22  / SEEDWORLD.COM  OCTOBER 2026
THE PERFECT BOWL of popcorn is fluffy, 
crisp and loaded with butter, salt, cheese 
or caramel … right? Not if a new generation of 
better-tasting popcorn catches on, with more 
of the flavor already built into the kernel itself.
Anthony Studer, a crop scientist and profes­
sor in the College of Agricultural, Consumer 
and Environmental Sciences at the University 
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, released Illini 
SuperPop in early 2026. The new popcorn has 
a distinct savory flavor, with no seasonings 
required.
While the flavor profile is impressive, the 
project began as an outreach idea for students 
to create orange and blue popcorn lines for the 
university.
“I can actually teach difficult science 
concepts with popcorn,” Studer says. 
“And I just thought that would be a 
fun thing.”
But the project grew from there.
“My students had the idea to try 
and make a better overall pop­
corn,” Studer says. “And I’m pretty 
easy to convince on any genetics 
project.”
A Faster Way to Find Flavor
With his genetics background, Studer 
maintains he’s not a breeder, despite his 
work in recent years.
“I know that gets more questionable if I keep 
releasing lines,” Studer laughs.
While there aren’t many popcorn breeding 
programs, his approach is a bit unique.
“We are testing as many unique genetic 
combinations as fast as possible. We do more 
early testing of material than any other program 
I’ve talked to,” Studer says.
Butter-Optional
A University of 
Illinois hybrid 
combines savory 
flavor, combine-
ready performance 
and a new way to 
teach genetics. 
By Melissa Shipman, 
Seed World Contributor
Popcorn
They sacrifice some precision in the early 
stages to evaluate more genetic combinations 
quickly.
“We test pop a small sample of about 200 
kernels from each ear, and we do a couple thou­
sand of those a year,” Studer explains.
He says many companies typically test a 
much larger 250-gram sample, which takes 
time to bulk up.
As they find things they like, they look at 
flake shape, volume, expansion, unpopped 
kernels, densities and more, adding data all the 
time.
However, both flavor and texture are more 
subjective.
“We have struggled with some of the lan­
guage to classify flavor. Ultimately, it will taste 
like popcorn,” Studer explains. “There are nutty 
tones. It has a savory-ness and corny-ness.”
Ultimately, the best way to evaluate each line 
was to grab a bowl and dig in.
“We eat a vast amount of popcorn,” Studer 
says.
The team uses air poppers so there is no 
added flavor from fats such as oil or butter.
Bringing Dent Corn Traits into the Popper
The program is using relatively new germplasm 
the University of Illinois had, with many crosses 
involving dent corn.
“We’re learning how to preserve popping 
quality with all the beneficial traits you can get 
from elite dent corn. We’re trying to perfect 
moving those traits over,” Studer says.
“When we were starting out, we just needed 
stuff to pop, so pop-ability was a major factor,” 
Studer says.
Stabilizing lines through traditional selfing 
takes six generations. Studer is studying genetic 
Popcorn 
flakes form the 
University 
of Illinois Block I 
while also showing 
differences in 
flake shape and 
expansion.

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