Corn, or maize, is a cereal grain first domesticated in Mexico thousands of years ago and now one of the most widely grown crops in the world. The kernels are mostly starch, with some protein, oil in the germ and fibre in the hull. Different types matter for snacks: dent and flint corn for milling, and popcorn, whose hard hull lets steam build up inside until the kernel bursts.
As a whole-grain ingredient, corn is used in several ways. For traditional tortilla chips, the kernels are cooked with lime (calcium hydroxide), ground into masa dough and fried, which gives the toasty corn chip flavour. For puffed snacks, ground corn is cooked and expanded through an extruder.
Doritos Corn Tortilla Chip Nacho Cheese Flavor lists corn as its first ingredient, and the Carada Rice Ball snacks combine it with rice. Corn itself contains no gluten and is not one of the major allergens.
This page also groups corn flour and popcorn, so every snack made from corn in these forms is listed here. Corn starch, refined from the grain, is listed under starch.
