“Pop, pop, pop” –that sound of popping, that crescendo’s into a frenzy and slows to silence, followed by the smell of deliciousness. Today we celebrate National Popcorn Day!!
By: Linita Masters
We Americans love our popcorn. The Popcorn Board (it’s a real thing), reported that Americans consume 13 billion quarts of popcorn every year. According to the Popcorn Institute (also a real thing) roughly 70 percent of popcorn is eaten at home with the remaining 30 percent eaten somewhere else.
But popcorn had its beginnings centuries ago. Archeologists have found traces of popcorn in 1,000-year-old Peruvian tombs. It’s been said that popcorn was even part of the first Thanksgiving feast, in Plymouth Colony in 1621.
Pre-Columbian North America was first introduced to popcorn by the Iroquois nation. It spread throughout the Great Lakes region, it is most likely that the people in upstate New York, Vermont and Quebec were the first European-Americans to make popcorn. Popcorn eventually became a beloved treat for families as a late-night snack and get-togethers in the 1800’s. A Chicago entrepreneur named Charles Cretors , help escalate Americans consumption of popcorn in 1892, when he built the first popcorn-popping machine. Most of our popcorn today comes from Kansas, Illinois and Indiana.
You can celebrate popcorn is a multitude of ways:
Make a beautiful popcorn garland
How about a fashionable bracelet
Create an inspiring piece of artwork
Get creative with your popcorn flavors like Margarita Popcorn, Parmesan Garlic Popcorn or Cookies and Cream popcorn.
And of course there is eating it. You can head to your local movie theatre and buy a giant tub of popcorn covered in buttery goodness. You can choose to buy a microwave popcorn, try popping some yourself, or go for the fancy gourmet popcorn. For some California made popcorn, you can pick up a bag of popcorn from San Diego based Gaslamp Popcorn Co in a variety of flavors. White Cheddar being my personal favorite.
It doesn’t matter where or when you eat your popcorn, we can all agree that we love those fluffy white snacks , whether you like to pop one fluffy bite in your mouth at a time or shove it in by the handful.
