As we know, popcorn is a favorite treat of ours, featured often in our recipes from Stovetop Popcorn to our family-favorite Caramel Popcorn. It’s more than just a simple and delicious movie snack – popcorn carries a rich history flavored with fun facts you might not know. So, grab a handful of our homemade popcorn, sit back, and enjoy this crunchy dive into some surprising and delightful popcorn trivia. Who knows, you might just find a new way to enjoy them!
- Why does popcorn pop? Well, it’s made from a specific variety of corn that has a small, hard kernel that you can’t chew by itself. In order to make them edible, you have to heat them up until a pocket of steam builds up inside the kernel from the tiny bit of water inside, which then POPs into the fluffy corn you enjoy during a movie.
- Popcorn became synonymous with the movie business during the early 1900s, when hawkers would walk up and down the aisles with bags of popcorn and Cracker Jacks. By the end of the Great Depression, movie theaters were cashing in on the trend and we haven’t looked back since.
- Americans eat 16 billion quarts of popcorn every year – that adds up to 52 quarts of popcorn per person!
- We don’t just eat popcorn; people have been using it as decoration for centuries. People would hang it up in strings or glue it into balls. In fact, popcorn is now a classic Christmas-time decoration, and explore a festive treat with our Candy Corn Popcorn.
- Popcorn is one of the oldest foods we know of – the oldest evidence of popcorn we’ve found was over 5,000 years old!
- The possibilities for popcorn are absolutely endless. You can make it sweet with caramel, savory with taco seasoning, hot with pepper flakes, or cheesy with some cheddar… the list goes on and includes our savory Taco Popcorn Recipe and our rich Cheese Popcorn Recipe.
- Ever wonder who produces the most popcorn in the good ol’ U S of A? The answer is Nebraska! They produce about 250 million pounds of popcorn every year! Talk about a pop-ular snack.
- National Popcorn Day is January 19th every year. So pop yourself a bag and enjoy!
- Popcorn is GMO- and gluten-free, as well as low in calories and fat and high in protein. It works with every diet, so go ahead and indulge.
- In ye olden days, people ate popcorn like cereal! They’d put it in milk and add sugar and go to town. Maybe we should bring that trend back…
Learn the simple steps to make popcorn on the stovetop in my recipe! Once you understand the process, it’s extremely easy and will likely become a favorite snack!
