Kernels

I took it hard when I heard that Orville Redenbacher had died last month at the age of 88. We had the same favorite food, popcorn.When you spoke with Mr. Redenbacher you quickly found out that there was more to this self-described "funny-looking farmer with a funny sounding name" than image. Despite his big bow-tie and gawky appearance, he was no bumpkin. He was a serious man who cared about his crop. How it was grown. How it was cooked. How it tasted.A few years ago, for instance, when I spoke to him in a telephone interview from his Coronado, Calif.

Can I grow corn in a backyard vegetable garden? You sure can. Corn pollen is spread by wind, so you'll get the best kernel production by planting corn in blocks of rows. You'll need at least three or four short rows, 2 to 3 feet apart. Sow seeds every 9 to 12 inches in the row after danger of frost has passed and soil is warm. Corn is a "heavy feeder." Fertilize when plants are 12 to 18 inches high and again when tassels appear. Do not remove suckers; they improve yield. Expect 10 to 20 ears per 10-foot row. I want to add some natives to my flower garden.

The red metal wagon clattered behind my younger sister Katie and me as we made our way back from the cornfield at the end of our street. Our feet, leathery from running around barefoot all summer, slapped the warm concrete sidewalk, and the ears of corn we had just picked rolled from side to side in the wagon. "Look, Mom," Katie yelled, racing with me up our driveway. "We found some corn for dinner!" Mom looked down into our expectant faces, trying not to laugh. We had brought home field corn, ears with hard kernels meant for farm animals.

"Candy corn is the only candy in the history of America that's never been advertised. And there's a reason. All of the candy corn that was ever made was made in 1911." - Comedian Lewis Black Nice try, but that's wrong. Candy corn happened to have been first mass-produced by the Goelitz Candy Co. in 1898. So, technically, all the candy corn ever made dates back to 1898 and not 1911. Wednesday is Halloween, and the candy corn debate once again has raised its ugly cone head. Tomorrow, by the way, is National Candy Corn Day. Some get chills just thinking about it. More than ever in its history, candy corn has needed - no, deserved - a proper defense.

Here is the method for homemade cheese popcorn that is much like the product sold at popcorn shops or comes in bags as snack food. The recipe takes about five minutes to make.Cheese Popcorn1/4 cup cooking oil1/2 cup popcorn kernels4-6 tablespoons powdered process cheese, see note belowDHeat the oil in a large kettle. When it is hot, but not smoking, add several kernels of popcorn. When the first kernel pops or spins around the pan, add the remaining kernels. Cover the pan loosely. Shaking the pan constantly, cook over medium-high heat until all the kernels have popped.

Making kernels jump If your popcorn doesn't pop, it may be too dry, says the Popcorn Board, a product marketing group. Try filling a 1-quart jar three-quarters full with unpopped kernels and adding a tablespoon of water. Cover with an airtight lid, shake the kernels until they absorb the water and store the jar in a cool place for two or three days. Then try popping the corn. Students' weighty issue Many students heading to college this fall will encounter a 10- to 15-pound weight gain that often comes from eating cafeteria food and dormitory snacks.

For a blast right in your kitchen, pop some corn. You'll be having a snack that people have enjoyed for thousands of years.Popcorn is a type of corn that is native to the Americas. It may even have been the first type of corn that people grew and ate, according to scientists who study plants.Native Americans introduced settlers from England to popcorn at the first Thanksgiving. The Iroquois Indians popped popcorn in pottery bowls filled with hot sand. They also ate a soup made of popcorn.

Q: Is there a good way to hard boil eggs so they don't crack while boiling and will peel easily afterward?A: Rather than boiling an egg furiously, simmer it gently for 12 minutes. Drain the water from the pan and run cold water over to stop the cooking. Drain again and gently crack the eggs by lightly shaking the pan. Cover the eggs again with cold water and peel when cool.Start peeling at the large end where the air pocket is most likely to be and peel under cool running water. It is true that the fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel, so hard boil the eggs that have been in your refrigerator the longest.

Kettle corn sounds like some folksy dish that ought to be served in a small Midwestern farm town. But these days you need to look no farther than the latest event at the Maryland State Fairgrounds or, if you're not a stickler for authenticity, your grocery-store shelves to find this popcorn treat that's a little salty and a little sweet. The ingredients are simple enough: popcorn, oil, granulated sugar and salt. Don't confuse it with caramel corn; kettle corn lacks the candy coating and has just a hint of sweetness.

I LIKE TEACHING Sunday School, but this new curriculum seems to have been written by dimwits for nitwits.To experience the feeling of being a lost sheep, my teen-agers could play hide-and-seek. Mustard seeds pasted onto paper circles might demonstrate that even a tiny faith can work wonders. The trick to making Sunday School attractive to high-schoolers, apparently, is to treat them like fourth-graders.But if the Bible instruction is childish, the geopolitics is a mushed-over kindergarten Marxism, compounded of sentimentality, Protestant guilt and the insight that rich people are the cause of the world's problems -- well, rich people and overpopulation.

Recently I spent a few days in corn heaven. That would be the cornfields of the Eastern Shore, where, thanks to a "big drink" provided by the late June rainfall, the corn crop was thriving, growing faster than condos. The sweet corn sold in the farmers' market and even supermarkets showed up with its husks and silks still intact. This is a good sign, one that signals the beginning of the real corn season. In the winter, I have bought Florida corn in those peek-a-boo packages. These are the ones that present partially husked ears of corn, wrapped in plastic, offering a glimpse of the kernels.

AMC Owings Mills 17 The Senator Theatre 5904 York Road / 410-435-8338 / senator.com The single-screen theater plays 1940s jazz tunes before showings, which fits, given its classic appearance. Tickets --$8 for everyone, and the theater accepts cash only. Children younger than 5 are not allowed. Popcorn --$3.50, small; $4.50, medium; $5.50, large Sodas --$2.50, small; $3.50, medium, $4.50, large Parking --The Senator shares the parking lot behind Staples on York Road, right up the street.

Do I need to de-tassel our corn for cross pollination, or do the plants do that themselves? Hold off on the tassel removal! Pollen from the tassels is carried by wind to pollinate the silks. Each strand of silk leads to a potential kernel of corn inside the husk, producing each and every kernel. To get good pollination and full ears of corn, it's best to have at least three rows side by side. So let the tassels do their work undisturbed. De-tasseling is usually done by big commercial operations to produce hybrid corn seed.

Kettle corn sounds like some folksy dish that ought to be served in a small Midwestern farm town. But these days you need to look no farther than the latest event at the Maryland State Fairgrounds or, if you're not a stickler for authenticity, your grocery-store shelves to find this popcorn treat that's a little salty and a little sweet. The ingredients are simple enough: popcorn, oil, granulated sugar and salt. Don't confuse it with caramel corn; kettle corn lacks the candy coating and has just a hint of sweetness.

Sweet corn is great, but it can't hold a candle to the beautiful ornamental corn of fall. Marbled crimson and cream, slate blue, Burgundy, butter yellow swirled with russet, purple, blood red and more, ornamental corn is like a Fauvist painting on a cob. While today we use it primarily for decoration, ornamental corn, also known as Indian corn or field corn, is one of the "three sisters" (corn, beans and squash) that have been Native American diet staples for millenniums. Massasoit brought deerskin bags of popped corn to the first Thanksgiving.

PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS telling me they have a great idea for a column, when what they actually have is a great first paragraph for a column. I am always polite, but what I really want to say is: "Yeah? Great. And who is going to write the rest of that column?" The truth is, some of my column ideas are only one paragraph long, too. I have these thoughts that never really take shape. Columns that never get beyond the first paragraph. Columns that are really just bumper stickers or sound bites or epitaphs.

Recently I spent a few days in corn heaven. That would be the cornfields of the Eastern Shore, where, thanks to a "big drink" provided by the late June rainfall, the corn crop was thriving, growing faster than condos. The sweet corn sold in the farmers' market and even supermarkets showed up with its husks and silks still intact. This is a good sign, one that signals the beginning of the real corn season. In the winter, I have bought Florida corn in those peek-a-boo packages. These are the ones that present partially husked ears of corn, wrapped in plastic, offering a glimpse of the kernels.

AMC Owings Mills 17 The Senator Theatre 5904 York Road / 410-435-8338 / senator.com The single-screen theater plays 1940s jazz tunes before showings, which fits, given its classic appearance. Tickets --$8 for everyone, and the theater accepts cash only. Children younger than 5 are not allowed. Popcorn --$3.50, small; $4.50, medium; $5.50, large Sodas --$2.50, small; $3.50, medium, $4.50, large Parking --The Senator shares the parking lot behind Staples on York Road, right up the street.

The red metal wagon clattered behind my younger sister Katie and me as we made our way back from the cornfield at the end of our street. Our feet, leathery from running around barefoot all summer, slapped the warm concrete sidewalk, and the ears of corn we had just picked rolled from side to side in the wagon. "Look, Mom," Katie yelled, racing with me up our driveway. "We found some corn for dinner!" Mom looked down into our expectant faces, trying not to laugh. We had brought home field corn, ears with hard kernels meant for farm animals.

SEATTLE - He has the most unorthodox batting stance in baseball, and he's been known to drop by random churches in random cities to donate as much as $16,000 in cash. He married a woman named after a continent, and he practices his swing by having teammates toss him popcorn kernels in the batting cage. He spends the game repeating Bible verses to himself, and he usually goes to the plate with his back pocket hanging inside-out, the way Little Leaguers sometimes do, much to their coaches' chagrin.