Sweetcorn Seed 'Strawberry Popcorn'
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Sweetcorn Seed 'Strawberry Popcorn'

Zea mays everta 'Strawberry Popcorn'

A gorgeous ornamental popcorn variety that produces an abundance of lovely 2 inch ears of deep, ruby red coloured corn which are shaped like strawberries!

An ideal corn variety for decorating or popping for popcorn. Highly recommended!

Plant only grows to 4 feet, making it ideal for a small garden, tubs or containers. A great variety to introduce your kids to gardening with since the colour, shape and size are unique, not to mention the fact that this variety is easy to grow with success! What fun - now's the chance to grow your own English popcorn!

See what Grow It magazine had to say about our Strawberry Popcorn in their article Top Of The Pops

Supplied as a packet of approximately 40 seeds.

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How To Sow, Grow, Harvest & Pop Strawberry Popcorn

For Growing Outside
Sow under protection in small pots or modules late April to early May time.
Set out plants after all risk of frost and when air temperatures are improving - approximately late April to late May. If temperatures are still low, continue to grow on under protection, but pot plants on to prevent them becoming root bound.
Set out 15" apart in rows 18" apart. For good pollination sweetcorn needs to be planted in blocks rather than a single row or two.
The cobs are ready to harvest and dry when the tassels on the husk of the cobs dry and change colour to dark brown.

For Growing Under Protection
(this will give you early strawberry popcorn without the worry of cold temperatures)
Sow under protection in small pots or modules from March to early May time.
Set out into the border soil of your polytunnel or greenhouse when around 6" in height. Set out 15" apart in rows 18" apart, ideally in blocks rather than single rows to ensure good pollination.
Alternatively grow in tubs, plant 4 plants per 18" tub.
As sweetcorn is naturally wind pollinated you will need to artificially pollinate. At the first signs of the flowers at the top of the plant releasing pollen (evident by yellow 'dust' clouding when you brush past the plants or yellow 'dust' on the lower leaves and surrounding the plants) gently give the stem of each plant a shake to release pollen and encourage it to drop from the top flowers to the lower juvenile cobs; you will need to do this daily for approximately two weeks or until no more pollen is released.
The cobs are ready to harvest and dry when the tassels on the husk of the cobs dry and change colour to dark brown.

Harvesting, Drying & Popping Popcorn
When the tassels on the husk of the cobs have darkened it is time to harvest and dry your cobs. Whilst it is possible to allow the cobs to naturally dry on the plants before harvesting this requires an Autumn relatively free from rain; the second disadvantage of drying on the plant is that if mice find the drying cobs they will decimate them - this we have experienced to our cost here on the nursery! So cut the cobs with a little extra stalk and gently remove the outer husk and tassel debris.
The cobs dry best when hung up; the stems of the cobs are very tough, so you are best to drill a small hole through the stem before threading through a piece of fuse wire or similar and then hang the cobs up a warm airy spot - in the light or dark makes no difference!
You will know when the kernels are fully dry as this will start to drop from the cobs and when this happens you will be able to rub the kernels off with your thumb.
No matter how carefully you husk and shell your corn, a few crinkled silks, as well as some chaff and cob residue, will get mixed in with the kernels. This refuse can cause the popped corn to scorch, so it's best to clean each batch before you store it. All you have to do is pour the popcorn, slowly, from one bucket to another ... and let the wind (or an electric fan) carry away the debris.
The kernels can now be stored in air tight jars or similar.
To pop in a microwave simply quarter fill a bowl with the kernels and cover with cling film, then heat on high for about 2 minutes until the rush of pops subsides.
To pop in a saucepan heat half a teaspoon of cooking oil or butter and then add quarter of a cup of kernels before putting on the lid - once again take off the heat once the rush of pops subsides.
Different cooking oils will enhance the flavour of the popcorn so experiment - perhaps even try bacon fat.
While there's nothing wrong with plain or salted popcorn, you can add different toppings to turn your corn into something special. Dribble some molasses on the popped kernels, for instance, or stir a little honey into a bowl of hot, buttered corn. Brown sugar and butter-melted together and mixed into a container of popcorn will produce a delicious homemade caramel corn.

Top Tips
Protect newly sown seeds from mice. Mice are notorious in 'sniffing out' seed of this nature!
Repeat sowings can be made every two weeks from your first sowing until the end of June, giving you a succession of plants to set out and thus an extension to the cropping season.
Cover the soil you are going to grow your crop in with black polythene or similar a few weeks before planting out as this will absorb heat and warm up the soil.
You can of course also plant through a polythene mulch or similar as this will continue to retain heat along with moisture - and suppress weeds.
Protect the young plants with cloches, wind breaks or similar if the weather is cold.

Top Of The Pops!

Strawberry popcorn has a dwarf seed head that produces child-sized fruit, ideal for popping in the microwave. Here’s a chance to grow your own English popcorn! What fun! Strawberry corn, a miniature version of ordinary sweetcorn, produces an abundance of lovely 5cm ears of deep, ruby red coloured fruit that are shaped like strawberries! They are ideal for making brilliant miniature popcorn, which if you eat without sugar or salt, have the tiniest hint of a strawberry flavour. They also make really interesting decorations, or dinner party gifts.

These plants are excellent for encouraging children in the garden because, not only are they very easy to grow and need little actual care, the colour, shape and size are unique. If you sow in mid-May they’ll be still there after the school holidays, making them ideal subjects for classroom work - assuming we get a little rain in August.

The plant only grows to 1.25m making it ideal for a small garden, tubs or containers.Sow in April under cover, preferably in a heated propagator set at 15°C. Use a good general purpose compost and keep moist. Place two seeds into each pot and discard the smallest seedling once they are clearly established. A second sowing a month after the first can provide a later crop and this can be sown in an unheated propagator.

In late May, when there is no chance of a frost, you can plant the seedlings into their final positions. They like to be bunched together as does ordinary sweetcorn, around 40cm apart. If the weather is poor you can delay this until early June.

It’s not so easy to determine ripeness with the strawberry corn as it is with sweetcorn. Normally you push your nail into one of the kernels on a cob, but these seeds are much smaller, so you have to judge by eye! The cobs are covered with papery leaves, and take around three to four months to produce, depending on your climate. Plants started in April in the north of the country should be ready by the end of August, a couple of weeks earlier in the south. It won’t matter if you pick them a bit too early because as they can’t be eaten like ordinary sweetcorn any lack of sweetness isn’t the end of the world. When picked they should be hung in a dry, airy place and once dry treated as normal popcorn.

The full as printed magazine article can be viewed here - Top Of The Pops - Grow It May 2007.