James and the Giant Corn Genetics: Studying the Source Code of Nature

April 1, 2010

This one has me stumped

Filed under: Uncategorized — James @ 9:07 am

Was pointed at a website for popped sorghum marketed under the name popghum. The greater supposed advantages over normal popcorn are:

It’s got fewer calories and less fat than popcorn, and best of all, it has no hulls to get stuck in your teeth!

Website is very slick with lots of text recycled from page to page and without many confirmable details and you can’t actually place an order but the story stops just short of the being outrageous enough to be an obvious april fools prank.

I’d like this to be true (even though they use organic sorghum) because I’m almost as pro-sorghum as I am pro-corn, but I don’t even know if sorghum can be reliably popped. If you were ever been bored enough as a kid to try popping sweet or field corn, you too know what an unrewarding experience it is.

4 Comments »

  1. I have no idea how it’s done, but think it can be popped reliably. Maybe not the syrupy varieties, but some of them. I saw it once on TV (Bizarre Foods), and I’ve got some seeds of a variety grown for that called Tarahumara Popping that I’m going to try this year. Not sure if they’ll make it here in Pa, I think it has a 120 day season, and they’re packed for last year, but eh, worth a shot. I’ve got more than I can plant so I could send you some if you’re interested in trying a popping sorghum.

    Comment by Party Cactus — April 1, 2010 @ 11:27 am

  2. Thanks! That gives my a lot more confidence this may be a real business.

    I’d take you up on the offer of seeds if I had so much as a square foot of yard to call my own, as is I’ll have to be satisfied with hearing how yours turn out this fall.

    Comment by James — April 2, 2010 @ 9:34 am

  3. Indeed, it can> http://www.bioversityinternational.org/publications/publications/annual_report/2008/why_pop_just_corn.html

    Comment by Jeremy Cherfas — April 5, 2010 @ 2:26 am

  4. […] pop like corn (there’s even a variety called “Tarahumara Popping”) and, in fact, thanks to the link Jeremy provided, I’ve discovered that most grains and even some other things (including cowpeas!) can be popped […]

    Pingback by Biofortified » Why popcorn pops — April 5, 2010 @ 9:52 pm

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