Did you know that popcorns have been around for thousands of years?
Whether it's a single-screen theatre or multiplex cinema, isn’t the movie experience incomplete without the warm, salty, savory, buttery bucket of popcorn? Even though popcorn is a simple, delicious treat, toppings including butter, sugar, cinnamon, caramel, a sprinkling of smoked paprika, or sometimes chocolate make it unique and tailored to everyone’s taste palate. You probably assume that popcorn is a relatively modern snack. However, it has been around for much longer than your local multiplex.
The history of popcorn
Scientists discovered the first traces of popcorn in Peru. The corn cobs were 6,700 years old and covered in puffy kernels. According to Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, corn originated as a wild grass called teosinte in Southwestern Mexico. Popcorn was consumed more than 15,000 years ago, according to pollen evidence from the corn found in Mexico. Evidence from Mexico makes it more apparent that ancestors knew to make popcorn around 5500 years ago.
Early popcorn most likely resembled parched corn, made by frying dry maize kernels. The early tribes' meticulous cultivation of several different corn strains over thousands of years led to the fluffy popcorn we know and love today.
The journey from theatres to households
Until the 1820s, popcorn wasn't as famous as it is today. However, by the 1840s, famous publications like the Yale Literary Magazine and New York's Knickerbocker started mentioning popcorn.
Chicago resident Charles Cretors is known to be the inventor of the modern-day popcorn. It was his invention of the portable popcorn cart in 1880 that made popcorn a popular snack. After the invention of steam-powered popcorn maker, street vendors began to sell bags of freshly popped kernels anywhere. As a result, popcorn became a loved snack especially at fairs and carnivals in the 19th century.
Still, popcorn was considered too ‘lowbrow’ for movie theatres by literate patrons until the Great Depression. However, things changed in 1927 when theatres began to welcome more audiences. The public was looking for affordable entertainment and snacks. That’s how, the sales of popcorn skyrocketed.
Popcorn gained further popularity in households during the World War II. A bag of popcorn was affordable for everyone. During World War II, popcorn sales increased because lesser sugar was available, reducing the availability of soda and candy. Simultaneously, the popcorn industry focussed on home audiences once Americans started watching television in the 1940s. Electric poppers, hot-air poppers, and microwave popcorn makers saw a surge in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, taking popcorn from movies to the sofa set.
How is popcorn made?
The kernel is the key behind the popping of popcorn. Popcorn is made from a specific type of maize that yields tiny kernels with a tough outer shell. It is impossible to eat these kernels. Instead, one must heat the kernel to release the fluffy edible part. Heating causes the moisture inside the kernel to transform into steam and the popcorn pops when the outer shell reaches its breaking point and bursts, releasing the soft inner flake. Thus, the white, fluffy, crunchy popcorn is made from the starch inside the kernel.
Popcorn can be popped either using the dry method or the wet method. The kernels are popped using dry heat in the dry method, such as from a fire, microwave oven or an air popper. The wet method is more popular and is used by most commercially The ideal amount of oil will result in fluffy, light kernels.
Who knew the delightful bags of popcorn had so much history besides the popping of the corn!