Corn Kernels

Corn kernels are the seeds of maize. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable or starch.

One ear of corn contains roughly 800 kernels in 16 rows. One hundred bushels of corn can produce upwards of 7,280,000 kernels.

The kernel of maize has a pericarp of the fruit fused with the seed coat referred to as "caryopsis", typical of the grasses, and the entire kernel is often referred to as the "seed". The cob is close to a multiple fruit in structure, except that the individual fruits (the kernels) never fuse into a single mass. The grains are about the size of peas, and adhere in regular rows round a white, pithy substance, which forms the ear. An ear can commonly hold 600 kernels and be 7 in (178 mm) in length. They are of various colors: blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and yellow. When ground into flour, maize yields more flour, with much less bran, than wheat does. It lacks the protein gluten of wheat and, therefore, makes baked goods with poor rising capability.

A genetic variant that accumulates more sugar and less starch in the ear is consumed as a vegetable and is called sweet corn.

Corn kernels are readily available in bulk throughout maize-producing areas. Transportation and packaging of dried clean corn kernels to non-producing areas adds to the cost.

Read more about Corn Kernels:  Biomass

Famous quotes containing the word corn:

    The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye,
    And it looks like it’s climbin’ clear up to the sky.
    Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960)