Corn nuts, also known as toasted corn, are a

snack A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snacks are p ...

food made of

roasted Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization ...

or deep-fried

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

kernels. It is referred to as ''cancha'' in Peru and ''chulpi'' in Ecuador.

Preparation

Corn nuts are prepared by soaking whole corn kernels in water for three days, then deep-frying them in oil until they are hard and brittle. The kernels are soaked because they shrink during the harvesting and cleaning process, and rehydration returns them to their original size.

History

Albert Holloway of Oakland, California introduced corn nuts to the United States in 1936. He originally sold them to tavern owners to be given away free to their patrons as a snack that would be great with beer, calling them Olin's Brown Jug Toasted Corn.

Varieties and brands

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CornNuts

Holloway later renamed his product CornNuts. After Holloway and his sons Maurice and Rich learned of a breed of corn grown in

Cusco, Peru Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; i ...

(often referred to as Cuzco corn) that grew large kernels (some said to have been bigger than a

quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25. Quarter or quarters may refer to: Places * Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town Placenames * Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland * Le Quartier, a settlement i ...

), the company researched developing a hybrid of the Cusco corn that could be grown effectively in California. After a decade of research, the company introduced CornNuts made with the hybrid variety in 1964. CornNuts sold on the market today are no longer of the large Cusco corn size. The most popular brand, CornNuts was owned by Holloway's original family company until the company was purchased by Nabisco in 1998. Cornnuts was a registered trademark of Kraft Foods. On February 11, 2021, Kraft sold the Planters and Corn Nuts brands to Hormel Foods. Corn Nuts are available in six flavors: Original, Ranch, BBQ (barbecue-flavored), Chile Picante con Limon, Nacho, and Jalapeño Cheddar.

Cornick

A Filipino variant of corn nuts is cornick ( fil, kornik). Compared to the American variety, cornick pieces are typically smaller and crispier.

Garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

is the most common flavor of cornick, with other common flavors including: chili cheese, adobo,

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

, lechón manok (also known as roasted chicken), and sweet. Major brands include Boy Bawang (literally "Garlic Boy" in Tagalog, commonly sold in small packets), Corn Bits, and Safari. A popular variety of cornick is the lighter, chicharrón-like ''chichacorn'', a semi- popped style of cornick using glutinous

from the Ilocos Region which is treated with lime before frying.

Diana

Diana, a snack company in El Salvador, makes a variety of corn-nut-like snacks. These are called ''elotitos'' in Spanish, or ''cornbits''. These come in a variety of seasonings, such as Lemon, Cheese and Chili, and Barbecue. These are sold throughout Central America.

In Spain

In Spain they are a popular snack known as ''maíz tostado'' ("toasted corn"), ''maíz frito'' ("fried corn"), ''quicos'' ("Frankies") and ''pepes'' ("Joes"). The base flavor is very salty, though barbecue is also available. Recently, crushed corn nuts are being introduced as a cover for

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

ing.

References

External links

CornNutsCornNuts
at Planters.com
Diana snacks
{{Mondelez Products introduced in 1936 Edible nuts and seeds Snack foods