The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1892-08-19
WHY POPCORN POPS.
Not One Person In n Tn ousand Can Tell
when They Arc Asked.

Why does popcorn popp
Ask the first twenty learned men you
can find and not one Of them will 10
able To tell you. The secret lies in the
structure OF the grain, which Is very
wonderful indeed.
In the center of each grain of pop
corn In the germ" OF the future plant
IL holds the vital element Of the seed
What Ii Il like? Well, II Is about the
size Of large pin-head. Its outer coat
is membrane OF woody matter, inside
of which Is an oily substance contain
ing nitrogen and phosphorus. Embed
ded in this oily substance is the Emu
cleus."
The nucleus" IN the true germ--thc
essential life-principle of the seed. II
IL chiefly composed OF albumen, and II
Just big enough To I've seen with the
naked eye. Small as II Is 1t contains Il
mystery which no man has ever solved
or is ever likely 10 solve-the mighty
secret OF reproduction. However, there
are more things of interest to he noticed
I'm the outer structure OF the popcorn
grain.
Gathered around the germ are gran
ules Of starch, arranged In layers and
so regularly placed AS To resemble n
crystalline structure. In fact, like
crystals, though they are not such,
these granules possess the peculiar
property Of "polarizing" light. Seen
under the microscope they have very
beautiful forms. Between each two
layers of them Is n woody membrane,
and covering the whole is the hard ex-
ternal envelope OF the corn grain, com
posed of woody matter with large
proportion Of mineral substances, such
as lime slick, potash and magnesia.
Think what an amazing quantity of
nutritious food Is thus packed in little
space for the use OF the embryo plant
which first absorbs the nitrogen and
phosphorus contained in the so-called
germ" envelope, afterward consuming
the starch and SO getting ready 10
sprout,
A popcorn grain has precisely the
same structure AS n grain of ordinary
corn. II is simply a variety of the same
species of plant. Why, then, will not
common corn pop? II will do so, as you
can find out for Yourself by trying, but
il does not pop nearly so well, though
now and then grain will do excellent
". The reason is that the starch
granules in popcorn are packed NOR,
tightly and the woody membranes be-
tween the layers are thinner and NOR,
easily ruptured. Heat causes the water
that Is in the starch To expand, the eN
ternal envelope is burst open and tn,
grain turns inside out becoming tiftccT
times It's original size or more and
showing the pretty white starch out
side.
That Is the reason why popcorn pops
The best popcorn Is the light-ycllov
kind with small pointed grains. Their,
Ii hardly farm in the west that doe
not have It's patch of popcorn for hom
consumption, but nearly all of the pop
corn raised for market is produced il
New England. A story is told OF
Massachusetts farmer who had n barr
half filled with popcorn newly harvest
ed and "shuclSed," The building caugh
fire, the popcorn popped and an enor
nous wave Of IL rolled down hill, cover
ing up the farm house so that only tn
chimncys were to be seen, and the fam
lily had tn be dug out by the neighbur
with snow shovels. At present the bus
mess of manufacturing buttered POI
corn is conducted on vast scale il
Chicago and elsewhere, millions u
packages of II being distributed for Sal
all over the United States. -Washingto
Star.