Where do corn oil and corn syrup come from?
With some grains and nuts it is very easy to see where the oil comes from. For example, if you squeeze a sesame seed or a sunflower seed between two sheets of paper, you can see the oil. Corn isn’t quite that oily, but it does contain oil. A kernel of corn has an outer husk surrounding a white or yellow starchy substance. At the core of the starchy substance and toward the pointy end of the kernel is the germ. The germ contains a small amount of oil. If you cut a popcorn kernel in half, you can see the husk, starch and germ. If you cut out the tiny piece of germ and squeeze the germ on a piece of paper, you will see the oil! Corn starch comes from the starchy part of the corn. You are right that corn contains no syrup directly — the syrup is made from the starch. In the article How Food Works, you learn about starch. Starch is a long-chain carbohydrate — a polysaccharide. A polysaccharide is simply a collection of glucose molecules chained together. Inside the