EVER WONDER by Jacque Scott: Popcorn
Popcorn
How did we get popcorn? How did the popping of corn come about? Tens of thousands of years before there were movies, there was popcorn. Archeologists have found 80,000 year old corn pollen below Mexico City. Because this pollen is almost exactly the same as modern popcorn pollen, researchers believe that cavemen most likely had popcorn. It is believed that the oldest use of wild and early-cultivated corn was popping.
First of all, we have to look at the mention of corn in the Bible. Biblical accounts of corn stored in the pyramids are probably misunderstood. ‘Corn’ in the Bible was probably barley. The mistake comes from the meaning of corn at the time. The most widely used grain in a specific place was called ‘corn’. In England ‘corn’ was wheat, and in Scotland and Ireland the word referred to oats. The most common grain in the Americas was maize, and so it became our ‘corn’.
The oldest ears of popcorn ever found were discovered in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico in 1948 and 1950. These early Bat Cave ears range from the size of a penny to about 2” and are about 5,600 old.
The Spaniard Cobo wrote about the Peruvian Indians saying “They toast a certain kind of corn until it bursts. They call it ‘pisancalla’, and they use it as a confection.” In tombs in Peru, archeologists found ancient kernels of popcorn that are so well preserved that they can still pop. 1,700-year-old decorated popcorn poppers have also been found.
Sometimes, conditions can preserve ancient popcorn so perfectly that it still looks fluffy and white when the dust is blown off of it. In a cave in Utah, researchers found fresh looking 1,000 year old popcorn.
Archeologists have found that popcorn was very important to the early 16th century Aztec Indian ceremonies. In 1519 Cortez got his first sight of popcorn when he invaded Mexico and came into contact with the Aztecs. As well as being an important food staple, the Aztecs used popcorn as decoration for ceremonial headdresses, necklaces and ornaments on statues of their gods. Garlands of popped corn adorned dancing young women. Early accounts tell of a ceremony honoring the Aztec gods who watched over the fishermen. They scattered corn so that when it was heated it would pop and display an inside like a very white flower.
Europeans learned about popcorn from Native Americans. They brought a bag of popped corn to the first Thanksgiving. The common way to pop popcorn at that time was to hold an oiled ear of corn on a stick over the fire. Then they chewed the popped kernels off it. The early Native Americans also made popcorn soup and popcorn beer. Colonists were soon eating the fluffy food as a breakfast cereal with cream or milk.
Popcorn was very popular in the United States from the late 19th century through the middle of the 20th century. In the early days, popcorn was sold in cities and towns all across America by vendors. Many of these vendors were young men and boys who could make a pretty good living selling popcorn both popped (by the bag or shaped into balls) or un-popped. Who can forget the 1908 song “Take me out to the ballgame”? The well-known verse is “buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks”. During WWII, when sugar was rationed, popcorn consumption increased by three times, and the favorite place to eat it was the movies. In the 1950’s, the popularity of the television made popcorn sales drop for a while.
Today the average American eats nearly 70 quarts of popcorn each year. But, the United States isn’t just the land of popcorn eaters; it’s the land of popcorn growers. Most of the world gets its popcorn from Nebraska and Indiana.
So there you have it…a bit about popcorn. God bless you.
