Corn kernels are the

fruits In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

(called maize in many countries). Maize is a

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

, and the kernels are used in cooking as a

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

or a source of

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

. The kernel comprise

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the Embryo#Pla ...

, germ,

pericarp Fruits are the mature ovary or ovaries of one or more flowers. They are found in three main anatomical categories: aggregate fruits, multiple fruits, and simple fruits. Fruitlike structures may develop directly from the seed itself rather th ...

, and tip cap.

Description

Corn kernels are the

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

. Maize is a

, and the kernels are used in cooking as a

or a source of

. The kernels can be of various colors: blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and yellow. The kernel of maize consists of a

(fruit wall) fused to the seed coat. This type of fruit is typical of the grasses and is called a caryopsis. Maize kernels are frequently and incorrectly referred to as

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s. The kernels are about the size of peas, and adhere in regular rows round a white, pithy substance, which forms the ear. Typical shapes of corn kernels include horse-tooth shape, sphereical cone shape, and spherical shape.

Endosperm

About 82 percent of the corn kernel’s dry weight consists of

Starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

is the primary source and it most widely used part of the kernel. It is known as the key component in fuel, sweeteners, bioplastics and other products.

Germ

The germ is the only living part of the corn kernel, also called its embryo. It consists of the important genetic informal kernel.

Pericarp

The

is the outer covering that protects the kernel and helps to maintain the kernel's nutrient value and moisture content. It is about 91% fiber. If the kernels are wet-milled, most of the pericarp will end up in the corn gluten feed.

Tip cap

The tip cap is the attachment point of the kernel to the corn cob, where the nutrient and water flow, and this is the only part that is not covered by the pericarp. It contains fiberproducts, in the form of high fructose corn syrup, in favor of cane sugar. A

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

tic variant that accumulates more sugar and less

in the ear is consumed as a vegetable and is called

sweet corn Sweet corn (''Zea mays'' convar. ''saccharata'' var. ''rugosa''), also called sweetcorn, sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring rec ...

. When ground into

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

, maize yields more flour, with much less

bran Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the component of a Cereal, cereal grain consisting of the hard layersthe combined aleurone and Fruit anatomy#Pericarp layers, pericarpsurrounding the endosperm. Maize, Corn (maize) bran also includes the p ...

, than wheat does. It lacks the protein

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain Cereal, cereal grains. The term ''gluten'' usually refers to the elastic network of a wheat grain's proteins, gliadin and glutenin primarily, that forms readily with the addition of water ...

of wheat and, therefore, makes baked goods with poor rising capability. It is also used in

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

, a common snack in the US.

Biofuel

Corn kernels are used as pelletized fuel for

pellet stove A pellet stove is a stove that burns compressed wood or biomass pellets to create a source of heat for residential and sometimes industrial spaces. By steadily feeding fuel from a storage container (hopper) into a burn pot area, it produces a c ...

s and furnaces. Corn kernels are a natural pellet, which gives them an economic advantage over other man-made

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

pellets and

wood pellets Pellet fuels (or pellets) are a type of solid fuel made from compressed organic material. Pellets can be made from any one of five general categories of Biomass (energy), biomass: industrial waste and co-products, food waste, Crop residue, agricul ...

. The use of corn and other grains as a renewable biofuel may have environmental and cost benefits, compared to other energy sources, and may create additional forms of revenue for farmer *

Biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

* Corn wet-milling

References

{{corn Maize