# All About Popcorn

Corn was domesticated about 10,000 years ago in what is now Mexico. Archaeologists discovered that people have known about popcorn for thousands of years. Fossil evidence from Peru suggests that corn was popped as early as 4,700 BC. Through the 19th century, popping of the kernels was achieved by hand on stove tops. Kernels were sold on the East Coast of the United States under names such as Pearls or Nonpareil. The term popped corn first appeared in John Russell Bartlett's 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms. Popcorn is an ingredient in Cracker Jack and, in the early years of the product, it was popped by hand.

Consumption of Popcorn: Popcorn is a popular snack food at sporting events and in movie theaters, where it has been served since the 1930s. Cinemas have come under fire due to their high markup on popcorn. More information about popcorn can be found here:

- Popping Mechanism
- Cooking Methods
- Nutritional Value
- Terminology

Popping Mechanism: Each kernel of popcorn contains a certain amount of moisture and oil. Unlike most other grains, the outer hull of the popcorn kernel is both strong and impervious to moisture and the starch inside consists almost entirely of a hard type. As the oil and water within the kernel are heated, they turn the moisture in the kernel into pressurized steam. Under these conditions, the starch inside the kernel gelatinizes, softens, and becomes pliable. The internal pressure of the entrapped steam continues to increase until the breaking point of the hull is reached. Special varieties are grown to give improved popping yield. Though the kernels of some other types will pop, the cultivated strain for popcorn is Zea mays everta, which is a special kind of flint corn.

Cooking Methods: Popcorn can be cooked with butter or oil. Although small quantities can be popped in a stove-top kettle or pot in a home kitchen, commercial sale of freshly popped popcorn employs specially designed popcorn machines, which were invented in Chicago, Illinois, by Charles Cretors in 1885. Cretors successfully introduced his invention at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. At this same world's fair, F. W. Rueckheim introduced a molasses-flavored "Candied Popcorn", the first caramel corn; his brother, Louis Ruekheim, slightly altered the recipe and introduced it as Cracker Jack popcorn in 1896.

Nutritional Value: Air-popped popcorn (no salt or other additives) is 4% water, 78% carbohydrates (including 15% dietary fiber), 12% protein, and 4% fat (table). In a 100 gram reference amount, popcorn provides 382 calories and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of riboflavin (25% DV) and several dietary minerals, particularly manganese, phosphorus, and zinc (36-45% DV). B vitamins and other minerals are in appreciable amounts.

Terminology: In the popcorn industry, a popped kernel of corn is known as a "flake". Two shapes of flakes are commercially important. "Butterfly" (or "snowflake") flakes are irregular in shape and have a number of protruding "wings". "Mushroom" flakes are largely ball-shaped, with few wings. Butterfly flakes are regarded as having better mouthfeel, with greater tenderness and less noticeable hulls. Mushroom flakes are less fragile than butterfly flakes and are therefore often used for packaged popcorn or confectionery, such as caramel corn. The kernels from a single cob of popcorn may form both butterfly and mushroom flakes; hybrids that produce 100% butterfly flakes or 100% mushroom flakes exist, the latter developed only as recently as 1998. Growing conditions and popping environment can also affect the butterfly-to-mushroom ratio. When referring to multiple pieces of popcorn collectively, it is acceptable to use the term "popcorn". When referring to a singular piece of popcorn, the accepted term is "kernel".