- Popcorn is one of the oldest American foods and has had a significant role in our history. Some of the oldest ears of popcorn were found in 1948 by archaeologists exploring the Bat Cave in west central New Mexico. These ears were proven to be about 4,000 years old.
- In South America, kernels of popcorn found in burial grounds in the coastal deserts of North Chile were so well preserved they would still pop even though they were 1,000 years old!
- Popcorn was used by the Native Americans as a staple in their diet and for decoration. Sixteenth century Aztec Indians used popcorn in their ceremonies; young women danced a “popcorn dance” and wore garlands of popcorn in their hair.
- Popcorn was probably NOT served at the first Thanksgiving. There is no indication that popcorn had made its way East at the time of the earliest settlers.
- Early Native Americans threw kernels directly into the fire or into heated sand. Once popped, the corn was sifted and then pounded into a fine, powdery meal and later mixed with water for eating. This was especially handy when traveling, making it a true American “to go” meal.
- By the 1840s popping corn had become a popular recreational activity.
- Colonists mixed ground popcorn with milk and ate it as a breakfast food. Popcorn pudding—made from ground popcorn—was lauded by the likes of Ella Kellogg, Fannie Merritt Farmer and Mary Hamilton Talbott. And shortly after the end of World War II, a shortage of baking flours forced bread makers to substitute up to 25% of wheat flour with ground popped popcorn.
- By the 1870s popcorn was a common item sold in grocery stores, and at concession stands at circuses, carnivals, and street fairs.
- Charles Cretors, founder of C. Cretors and Company, Chicago, introduced the world’s first mobile popcorn machine at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Scientific American reported: “This machine....was designed with the idea of moving it about to any location where the operator would be likely to do a good business. The apparatus, which is light and strong, and weighing but 400 or 500 pounds, can be drawn readily by a boy or by a small pony to any picnic ground, fair, political rally, etc., and to many other places where a good business could be done for a day or two.”
- During the Depression, popcorn sold for 5 or 10 cents a bag and was considered an affordable luxury for struggling families.
- During World War II, sugar was sent overseas for U.S. troops, which meant there wasn’t much sugar left in the states to make candy. Thanks to this unusual situation, Americans ate three times as much popcorn as usual.
- In 1945, an engineer named Percy Spencer accidentally discovered that microwave radio signals could be used to cook foods. His experiments with popcorn led, in part, to the development of the microwave oven.
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