What Are Corn Nuts, and Where Did They Come From?

Corn Nuts are some of the most polarizing products around. Besides the potentially confusing name (“Is it corn, or is it nuts?”), they’re divisive in nearly every respect.

They’re so crunchy they can legitimately endanger your tooth enamel, they’re not the most attractive nosh (there’s a reason they’re a natural choice for zombie teeth in edible Halloween crafts), and they have an infamously overpowering smell.  On the other hand, their signature crunch and various fun flavors have earned them a passionate cult following. Personally, I’ve learned to like them, but many people love them.

Regardless of whether you occasionally crave or completely shun them, Corn Nuts have a long and fascinating history. Curious about the backstory behind these strange little nuggets of snacking? We’ve got the details.

The origins of Corn Nuts
Before we go any further, let’s answer the age-old question: Corn Nuts are, in fact, corn, and not nuts.

Their earliest ancestor was parched corn, a Native American preparation of dried and roasted corn kernels that was both nutritionally dense and light to carry.

In fact, many countries have Corn Nuts analogues, since corn is native to the Americas. It was first cultivated in Mexico thousands of years ago, and indigenous people throughout North, Central, and South America have eaten it in fresh and preserved forms for millennia.

In Peru, for instance, it’s called cancha salada. In Ecuador and other parts of South America, they call it maiz tostado. There are other versions, too. Even on the opposite side of the globe, in the Philippines, people enjoy cornick, pieces of which are usually smaller and crisper than Corn Nuts, but basically the same idea.

Back in North America, parched corn was adopted by early European colonists and settlers and was commonly packed in wagons for the journey along the Oregon Trail — making it the original road trip snack.

During the Civil War, parched corn was a staple for soldiers. It could be ground into a substance called panola, which was eaten dry, possibly seasoned with salt or sugar.

Parched corn is also mentioned in the third book in the Little House on the Prairie series, On the Banks of Plum Creek, which states: “Parched corn was good. It crackled and crunched, and its taste was sweet and brown.”

Although the book was based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood during the 1870s, it wasn’t published until 1937 — but parched corn was not a thing of the past even then.

Corn Nuts in the 20th century
As time marched on, crunchy, dried corn continued to be a low-cost staple. The Final Frontiers, 1880-1930: Settling the Southern Bottomlands describes how, during the Dust Bowl, “desperate [share] croppers were reduced to stealing corn from farmers’ cribs. Taking a few ears of corn at a time, they parched corn kernels in skillets with a little lard and salt.”

And in The Family, a book of oral histories from former residents of a North Carolina orphanage, one contributor recalled hearing a couple of friends “speaking about the hard times during the Great Depression and the eating of ‘parched corn,’ which is how the corn was continued to be food after it had ripened and hardened.”

So how did this hardscrabble sustenance food — children’s book author’s endorsement notwithstanding — morph into a casual snack many still enjoy today?

Corn Nuts as a brand
In 1936, Oakland, CA native Albert Holloway decided to sell his own version of parched corn — the kernels re-hydrated and then fried — to local bars and taverns, since the salty, crunchy morsels paired so well with beer.

He marketed his creation as Olin’s Brown Jug Toasted Corn, which grew into a successful family business. At some point, the name was changed to the much catchier Corn Nuts, presumably because the corn’s crunch was on par with (or even surpassed) that of peanuts. The name was officially trademarked in 1949.

While Holloway initially used domestic corn, an article mentioning Peru’s giant white Cusco (or Cuzco) maize prompted him to procure a shipment of it. Known as choclo in Peru, it has larger-than-average kernels and is starchier and nuttier than sweet corn.

Holloway worked with engineers to cross-breed the oversized Peruvian corn with a domestic variety, and after a decade of experiments, their new hybrid was perfected.

It hit the shelves in 1964, by which time, Albert’s sons Maurice and Richard — who jointly took over the business in 1959 — had expanded Corn Nuts from a local product to a nationally distributed brand.