261 



WHAT IT rs "I'oi'- ix I'oi' couxv 



■R. TT. f'AHK and K. F. Iviri,i:v, riinluo Hiiivcrsify. 



"Wliiit inits tlic ■]>(>]}' in po]) cni-iiV" is a (|iiostion which is often jokod 

 ahont and one wiiicii seems nevei' lo lia\e hcen eonsidered seriously enough 

 lo lead (() any in\ cstiiiat ien. Some think tlie std)ject is not worth study 

 while others look npon it as (aie of tiio mysteries of nature which can never 

 he unfolded and to them it is in the same class as the question. "Why is 

 the grass green"? Top ('(nii has Ix-en a very popular food from very early 

 times and is Itecoming more common as improved methods of preparation 

 render it more and more appetizing. 



Theories o/ I'oppijif/. 



The writer formerly was led to think the cause and degree of popping was 

 in proportion to the hygroscopic water contained in the corn when heated, 

 but a little investigation convinces one that popping is quite independent of 

 the water content except between very wide limits, besides other kinds of 

 corn such as dent or sweet do not pop wide open ;it any moisture content. 

 Some have thought the action to be similar to that of Professor Anderson's 

 puffed corn or wheat, etc., in which the outer covering holds tenaciously 

 enough to expand without breaking. This, however, is not the case with pop- 

 corn as it is possible to di'ill holes in the grain or slit the sides of the hull 

 with a sharp knife and still have the grain pop wide open on being heated 

 in a proper way. 



Scope of Investigation. 



The study of this subject is still going on but the points investigated so 

 far concern mainly the mositure and protein contents, percent of popping, 

 time of heating for best popping, microscopical appearance of popped and 

 unpopped corn and changes in composition after popping. 



The 50 corn samples tested were secured from various sources. Many 

 were from the farmers who grew the corn, some were ol)tained in grocery 

 stores in different Indiana towns. They were mostly of the rice corn 

 variety. Some of the samples are known as Australian Hulless. and some 

 as California Golden. The percent of moisture, pop and protein content of 

 the samples are given in the table which follows : 



