WHAT IS POPCORN?
Of five varieties of corn, popcorn is the kind that pops. Besides the more common yellow and white kernels, popcorn also come in purple, rusty red, and black/blue - in fact, more than 1,300 kinds of popcorn have been developed by growers. But no matter what color the kernel is, the popped corn is always yellow or white.
HISTORY
An all-time favorite, popcorn - the only variety of corn that pops is hardly a recent discovery. Archaeologists excavating in Peru, Mexico, and the American Southwest have unearthed preserved cobs of popcorn dating back thousands of years. During expeditions in 1948, ears of popcorn up to 2 inches long were found in Bat cave in west central New Mexico by two Harvard graduate students, anthropologist Herbert Dick and botanist Earle
Smith. The tiny ears have been identified by radio-carbon tests to be about 5,600 years old. Not only is this the oldest known corn in America, but the discovery proved popcorn to be the oldest known corn in the world as well.
By the time the Europeans arrived in the New World, more that 700 varieties of popcorn were grown by Native American tribes in both Americas, except in the most northern and southern regions. Clay or metal cooking vessels were sometimes used. The corn brought to the first Thanksgiving was more likely parched flint corn (the multicoloured corn, also called Indian corn, that's often used for decoration), rather than the legendary deerskin bag of popcorn. To the early Native Americans, popcorn was a currency of trade and friendship, a symbol of hospitality and fertility.
Christopher Columbus is credited with introducing popcorn to Europe after his return from the West Indies, where he had found the natives eating popcorn and wearing it as decoration, like corsages. Columbus recorded that natives in the West Indies sold
popcorn to his crew. Cortes got his first glimpse of popcorn when he invaded Mexico in 1519 and came in to contact with the Aztecs, who used popcorn to decorate ceremonial headdresses and strung it into necklaces. In 1650, the Spanish explorer Cobo wrote of Peruvian Indians using a kind of corn as a confection that when toasted, burst.
According to the popular legend, English colonists were introduced to popcorn when Quadequina, brother of the Wampanoag chief Massasoit, brought a deerskin bag of popped corn to the first Thanksgiving feast at Plymouth, Massachusetts. However, it's more likely that parched flint corn was brought to the feast. According to historians at Plimouth Plantation, Plymouth, Massachusetts, flint corn, and not popcorn, was the native
corn of the region. Parching explodes the corn kernel partially, making it edible but not as tasty as popcorn. "Parched corn" is also referred to in several historical writings of Governor John Winthrop of Connecticut and a century later by Benjamin Franklin.
In 1885, Charles Cretors of Chicago, Illinois, invented the first popping machine, powered by steam - an invention that revolutionized the industry, When he took his first popcorn
wagon to Chicago's Colombian Exposition in 1893, lines of customers formed to watch the little red-suited clown perched atop the popcorn popper cranking away to keep up with the demand for the new snack - popcorn in butter.
Since 1896, when the Rueckheim brothers of Chicago added molasses and peanuts to
popcorn, and since 1908, when the caramelized popcorn was lyricized in the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," Cracker Jack has been a favorite of children all over the world,
The yummy version in North America has a combination of four kinds of nuts as well as the special surprise!
In the fall of 1897, the Sears, Roebuck & Company catalog advertised a paper sack filled with 25 pounds of popping corn, sold on the cob (approximately 125 cobs), for one dollar. Now you can buy popping corn on the cop at specialty food stores, packaged with a microwave bag for popping corn while still on the cob.
In 1914, an Iowa farmer, Choid H. Smith, founded the American Pop Corn Company in Sioux City, Iowa, and created America's first brand name popcorn - Jolly Time. A 1921 sales sheet shows the retail price of a 16 ounce box of extra - select popcorn kernels to be 10 cents. The first airtight packaging for popcorn was introduced by Smith in 1924, a metal can that would prove to be the forerunner to today's soft drink can. In the 1930's, Jolly Time sponsored a national Sunday evening radio show that featured live orchestra music by General Jolly Time and his Pop Corn Colonels with the theme song titled "A bowl of Pop Corn, a Radio, and You."
It wasn't until the mid - 1930's that theater owners allowed the sale of popcorn ( a nickel a box) on their premises. The once - familiar sight of sidewalk salesmen, pushing and driving popcorn wagons, faded from the American scene.
In the 1960's a county extension agent in Indiana named Orville Redenbacher developed a hybrid popcorn seed that produced a SNOWFLAKE (see TID-BITS) variety with a high popping volume and fewer unpoppable kernels than other kinds of popping corn. He
marketed his GOURMET POPPING CORN from the back of a car until the company was bought in 1874.
The world's largest popcorn ball, measuring 12 feet in diameter, was conceived and constructed by Chef Franz Eichenauer, a professor of culinary arts, in 1981 to raise funds for the Peekskill, New York, Area Health Center. The all used more than 2,000 pounds of popcorn and was popped by the Borden Company, mixed with 4,000 pounds of sugar, 280 gallons of corn syrup and 400 gallons of water.
In 1984, Paul Newman, a great film actor and philanthropist, added popcorn to his growing list of food items sold through Newman's Own food company, which awards 100% of its after - tax profits to charities. For 1993 alone, the amount came to nearly $7 million in grants, approximately one-third of which was dirived from the sale of popcorn.
Since those early days, we've been sold on popcorn. Every red-blooded movie-goer in North America knows the hand-to-mouth motion of popcorn munching. Adults and children alike hold dear the memory of spending winter evenings in front of the television
with a giant bowl of freshly popped corn. Popcorn feeds the soul and calms the nerves - it is undoubtedly the grain of the people.
Now, we'll take the plain movie theater popcorn into the new-age nineties, and perhaps even into the next millennium!
NUTRITIONS
Eaten plain without any oil or butter, popcorn is a skinny 27 calories per cup. Since it's a whole grain cereal with high fiber content, popcorn has received will-earned recommendations form the Cancer Society and the Cancer Institute. It's included on the Dental Association's list of wholesome sugar-free snacks, and both the Diabetes Association and Dietetic Association allow popcorn as a bread exchange for those on special diets. Gram for gram, popcorn has more protein, phosphorus , iron, and vitamin A
than ice cream or crackers.
Nutritionally, air-popped popcorn, made without oil or salt, is the best choice. Otherwise,
make the popcorn with a popper which calls for only one teaspoon of oil and make the oil a heart-healthy polyunsaturated or monounsaturated oil such as canola or safflower. Go easy on the salt.
To date, all prepackaged microwave popcorn used saturated fat and a substantial amount of salt. Health professionals have been debating the healthfulness of substituting margarine for butter for decades. This dilemma has one again captured public interest
with new medial studies that reveal that margarine's trans fatty acids. produced by partially hydrogenating vegetable fat (a process to change liquid vegetable oil to a solid with the texture of butter), are related to high levels of LDL cholesterol and lower levels of HDL cholesterol. They are also suspected to enhance deposits of fat in the arteries and actually interfere with the metabolism of fat. But since butter is a saturated fat, many health professionals advise against cooking with it since it elevates blood cholesterol that can lead to cardiovascular disease. However, butter is a natural produce, made without
additives. The role of butter or margarine, popcorn is that of adding flavor and helping the seasonings to adhere to the kernels.
If you are on a restricted diet, always follow the advice of your physician or dietitian. In place of butter or margarine, mist the popcorn with butter-flavored vegetable spray or butter- flavored granules that have been reconstituted, according to package directions, before adding the seasonings. Neither the vegetable spray or granules will add any appreciable fat. Popcorn repaired this way becomes soggy after a few hours. Make the popcorn in small batches and eat it, freshly made, while it's still warm.
For most people, however, until more research on the role of dietary fat is health conclusively ends the butter-versus- margarine controversy, an occasional use of a modest amount of butter or margarine on popcorn, within the framework of a healthy diet, should not pose a medical problem.
TID-BITS
An easy way to mix hot popcorn with butter and seasonings is to put the popcorn in a large paper grocery bag, pout the seasoned butter over the popcorn, close the bag, and shake.
Popping volume varies for different kinds of popcorn, but generally two tablespoons unpopped popcorn kernels makes about 1 quart of popped corn.
Popcorn is made up principally of a starch that contains a small amount of moisture.
When the Kernels are heated, the water instead turns to steam and builds up pressure.
The hard surface surrounding the starch eventually no longer can resist the building
pressure and the popcorn explodes, turning the kernel inside out.
Some popcorn terminology:
OLD MAIDS: the unpopped kernels. For a more complete pop, store unpopped corn
in an airtight jar - but not in the refrigerator.
SNOWFLAKES and MUSHROOMS: different shapes of popped corn.
SNOWFLAKES pop big and have the shape of a cumulus cloud; MUSHROOMS are
almost round like a ball. The ratio of SNOWFLAKES to MUSHROOMS depends
on the type of popcorn.
RICE and PEARLS: the two major types of popcorn grown commercially. RICE
has sharply pointed kernels and PEARLS have smooth rounded crowns.
Located in Heritage Hall in Marion, Ohio, the Wyandon Popcorn Museum housed the world's largest collection of restored antique popcorn poppers and peanut roasters, Many dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. For museum hours and information, call (614) 387-4255
POPCORN HINTS
Before measuring the popcorn, discard any unpopped kernels.
Seasonings and sweet syrups will mix with the popcorn better if the popcorn is warm.
When popping in oil, add a tablespoon of sugar just as the corn begins to pop for a delicate, sweet flavor. Once the sugar is added, quickly recover the popper and continue popping.
GROWING POPCORN
Popcorn is easy and fun to grow. Plant blocks of short rows, 30 inches apart, in a sunny location after the soil is warm and the danger of a last frost is past. Plant the seeds well away from where you are growing sweet corn to avoid possible cross-pollination. When plants are about a foot tall, pile additional soil around the base of the stocks.
When corn is 6 inches tall, and again at mid-season, apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Water regularly until plants are will established. Then water less often, but deeply, to encourage
strong root systems. Do not let soil dry out, especially when the ears are developing, or they will only partially fill. Add mulch to keep weeks down and to conserve water.
Let ears mature fully before harvesting. When the stocks and husks are completely brown and kernels are hard (test by sticking your thumb nail into a kernel - it shouldn't take a dent), the popcorn is ready to harvest, dry , and store. Once picked, peel back the husks to aid drying and hang the ears in a dry , airy spot. When kernels can be shucked off the cob easily, try popping a few kernels (at least 9 out of 10 kernels should pop). If the popcorn is still too wet, the popped kernels will be mushy and chewy. To shell the popcorn, hold the ear with the husk end in one hand. Twist the other hand to free the kernels, moving up the ear. Once shelled, separate the chaff and pieces of dry silk from the kernels.
Store the kernels in sealed glass jars until ready to use (wait at least two seeks after shelling before popping). You should get about 1/4 cup of kernels from each ear of medium - sized popcorn variety.
Although some popcorn packagers call their popcorn "hull-less", all popcorn has hulls, Without the thin, had covering around the kernel that shatters when the kernel is heated and explodes, popcorn wouldn't pop. Today's popcorn is bred so that the hull explodes with more force, shattering it into tine fragments, making the popcorn appear to be hull-less. Try to find this variety of seeds.
FUN IDEAS
Stringing swags of popcorn for the Christmas tree has been a tradition in many homes. The swags are particularly lovely when slices of air-dried orange, lemon, and apple are interspersed with the popcorn. Fresh cranberries and cinnamon sticks alternated with popcorn makes a festive - and fragrant - festoon as well. Once the holiday is over, hang the swags outside as a gift to the birds.
Be on the look - out through the year for nifty containers that you can fill with popcorn and give as gifts. Choose a simple or whimsical container (it must be scrubbed clean and dried; some will need a zip-lock bag liner to preserve freshness) and adorn t for the occasion. Especially nice for popcorn:
Printed or metallic cardboard gift box
Glass or plastic jar with cork stopper or brightly coloured lid
Small metal or plastic bucket
Metal decorated tins
New Chinese take-out food containers
Paper shopping bag or gift bag
Protect gifts for shipping or mailing by surrounding with popped corn. Air - popped corn, made without oil, is preferred, but unless the package is going to sit for several months before opening, you can also used popcorn that has been popped in oil. The popcorn offers better protection than excelsior, and popcorn is recyclable, The popcorn can be eaten or thrown out for the birds - they love popcorn too!
Click on the popcorn machine to see MOM!
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