Corn nuts, also known as toasted corn, are a

snack A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

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 caramelizat ...

or deep-fried

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 ...

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

s. It is referred to as ''cancha'' in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, ''chulpi'' in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and cornick in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Preparation

Corn nuts are prepared by soaking whole corn kernels in

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

for three days, then

deep-frying Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow frying used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norm ...

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

Originated in Peru and are called cancha, where they have been prepared for over 1,000 years and still are to this day. You can find them in Ecuador and Brazil as well.

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 (often referred to as

Cuzco corn Choclo, also referred to as Peruvian corn or Cuzco corn (after Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca empire), is a large-kernel variety of field corn from the Andes. It is consumed in parts of Central America and South America, especially in Ecuad ...

) that grew large kernels (some said to have been bigger than a quarter), 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 Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco' ...

in 1998. Cornnuts was a registered trademark of

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

. On February 11, 2021, Kraft sold the Planters and Corn Nuts brands to

Hormel Foods Hormel Foods Corporation, doing business as Hormel Foods or simply Hormel, is an American multinational food processing company founded in 1891 in Austin, Minnesota, by George A. Hormel as George A. Hormel & Company. The company originally fo ...

. Corn Nuts are available in seven flavors: Original, Ranch, BBQ (barbecue-flavored), Chile Picante con Limon, Mexican Style Street Corn, Jalapeño Cheddar and Loaded

Taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican cuisine, Mexican dish consisting of a small hand-sized corn tortilla, corn- or Flour tortilla, wheat-based tortilla topped with a Stuffing, filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and fing ...

Cornick

A Filipino variant of corn nuts is cornick (). Compared to the American variety, cornick pieces are typically smaller and crispier. They are also traditionally made from glutinous corn.

Garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

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

adobo or (Spanish language, Spanish: marinade, sauce, or seasoning) is the immersion of food in a stock (or sauce) composed variously of paprika, oregano, Edible salt, salt, garlic, and vinegar to preserve and enhance its flavor. The Portuguese cu ...

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

, 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 (, plural ; ; ; ) is a dish generally consisting of fried pork belly or fried pork rinds. may also be made from chicken, mutton, or beef. Name , as a dish with sauces, or as finger-food snacks, are popular in Andalusia and Canarias in ...

-like ''chichacorn'', a semi- popped style of cornick using glutinous

from the

Ilocos Region The Ilocos Region (; ; ), designated as Region I, is an Region of the Philippines, administrative region of the Philippines. Located in the northwestern section of Luzon, it is bordered by the Cordillera Administrative Region to the east, the Ca ...

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.

Portugal and Spain

In both Portugal and Spain, corn nuts are often eaten as a popular snack. In Spain, they're known as ''maíz tostado'' ("toasted corn"), ''maíz frito'' ("fried corn"), ''quicos'' ("Frankies") and ''pepes'' ("Joes"), and in Portugal, they are sold under the name ''milho frito'' (fried corn). The base flavor tends to be very salty. Some brands have barbecue versions available. Recently, crushed corn nuts have been introduced in Spain as a cover for battering.

References

External links

CornNutsCornNuts
at Planters.com
Diana snacks
{{Mondelez Products introduced in 1936 Edible nuts and seeds American snack foods Peruvian cuisine Ecuadorian cuisine