Poor Richard’s Almanac

Here at Hawk’s Haven, winter and popcorn just naturally go together. Enjoying fresh, hot buttered popcorn and mulled cider and watching a favorite movie in our own living room is such an affordable luxury that Silence Dogood and our friend Ben indulge in this treat often. (See Silence’s earlier post, “The joys of air-popped corn,” for her favorite popper and technique.)

But enjoying the end result is only half the fun. The other half would be growing your own popcorn. Interest in gourmet popcorns means that your choices aren’t limited to the standard yellow or white, either. Not that our friend Ben is dissing white or yellow popcorn—red, blue, purple, yellow, white, black, or multicolor, I’ll enjoy it as long as the popped corn is tender and flavorful and most of the kernels pop. But there’s no question that the colorful ears are more fun to have around.

Here are a few varieties that are readily available:

Calico. No two ears look alike on this colorful popcorn, which rivals any Indian corn for decorative effect. As one source, Territorial Seed Company (www.territorialseed.com), says: “This hard-to-find gourmet popcorn is midway between miniature popcorn and Indian corn in size. The 6-inch ears have colorful kernels in shades of yellow, brown, white, purple, red, and blue.” It matures in 90 to 105 days.

Chires Baby Corn. Jere Gettle of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (www.rareseeds.com) came upon this variety while searching for a good baby corn for Asian dishes. But the ember-bright red-orange kernels make great popcorn if you allow the ears to mature. Best of all, each plant produces up to 20 mini-ears, as opposed to the one or two ears you get on normal corn plants. 

Dakota Black Popcorn. This one’s a gorgeous red-black. I quote the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed catalogue: “Dark reddish-black ears are quite attractive for fall decorations, or popping into tasty popcorn! This variety is easy to grow, and does well in almost all growing climates. Fun for children’s gardens.” ’Dakota Black’ is also carried by Seeds of Change (www.seedsofchange.com).  

Early Pink. This gorgeous pink-kerneled popcorn produces a harvest in just 85 days. One source, Territorial Seed Company, sings its praises as follows: “A great choice for short season popcorn enthusiasts, this early variety yields beautiful pink kernels on 5-6 inch ears. When popped, the colorful kernels explode into a white, fluffy popcorn treat. Plants grow to 5 feet tall. The dried ears are wonderful for crafting or fall decorating.”

Japanese White Hulless. “This selection of an old favorite has medium size kernels that pop pure white and are very tender with no hard centers. Vigorous stalks produce 6 to 7 inch ears,” says one source, Jung Quality Garden Seeds (www.jungseed.com). Popcorn is ready for harvest in 85-105 days. As you’ll see below, yellow-kerneled ‘Tom Thumb’ is considered to be the same as ‘Japanese Hulless’, so our friend Ben is confused. Maybe the key lies in the description: “this selection.” If you can enlighten us, please do so.

Miniature Rainbow Popcorn. Like ‘Calico’, this popcorn comes in many colors. Even the husks can be colored red or purple. Jung Quality Garden Seeds, which offers this variety, describes it this way: “Tiny 3 to 5 inch ears are filled with shiny kernels in a wide range of colors.” It matures in 110 days. 

Robust 128YH. This F1 hybrid (the other varieties listed here are all open-pollinated) is a favorite with the folks at Johnny’s Selected Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com) despite its comparatively long growing season (112 days). Here’s why: “7-8″ long ears on 8-9′ plants are well filled with glossy yellow kernels. Its high (45-1) expansion ratio makes this an extremely tender popcorn.” Jung Quality Garden Seeds offers both ‘Robust 128yh Gourmet Yellow Popcorn’ and its white equivalent, ‘Robust 21-82 Gourmet White Popcorn’.

Strawberry. You’ve almost certainly seen these vaguely strawberry-shaped cobs of garnet-red kernels offered for harvest season decorations. But you may not have known they make great popcorn, too! Admittedly, the tiny kernels aren’t going to pop into giant movie-size mouthfuls, but the diminutive bright-white popcorn is tender and delicious. Plants grow 5 to 6 feet tall and produce two to four 2- to 3-inch-long ears per stalk, taking about 100 days from planting to harvest. Some seed sources include CherryGal Heirloom Seeds (www.cherrygal.com), Jung Quality Garden Seeds, Botanical Interests (www.botanicalinterests.com), and Abundant Life Seeds (www.abundantlifeseeds.com, which carries it as ‘Two Inch Strawberry’).

Tom Thumb. This well-named New England heirloom bears 3- to 4-inch-long ears of yellow popcorn on plants just 3 1/2 feet tall, making them well suited to small-space gardening. Another bonus is that it matures in just 85 days. Also known as ‘Japanese Hulless’, ‘Australian Hulless’, and ‘Dwarf Baby Rice’, this heirloom is available from CherryGal Heirloom Seeds and Local Harvest (www.localharvest.org). 

So once you’ve chosen one or more popcorn varieties and ordered seed, how do you grow it? Well, pretty much like any corn. Direct-seed outdoors in spring once the soil is warm (at least 60-65 degrees F, corn seed will rot in cold, damp soil), at least 1-2 weeks after your last frost date. Don’t panic about waiting to plant ’til the soil warms: not only will you get better germination, the corn will grow fast and quickly catch up to its early-planted cousins.

Keep this in mind: Like all corn, popcorn produces relatively few ears per stalk (’Chires Baby Corn’ is an exception), so to get a good harvest, you need to plant plenty.

Plant seeds 1/2 inch deep and either 6 inches apart in blocks, ultimately thinning to 1 foot apart, or in large hills of 4 equidistantly spaced seeds. Corn doesn’t transplant well, so be patient and wait to direct-seed your popcorn outdoors. Corn is wind-pollinated, so you need to grow a bunch of plants together to get good pollination—which translates into well-filled ears—rather than stretching plants out in one or two long rows. But because corn is wind-pollinated, pollen from other varieties growing nearby can blow into your crop and contaminate it, causing any seed you save not to come true. To prevent this, grow each variety at least 250 feet from the nearest corn patch of a different variety. This is obviously not an issue with hybrids or if you don’t plan to save seed.

Every American child grows up learning that the Native Americans taught the Pilgrims to plant corn seed in hills with a dead fish in the bottom of each hill for fertilizer. Corn is a hungry crop, and the Native Americans knew what they were doing. You can still fertilize your corn patch with liquid fish emulsion or a combination of fish emulsion and liquid seaweed. Compost, well-rotted manure, or a balanced organic fertilizer also work well. If, like our friend Ben, you live in an area where field corn is grown, you’ll doubtless have noticed that plants can literally grow several inches every day. This is a good reminder that those hungry plants can take a lot of food! Pile it on when you’re preparing the area for planting, and then side-dress your plants with compost tea, manure tea, fish emulsion, or liquid seaweed monthly while they’re growing.

When should you harvest your popcorn? Wait until the leaves and husks start drying down and the corn kernels become hard and glossy. You can use the dried popcorn on the cob, husks and all, for Hallowe’en and harvest decorations, in bunches or on wreaths, or hung in a cluster over your front door (a traditional symbol of good luck and abundance). Just make sure you keep them protected from moisture if you plan to pop the kernels later! You can also hang whole ears in a cool, dry place until you’re ready to pop them, or husk the ears, spread them out in a dry, well-ventilated place, and allow them to cure for several weeks before shelling them and storing the kernels in large glass jars or airtight plastic containers like Click-Clacks. Or just leave them hanging until you need them and either shell them or, if you have a microwave, put the whole dried ears in a paper bag, fold the top, and pop. 

Ready to go, I mean, grow? Me, too! I can practically smell that mouthwatering popcorn now. And if you have favorite varieties, growing techniques, or sources I’ve overlooked, please let our friend Ben know!