up to four cobs per plant.
- 'Ruby Red': Tall plant, up to 2 meters tall, with long, beautiful crimson spikes. After preparing it in the pan, you get comparatively large, fluffy popcorn.
- 'Purple Popcorn': Up to two meter tall corn with long, deep purple cobs. Very productive and productive. The grain pops very well and forms quite large popcorn with an aromatic, nutty taste.
Sowing and planting popcorn corn
Maize generally needs a lot of warmth and should therefore only be planted outside after the last frosts from mid-May. Either the grains are then sown directly into the ground or the corn is grown indoors from the end of April to the beginning of May. The biggest advantage compared to no-till is the time advantage of about two to three weeks that the young plant already has. If it gets cold and wet early in the autumn, it can happen that the maize stalks that were only sown in mid-May no longer reach full maturity. Pop as a resultthe grains are very poor and the quality is often not the same. So if you have a little space on the window sill, it is advisable to bring it forward. To do this, fill a seed container or multi-plates with seed soil or, in an emergency, with garden soil - corn is not particularly demanding. The grains are then placed about two to three centimeters deep in the soil and watered carefully. After just three to seven days with enough heat, the tender shoots shoot out of the ground.
From mid-May after the ice saints, the young plants are then placed outdoors. Corn can be grown both in beds and in pots. The plants are then planted about 30 centimeters apart directly in potting or garden soil, for example the peat-free Plantura organic universal soil. However, care should be taken not to plant them deeper than they were sitting in the seed pot. Maize should be quite close together so that wind pollination works well and as many kernels as possible form.
Fertilize and care for popcorn corn
Maize is one of the so-called heavy consumers who like to be fertilized and absorb a lot of nutrients. When planting, it is therefore best to add a load of compost or other primarily organic long-term fertilizers such as our Plantura organic universal fertilizer. The corn does not require any special care.
Once flowering begins, however, you can manually ensure an even better harvest by pollinating yourself. The plant forms the male flower at the top and thus also the pollen on the so-called flag. The female flower sits in the leaf axils and shows itself in light green to dark red stigmas that push out from the bracts of the future cobs. If these are about three to five centimeters visible, you can collect yellow pollen grains on a piece of paper by shaking the flag vigorously at the top and then distribute them on the stigmas. Although corn is self-fertile, better pollination takes place with pollen from another plant. After pollination, the stigmas dry up and form hair-like brown-black tufts on the tip of the cob. Now it's time to wait for autumn.
Harvesting and drying popcorn corn
You can tell corn is ready to harvest when the entire plant has turned dry and brown. The bracts around the cobs must also dry upbe. Now you can remove the corn cobs from the leaf axils either with pruning shears or with a twisting motion. Then you defoliate the cob or bend the husks backwards to hang up the corn to dry. It is best to let the grains dry gently for a few weeks before twisting them off the cob and storing them in mason jars. Only completely dry you avoid fungus and ensure good popcorn for later preparation.
Preparing popcorn corn
After a few months of patience, it's finally time to prepare the little delicacies. In a large pan with a lid, heat some oil or butter until small bubbles can be seen. Now put in the dried popcorn corn, close the pan with the lid and let it get hot. From time to time you should swirl the pan so that the grains do not burn. After a few minutes, small explosions of bursting grains begin to shake the pan. Here you should shake the contents of the pan well again. After about five minutes, all the grains should have burst open and can be s alted or sweetened directly while warm. The grains can also be easily prepared in the microwave in a suitable bowl with a lockable lid. The corn is packed into the bowl with a little water and, depending on your taste, sugar or s alt and made to pop for about five to seven minutes at 600 watts. It doesn't matter whether it's from the pan or the microwave: Home-grown popcorn simply tastes wonderful and rewards the relatively small effort of planting in several ways. Just give it a try.
If you are now also interested in planting sweet corn in the garden, you can read on here.
And if you are also interested in other curious plants, check out our article on growing Mexican mini cucumbers, for example.