What Is Popcorn?

Popcorn has existed in some form for thousands of years. Today's popcorn snack bears little resemblance to the popcorn foods some earlier Americans enjoyed. This distinctly American food, though sold worldwide today, has its roots firmly planted in United States soil. Served in its original, whole grain state without added butter, salt or sugar, popcorn provides a healthy and nutritional snack. Early Americans valued and enjoyed its nutrition in different ways, but they too enjoyed this unique food item.

History

Popcorn's oldest roots, discovered in caves, reach back 5,600 years. Less extreme examples of ancient popcorn found in caves and tombs date back approximately 1,000 years. Europeans arriving in American in the 1600s found Indians throughout the Americas eating popcorn in a soup-like dish. Early Americans consumed popcorn for breakfast with sugar and cream. During the 1800s popcorn became an extremely popular treat and sales exploded. Popcorn remained popular due to its low price during the Great Depression just as it did during the World Wars when sugar supplies were low and snacks scarce. During the 1950s, home popcorn sales rose for the first time with the advent of the television set. Popcorn sales rose again in the 1980s with the invention of microwave popcorn.

Types

All corn comes from the grass family of plants and is a whole grain. Though many types of corn such as sweet, Indian, field, flint and popcorn exist, only popcorn contains the unique characteristics that allow it to pop. Popcorn is actually a type of flint corn. Popcorn contains just the right amount of moisture deep within the kernel, along with a hull just the right thickness, to allow it to pop, or explode when heated. Other types of corn do not pop when heated.

Features

The ability of the kernel to explode, or pop, exists due to a precise amount of moisture in the center of the kernel. A small drop of water surrounded by a starchy material and covered with a hard shell, or hull, forms the popcorn kernel. For the kernel to pop successfully, the moisture content must be 13.5 to 14 percent. When kernels of popcorn remain unpopped, or low popped corn volume exists, the amount of moisture inside the kernel often is the problem. Popcorn quality ratings measure the amount of popped corn volume per kernels used. Greater popped volumes equates to higher popcorn quality rating.

Function

When the popcorn kernels experience high heat, the water in the kernels expands then turns to steam. As this occurs, the starch surrounded the drop of water thickens and expands as well. Eventually, pressure builds to such a level inside the kernel that the hull fails and bursts open. During the explosion, the steam releases through the crack in the hull. Following the steam, the thickened starch bursts forth, turning the hull inside out and immediately solidifying into the flowery or mushroom shapes we recognize as popcorn.

Expert Insight

Each ideally popped kernel of popcorn expands 40 to 50 times its original size. Native American myths stated that spirits lived within each kernel. As their homes, the kernel, heated, the spirits shook with anger. As the heat increased, so did the shaking until the spirit burst through the hull in the white form of the popped corn. Popcorn consumption in American reaches 17 billion quarts annually. Home popcorn sales result in 70 percent of these sales while 30 percent represent sales outside the home at events such as movies and sporting events. Popcorn sales reach their height each year during the fall season.