# Is Corn the Only Grain That Pops? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-corn-the-only-grain-that-pops/167469 "2003-04-09T02:29:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-corn-the-only-grain-that-pops/167469/1 "2003-04-09T02:29:54Z")
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? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-corn-the-only-grain-that-pops/167469/2 "2003-04-09T02:36:30Z")
There’s Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice. Also maybe Sugar Smacks are puffed something-or-other. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-corn-the-only-grain-that-pops/167469/3 "2003-04-09T02:47:39Z")
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](http://www.sanitarium.com.au/schoproj/sppuffed.htm#Puffing) > [@](#): > > The essence of puffing is to gelatinise the starch in wheat in a hot pressure chamber and then suddenly release the pressure, so that the grain expands to several times its original size. > > The first step is to deliver a measured quantity of wheat into a pressure chamber (known as `the gun') and heat it by high pressure steam to almost 200oC. This is achieved in less than a minute. The pressure is then released, expanding the grains and shooting them into a large chamber (referred to as `firing the gun’). > > Loose bran is aspirated off and vitamins are added to the puffed grains (called `berries’ at this stage). > > The coated berries are then carried on a conveyor belt into a hot air oven to dry to a moisture content of 3%. the dried berries pass over a sieve, so that only puffed wheat grains of the correct size (over 6mm) remain. However, there is one other grain that will pop naturally. It’s called amaranth. [http://www.garudaint.com/omag.htm](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. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-corn-the-only-grain-that-pops/167469/4 "2003-04-09T02:49:30Z")
Sugar Smacks are also puffed wheat. Here’s a [How Stuff Works](http://home.howstuffworks.com/question393.htm) article on the making of puffed grains. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-corn-the-only-grain-that-pops/167469/5 "2003-04-09T04:10:37Z")
Pop Sorghum. Yes, it does exist. Some recent news on the crop: [http://www.icrisat.org/text/satrends/02may/1.htm](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. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-corn-the-only-grain-that-pops/167469/6 "2003-04-09T16:21:39Z")
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.