It’s Popcorn Day!!

I had a little trouble deciding which “National Day of” that I should write about today. The choices were quark which is a type of cheese, or popcorn. We have a small artisan cheese maker near my house who makes quark cheese. And we also have a very popular popcorn maker near my house. In the end I decided that today we will talk about popcorn. I would prefer to interview the quark cheese maker and do a proper post at that time. So, let’s talk POPCORN!!

Popcorn history

Corn – the Word

First, let’s talk about the word corn. You can find the word corn in the Bible. I knew that corn wasn’t in any area of Europe prior to the discovery of the Americas, so I knew that Word didn’t really mean corn as we know it. I won’t bore you with the long, but fascinating, history of how we came to call it corn. The word corn actually just means grain, the available grain of the region at the time. So, in the Bible if it says corn it just means whatever grain was available in that region. What we call corn is actually Maize.

Archeological Evidence

In 1948 and 1950 popcorn was discovered in The Bat Caves of New Mexico. They are believed to be 4,000 years old. That’s the earliest records of maize.  

First Introductions to the White Man

As Europeans interacted with the Aztec Indians in the 1500’s, they were introduced to popcorn in Aztec ceremonies. There was even a popcorn ceremony. The Peruvian Indians called it pisancalla and made a confection from it.

Popularity across America

Popcorn became popular with Americans in the late 1800′ and early 1900’s. It has had its up’s and downs in popularity, but it is a now a stable popular food in America. It started out as a breakfast food, eaten with milk and sugar, but is now eaten a snack food.

How we eat it

Today, we most often eat popcorn salted with or without butter. It can be air popped, popped in a kettle on the stove, the microwave, or made in some type of popcorn popper. Most people cannot imagine going to the movies without getting popcorn or at least see popcorn. I don’t know that there is a single movie theater that does not serve popcorn. In my area we have $5 Movie Tuesday with free popcorn at our local theater chain.

We also eat popcorn sweetened as in caramel corn and crackerjacks. We put them in mixes that might either be salty or sweet and salt mix. A very popular one right now is a popcorn with chocolate drizzled in it and nuts mixed with it. The first time I had it I decided I could never buy it again because I ate the whole bag in one sitting. Thankfully it wasn’t a very big bag!!

Then there are all the specialty popcorn flavors. When I was a child, the only real “flavored” popcorn with cheese popcorn. It was a treat if a bag of that bright orange popcorn came home in the grocery bags. Now there are entire stores dedicated to popcorn flavors. Doing a quick Google search, I came upon a company called Kernel Encore Popcorn who boasts of 300 flavors of popcorn. Looking at their site, flavors include banana split , Boston cream pie, Caramel gone nuts, cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, hot wings, hot wings and ranch, lemon cream pie, peanut butter and Jelly, salt and vinegar, Sour Apple, sour cherry, sour cream and onion, theater style, peppermint drizzle, pina colada, pineapple, pralines  and cream, potato skin, pumpkin swirl, ranch kettle corn, bacon flavored, bacon and you name it, beer cheese, bubble gum, Brandy flavored, and oodles and oodles more. Again, their site is kernelencorepopcorn.com.

Often when we have a gathering at home, popcorn will be served. If you think about any gathering for a sporting event popcorn is usually one of the menu items. Considering that and the fact that Super Bowl Sunday is coming up shortly, I have included a couple links where there are multitudes of recipes for various kinds of popcorn. I have not tested any of these recipes. Personally, I do not eat popcorn very often, and when I do I just put on it coconut oil, butter sometimes, and some salt. Sometimes I will also add some cayenne pepper. On a rare occasion, I will sprinkle on some powdered cheese. but that’s as creative as I get with popcorn. In the comments below, tell me your favorite flavors and if you make them at home.

LINKS

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/articles/50-flavored-popcorn-recipes

https://greatist.com/eat/healthy-popcorn-recipes

Happy Popcorn Day to you!! Enjoy your popcorn. Remember to leave a comment on how you like your popcorn. If you have a favorite recipe, share it!! Thanks!