I gleaned a popcorn field, but the popcorn will not hardly pop. Does it have to cure first or something?
By Diana from Philpot, KY
Hang the cobs upside down with the husks and silk pulled back. Remove the silk, and use the husks to hang over a clothesline or such in dry place, not in a damp garage. Maybe near your furnace if possible. Idea is to let them dry for weeks. When they are dry, shuck the corn, row by row. Do not cut, you need the whole kernel. Should pop when dry.
I don't know about the curing part, but I've read that if you've had regular popcorn from the store in storage a long time & it won't pop, put a little water (maybe a teaspoon) into the container and close it for a week or so. The popcorn needs the moisture to create steam in order to pop.
Generally popcorn must dry before it will pop. Either hang it up to dry somewhere as has already been suggested or put it in the freezer for a a few days.
I found this and it will explain why you might not be able to pop your corn in to popcorn and will also give directions for how to properly dry, remove kernels and store: hubpages.com/
I found this out from my mom's dear friend. There are different kinds of corn that the farmers plant. They planted next to our place feed corn.
Check out these photos.
Look, y'all. My popcorn is tasseling! I 'bout turned into a popcorn freak when I was doing all that experimenting, trying to get the perfect method for popping corn (I did gain about 15 pounds). I shudder to think how it's gonna be when all this is harvested and in my pantry.
