Popcorn

Popcorn or popping corn is a type of maize which puffs up when it is heated in oil or by dry heat. Special varieties of corn are grown to give improved popping yield. Some wild types will pop, but the cultivated strain is Zea mays L. subsp. mays (Everta Group), which is a special kind of flint corn. Popcorn was first developed by precolumbian Native Americans thousands of years ago. The oldest ears of popcorn ever found were discovered in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico in 1948 and 1950. Ranging from smaller than a penny to about 2 inches, the oldest Bat Cave ears are about 5,600 years old. Popcorn was introduced to the west for the first time in 1492, when Christopher Columbus noted that the natives of the West indies made popcorn corsages and popcorn headdresses which they sold to Columbus' sailors. French explorers around the year 1612 in the Great Lakes region documented use of popcorn by the Iroquois who popped corn in pottery using hot sand. They also noted that during an Iroquois dinner, popcorn soup and popcorn beer were consumed. Since then, popcorn has become a popular snack food all over the world. Apparently, early north American colonists loved popcorn so much, that they actually served it for breakfast with sugar and cream. This thus represents the first puffed breakfast cereal. Popcorn is a whole grain food.

Trivia

• Popcorn has been served in movie theaters since 1912.
• Buttered popcorn sells twice as well as plain popcorn.
• The first popcorn, made by Native Americans, was flavored with dried herbs & spices.
• The average popping temperature for popcorn is around 175°C (347°F)
• The commercial popcorn machine was invented in Chicago, Illinois by Charles Cretors in 1885.