Today’s Spotlight is on Popcorn.

Popcorn is a variety of corn kernels which expand and puffs up when heated. It’s also known as popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn. A popcorn kernel’s strong hull contains the seed’s hard, starchy shell endosperm with 14–20% moisture, which turns to steam as the kernel is heated.

Popcorn is a type of flint corn with its own size, shape, starch level, and moisture content. It has a hard exterior shell and a soft starchy center. When heated, the natural moisture inside the kernel turns to steam and builds up enough pressure to eventually explode.

Popcorn is a whole grain maize product. It resembles corn-on-the-cob in appearance and cultivation, although only popcorn kernels have the ability to pop.

Popcorn is usually eaten with salt and butter or a sweet covering on them. It’s high in fiber and contains phenolic acids, a type of antioxidant. Popcorn is also a whole grain, an important food group that may reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension in humans.

There are several varieties of popcorn, including:

• Rice popcorn, Pearl popcorn, Red, Black, Rainbow, Yellow, White, Blue.

 

History

Popcorn has been around for thousands of years. Corn was domesticated in what is now Mexico about 10,000 years ago.  The earliest evidence of popcorn was found in Peru in 2012.  The kernels were found in a tomb from the Olmec civilization and dated back to about 5,600 years ago.

In the 1820s, popcorn was sold in the eastern United States under the names Pearl or Nonpareil. It became popular in the South and by the 1840s, it was being commercially produced across the United States.

The oldest ears of popcorn ever found were discovered in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico in 1948 and 1950. The ears range from smaller than a penny to about 2 inches and are about 4,000 years old.

The word “popcorn” was first published in 1848. John Russell Bartlett claimed that the name came from the noise it makes when it bursts open. Popcorn was originally called “popped corn” because of its preparation method using heat. The kernels burst open and “pop”.

 

How Popcorn Became Famous

Popcorn became popular in the United States because of its mobility, price, and convenience.

• Mobility: In 1885, Charles Cretors invented the first commercial, large-scale popcorn machine. The machine was mobile, which increased the number of people who had access to popcorn.
• Price: Popcorn was cheap for both sellers and customers.
• Convenience: Making popcorn didn’t require a lot of equipment.

Popcorn was introduced into movie theaters, which helped make it popular in the United States. Snack vendors who set up shop at sporting events or festivals began setting up popcorn stands outside of movie theaters. Popcorn sales increased throughout the Depression. One theater owner lowered the price of his theater tickets and added a popcorn machine.

 

Here are some fun facts about popcorn:

• Charles Cretors invented the first commercial popcorn machine in 1885.
• Pillsbury invented microwaveable popcorn in 1982.
• Nebraska produces the most popcorn in the United States, around 250 million pounds per year.
• Americans eat about 17 billion quarts of popcorn a year.
• Popcorn is the official snack of Illinois.
• Popcorn comes in two shapes: “snowflake” or “mushroom”.
• Movie theaters use “snowflake” shaped popcorn because it’s bigger.
• The word “popcorn” was included in John Russell Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms in 1848.
• Bartlett claimed that the name was derived from “the noise it makes on bursting open”.
• One of the earliest recipes for popping corn came from Daniel Browne during the 1840s.
• There are some indications that people in the coastal regions of Peru consumed popcorn 6,700 years ago.

 

Consumption

According to the Popcorn Board, Americans consume 14 billion quarts of popcorn annually.  That’s about 43 quarts per person.  According to industry analysts, Americans consume more than 17 billion quarts of popcorn each year. The average American eats about 58 quarts.

The United States is the world’s largest producer and consumer of popcorn. North America had the largest ready-to-eat popcorn market in the world in 2021. 70% of popcorn consumed in the United States is eaten at home.

 

Celebrating Popcorn

National Popcorn Day may be celebrated every year on January 19, but trust me when I tell you that popcorn is celebrated every time a movie is shown. Let us know in the comments what your favorite kind of popcorn is.