There is something I have been wondering for some time now. Is corn the only grain that “pops” when heated? And if the answer is, no, there is another grain that pops, then I have another question: Do people actually pop this other grain/s? And how does it taste?
There’s Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice. Also maybe Sugar Smacks are puffed something-or-other.
Well, is the OP talking about laboratory conditions? Because I don’t believe that wheat and rice will simply pop by themselves if you stick them in a pan with hot oil like popcorn.
How they make puffed wheat.
http://www.sanitarium.com.au/schoproj/sppuffed.htm#Puffing
However, there is one other grain that will pop naturally. It’s called amaranth.
http://www.garudaint.com/omag.htm
Yes, people do pop amaranth, it’s a traditional South American Indian food, I have no idea how it tastes.
Sugar Smacks are also puffed wheat. Here’s a How Stuff Works article on the making of puffed grains.
Pop Sorghum. Yes, it does exist. Some recent news on the crop: http://www.icrisat.org/text/satrends/02may/1.htm
Purdue University tried to market pop sorghum years ago (before 1990) in the USA. It flopped.
Well, coffee beans “pop” audibly once during the roasting process (or twice, if you char them like a certain green-logoed megacorporation does) … but they don’t invert themselves like corn.
But then, they’re not grains.
In short, never mind.