The corn used for popping may be any of about 25 different varieties of Zea Mays. The two most common types are rice popcorn, where the grains are pointed at both base and apex, and pearl popcorn which has grains that are rounded and compact.

A popcorn Kernel contains a mass of moist starch surrounded by an extremely hard outer shell. The moisture level is ideally around 13.5 percent, any less and the kernels will not pop and should be discarded. When the kernels are heated to about 200c the moisture in the starch turns into steam and builds up pressure until the kernel explodes inside out, increasing in size by up to 40 times.

Once popped the corn falls into two distinct shapes, snowflake which is large and shaped like a cumulus cloud and mushroom, shaped like a large round ball.