Corn kernel

Corn kernels are the fruits of maize. Maize is a grain, and the kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable or a source of starch.

One ear of corn contains roughly 800 kernels in 16 rows. One hundred bushels of corn can contain upwards of 7,280,000 kernels.

Corn is a popular food throughout the world in many forms. It is used in breakfast cereals in the Western world (as corn flakes) and it is a grain that can be eaten raw off the cob, although it is usually preferred cooked. In the United States, for economic reasons such as government subsidies, corn is the basis of many products, in the form of high fructose corn syrup, in favor of cane sugar.

The kernel of maize consists of a pericarp (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 seeds. The kernels are about the size of peas, and adhere in regular rows round a white, pithy substance, which forms the ear. The kernels can be of various colors: blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and yellow. When ground into flour, maize yields more flour, with much less bran, than wheat does. It lacks the protein gluten of wheat and, therefore, makes baked goods with poor rising capability.