Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-11-21
About Popcorn.

| Popcorn ought to be more popular At
all events such is the opinion of the
Department of Agriculture, which has
| been collecting information about the
production of this kind of corn in the
United States and the uses to which it
can be put
The popcorn crop is already of con-
siderable Importance in some sections,
through the bulk of the market supply
comes from few small districts in To-
wa and Nebraska, where farmers make
a speciality of it. This supply is taken
in part by dealers who meet the de-
manas of local trade i'll various parts
of the country, and for balance by
manufacturing concerns which make
cracker jack" and other kinds of pop
corn confectionery:
There is beginning to be small eX-
port trade in popcorn. If the people OF
Europe, as yet almost wholly Snordnt
of this magical grain, could be induced
10 appreciate it we should be glad to
supply them with all they wanted to
pop Or. if desired, we would pop it for
them and ship it across the water in
the form Of package goods.
There is a very satisfactory profit in
the manufacture of popcorn confec-
tionery, as may be judged from the
fact that $50 worth of popped corn in
package form, at a nickel a package,
represents AN outlay of only 81 to sl.50
for raw materials, including sugar, etc.
For good results in popping the main
requisites are good corn and a hot
fire. Do not use too much corn at one
= Thnt iS 70 tl1n,
enough to cover the bottom of the pop
per one kernel deep. One pint of pop
corn should yield from fifteen to TWEEN
ty pints of popped corn.
a recent Government bulletin says
that popped corn is superior TO many
breakfast foods now on the market.
Sometimes it is eaten with milk and
sugar. In many farm houses popcorn
cake is considered a necessary adjunct
t. Christmas festivities, and the ears of
the little Tom Thumb variety are par
ticularly popular for Christmas tree
decorations.
On many farms where popcorn is not
produced for market it is customary to
plant a few rows of it in the garden
for home use. Anybody who owns a
garden can do this to advantage being
thus enabled to make popcorn confec-
tons at home and to have them fresh
in which condition they are at their
best There is much economy in this,
inasmuch as enough popcorn to make
$50 worth of scent packages of popped
corn may be grown on patch of land
40 feet long by 20 feet wide. Popcorn
growing interests the children, who are
usually glad to do the planting and
hoeing If properly stored in dry and
we'll ventilated bins the corn will re-
tain it's popping quality for a number
of years.
Why does popcorn pop? ON this sub
jeet there has been a good deal to dis
pute, but the fact seems to be that
popcorn pops because OF the expansive
power of steam. A grain CT popcorn is
a receptacle filed with tiny boxes of
starch, which have walls strong enough
10 resist considerable pressure from
within. When heat is applied the mols-
ture in each little box is converted in
TO steam, which finally escapes by eX-
plosion. A high heat causes most OF
The little boxes to explode simultane-
ousjv. wbereupon the grain OF corn
turns inside out and is transformed