Corn varieties
Varieties of corn are classified based on its different kernel characteristics.
The six general varieties are dent, flint, popcorn, flour, sweet, and pod corns.
- Dent corns are so called because of the dent on the tip of its kernel formed when the soft starch it contains while still young shrinks. This happens as it matures.
- Flint corns do not have this characteristic as they do not contain soft starch while still young.
- A flint corn variant, popcorn, pops open when it is heated due to the rapid expansion of the moisture in its kernel.
- Flour corns, on the other hand, contain less densely packed starch that is easily ground into meal while sweet corns have distinct sweetness in them because of the sugar they contain.
- Such sugar was not converted into starch while maturing.
- The last type of corn, pod corn, is rather cultivated for its decorative purposes than for its consumptive value. Some pod corns have multi-color patterns and some have diminutive husks.