Where is popcorn grown?

Popcorn is a delicious go-to snack that can be devoured at any occasion. Perfect for an on-the-go healthy snack or delving into a ginormous bowl in front of your favourite movie, but where is most popcorn grown and how do we coat it with our yummy gourmet flavours? Let’s find out!

The Corn Belt includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio, which produces the majority of the world's popcorn. Farmers lay popcorn seeds in the soil approximately 1 1/2 inch deep and 6 inches apart in the spring. This equates to around 28,000 seeds per acre. That’s a lot of corn to pop!

Now here’s the super cool science part! The stalk of the popcorn plant will grow to be around eight feet tall and produce long, green leaves as it matures. During the growing season, popcorn requires 18-24 inches of water. As the plant matures, it produces corn ears (the part that contains the all important kernel!) that are wrapped in a green husk. As the wind blows, the ears generate long silky threads that "capture" pollen which is how the kernels are grown, which is what Popcorn Shed needs for it’s delicious gourmet popcorn! The maturation process continues once the ears develop kernels until the entire plant is dry and brown, and ready to be popped by the geniuses here at Shedquarters.

Where do we grow our gourmet popcorn?

Our gourmet popcorn is grown in South Africa, with extremely similar weather conditions to the USA - this is the perfect place to harvest our a-maize-ing popcorn! Once the corn has arrived at Shedquarters, we can get creative and start the delicious process of covering the kernels in mouth-watering, moreish flavours. While our competitors utilise an industrial technique to apply spray-on and powder coatings, Popcorn Shed uses an artisanal cooking process to make a fresh and bespoke caramel mixture with each manufacturing run. After being tossed in fresh caramel, our popcorn is topped with melted chocolate, almonds, and dried fruit. This guarantees that each kernel has a full, strong flavour and a wonderful texture. 

Take our pop-ular flavour, Berry-licious - the kernels are popped to perfection before our signature smooth caramel is layered over each and every piece of popcorn. Next we sprinkle with freeze-dried raspberries and top with rich dark chocolate for good measure! A classic combination upgraded with our Popcorn Shed magic.

However, we also need a specific type of hulless corn for our MiniPop! vegan range, which is a smaller popcorn with less shells. This corn is grown in Indiana in the USA, right on the Corn Belt! MiniPop definitely packs a punch - don’t underestimate it just because of its miniature name! We’re super proud to be able to produce a vegan bacon and maple syrup MiniPop! You’ll be blown away by this salty and sweet flavour combination.

Send love and popcorn this year

Have you heard you can now get popcorn straight through the letterbox? No more waiting in for the postman, it’ll be there waiting for the lucky recipient as soon as they get home! All you need to do is choose your favourite gourmet popcorn letterbox gift and tell us their address, and we’ll do the rest and POP it straight in the post.

Eager to find out more about how popcorn is grown and popped? Now you know where we grow our yummy snacks, why not head over to our blog all about how popcorn is grown? Don’t forget to sign up to our mailing list for all the latest popcorn news and discounts!