Popcorn is more than just a modern-day healthy, whole-grain snack. In North America, popcorn’s popularity dates back to the late 1800s, when horse-drawn popcorn carts first made an appearance on urban streets.
But this ancient grain has a much longer history as a celebrated food. More than a decade ago, scientists found popcorn cobs in Peru that proved popcorn is at least 6,000 years old.
Dolores Piperno, a paleobotanist with the Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Insitute, told National Public Radio that ALL early corn was popcorn, which “helped lay the foundations for the Aztec empire.” Piperno added popcorn was “around for millennia before these other forms of corn.”
According to The Popcorn Board, a Chicago-based nonprofit, “Popcorn was an important food for the Aztec Indians, who also used popcorn as decoration for ceremonial headdresses, necklaces and ornaments on statues of their gods, including Tlaloc, the god of rain and fertility.”
Today, popcorn is an important commodity that’s also considered recession-proof. It’s a product that sells well in all economic conditions as a low-cost luxury snack.
ALL commercially grown U.S. popcorn is also non-GMO — it is NOT genetically modified, which makes it a great export to areas with stringent GMO restrictions, such as the European Union.
Learn more:
USDA National Agricultural Library: Popcorn Explosion. Popcorn became popular in America during the 1890s when street vendors, pushing steam or gas-powered poppers were a common sight at fairs, parks, and expositions. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, popcorn became one of the few luxuries struggling families could afford.
NPR: The Oscar For Best Snack Goes To … Popcorn, The 6,000-Year-Old Aztec Gold. Dolores Piperno, a paleobotanist with the Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Insitute, says corn, and specifically popcorn, helped lay the foundations for the Aztec empire. “When you have a very highly productive crop like corn, that makes the rise of high civilizations possible,” she says.
