The Evolution of Popcorn!
The evolution of Popcorn!Did you know that popcorn wasn’t always allowed in Theaters and that an early popcorn machine weighed almost 500 pounds? Popcorn has a history as fascinating as it is delicious.
Image shows seven people staffing the popcorn machine, hot dogs and the queue.
It’s hard to think of a more purely American food than popcorn. Whether it’s salted and buttered at a movie theatre, kettle corn at a state fair or a caramel popcorn ball at holiday time, we devour the stuff. And we’re far from the world’s first popcorn fans: Archeologists have found traces of popcorn in 1,000-year-old Peruvian tombs. It’s been said that popcorn was part of the first Thanksgiving feast, in Plymouth Colony in 1621. According to myth, however no contemporary accounts reference eating or making popcorn in that area, and the first mention of popcorn at Thanksgiving doesn’t appear until a fictional work appears almost 200 years later.
An early popcorn machine in a street cart, invented in the 1880s by Charles Cretors in Chicago. (Image source: hymanltd.com)
Around 3600 B.C.E: A form of popcorn exists in America, according to modern-day archaeological finds. In 1948, explorers find small ears of corn in Bat Cave of central New Mexico estimated to be around 5,600 years old.
1500s: Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes (1485-1547) gets his first sight of popcorn when he invaded Mexico. The Aztecs use popcorn to decorate ceremonial headdresses, necklaces, and ornaments on statues of their gods.
1612: French explorers in the Great Lakes region note the Iroquois pop popcorn with heated sand in a pottery vessel.
1700s: Colonial women make the first breakfast cereal by pouring milk and sugar over popped corn.
1866: William Oberton applies for the first popcorn popper patent.
1893: The World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago's first World's Fair, launches the world's first portable popcorn machine and the forerunner to Cracker Jack. Weighing in at 400-500 pounds, the popcorn popper is considered "light" because it can be pulled around by a pony to fairgrounds.
1896: F.W. and Louis Rueckheim find a process to keep their popcorn, peanuts, and molasses confection from sticking together. A salesman who tries it exclaims, "That's crackerjack!" (lingo of the time for "cool!" or "awesome!"), and the name sticks.
1908
A new song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," immortalizes Cracker Jack with the line, "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack."
Early 1900s: Independent vendors sell popcorn to customers going into movie theaters. Theater owners eventually see the opportunity and begin selling popcorn themselves.
1914: The American Pop Corn Co., maker of Jolly Time Pop Corn, is born. Founder Cloid H. Smith creates the first popcorn available on the grocer's shelf. It is also America's first branded popcorn.
1954: E-Z Pop popcorn, forerunner to Jiffy Pop, is launched.
1960s: Jiffy Pop's disposable pan handle makes it easy to shake over the stove, and the foil cover expands as the corn pops. The company ads proclaim, "Jiffy Pop, Jiffy Pop, the magic treat, as much fun to make as it is 1908: A new song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," immortalizes Cracker Jack with the line, "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack."
Early 1900s: Independent vendors sell popcorn to customers going into movie theaters. Theater owners eventually see the opportunity and begin selling popcorn themselves.
Image shows a person filling a bag of popcorn with a scoop out of the popcorn machine.
1914: The American Pop Corn Co., maker of Jolly Time Pop Corn, is born. Founder Cloid H. Smith creates the first popcorn available on the grocer's shelf. It is also America's first branded popcorn.
1954: E-Z Pop popcorn, forerunner to Jiffy Pop, is launched.
1960s: Jiffy Pop's disposable pan handle makes it easy to shake over the stove, and the foil cover expands as the corn pops. The company ads proclaim, "Jiffy Pop, Jiffy Pop, the magic treat, as much fun to make as it is to eat."
1971: After spending nearly 40 years developing a better-popping kernel, Orville Redenbacher launches his popcorn products.
1980: Weight Watchers franchise embraces popcorn as an accepted Weight Watchers program snack.
1983: Microwave popcorn is launched and soon takes over as the favorite way to make popcorn.
Sources: The Popcorn Board; "American Pop Corn Company"; "Better Than Homemade," by Carolyn Wyman; United States Department of Agriculture