Popcorn!

Well I was eating some kettle corn I purchased at Apple Butter Makin’ Days while trying to come up with something to right about. That’s when I came up with popcorn! I started thinking about where it came from, how it came about, and just anything about popcorn. So I decided I’d do a bit of research and share it with y’all. Here we go…everything you’ve ever wanted to know about popcorn!

The early history of popcorn: Most people believe that corn and popcorn originated in the Americas. But exactly how is still a topic for debate. Some think it was created by centuries of breeding wild grasses. The other side believes popcorn was started from findings in archeological digs.  It is said to be believed that the first use of corn was for popping!

In 1948 and 1950, the oldest years of popcorn that have so far been found were in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico. Some of the pieces were smaller than a penny and even bigger than two inches. This corn was thought to be approximately four thousand years old.  Also, in the early 16^th century, popcorn was used in the Aztec Indian ceremonies. Supposedly the young women did a popcorn dance, with tassels of maize made popcorn garlands. Popcorn was a very important food for the Aztec Indians. They would use popcorn as decoration, ceremonial headdresses, necklaces and ornaments on the statues of their gods.

Now moving forward in time; from 1890 until the great depression, popcorn was extremely popular. The street vendors would follow the crowd while pushing their poppers at fairs parks, and etcetera. During the great depression popcorn was five or ten cents a bag and was one of the few luxuries families could afford.  While other businesses were failing, the popcorn business was booming. Also, during World War two, sugar was sent overseas for the troops; meaning not much sugar was left in the states to make candy. Therefore, Americans ate three times more popcorn than they normally would.

In the 1940’s was the time that people started heating their popcorn by microwave; which is probably still the most popular means today. In this day and age, we consume 17 billion quarts of popcorn each year. The average American eats about 54 quarts. That’s a lot of popcorn! Today and more than likely forever, popcorn’s a fan favorite. There are companies that have taken popcorn to the extreme. For example: The Popcorn Factory, Big Popper, and Popcornopolis are a few names of some companies that have make the original popcorn into something gourmet. These places offer on the upward of twenty different flavors from sour cream and onion to cupcake and if this wacky flavor are not your taste, don’t worry they have the classics like butter and cheddar too! Anything you could desire, they’ve got it. On the down side, a box of Popcornopolis will cost you $46.99 plus shipping!   

Well now that you have to down low on popcorn, go enjoy some...after all October is national popcorn poppin’ month!