You have to wonder how people originally figured out how to eat some foods that are beloved today. The cassava plant is toxic if not carefully processed through multiple steps. Yogurt is basically old milk that’s been around for a while and contaminated with bacteria. And who discovered that popcorn could be a toasty, tasty treat?
These kinds of food mysteries are pretty hard to solve. Archaeology depends on solid remains to figure out what happened in the past, especially for people who didn’t use any sort of writing. Unfortunately, most stuff people traditionally used made from wood, animal materials or cloth decays pretty quickly, and archaeologists like me never find it.
We have lots of evidence of hard stuff, such as pottery and stone tools, but softer things – such as leftovers from a meal – are much harder to find. Sometimes we get lucky, if softer stuff is found in very dry places that preserve it. Also, if stuff gets burned, it can last a very long time.
Corn’s Ancestors
Luckily, corn – also called maize – has some hard parts, such as the kernel shell. They’re the bits at the bottom of the popcorn bowl that get caught in your teeth. And since you have to heat maize to make it edible, sometimes it got burned, and archaeologists find evidence that way. Most interesting of all, some plants, including maize, contain tiny, rock-like fragments called phytoliths that can last for thousands of years.
Scientists are pretty sure they know how old maize is. We know maize was probably first farmed by Native Americans in what is now Mexico. Early farmers there domesticated maize from a kind of grass called teosinte.
Before farming, people would gather wild teosinte and eat the seeds, which contained a lot of starch, a carbohydrate like you’d find in bread or pasta. They would pick teosinte with the largest seeds and eventually started weeding and planting it. Over time, the wild plant developed into something like what we call maize today. You can tell maize from teosinte by its larger kernels.
There’s evidence of maize farming from dry caves in Mexico as early as 9,000 years ago. From there, maize farming spread throughout North and South America.
Popped Corn, Preserved Food
(Credit: vainillaychile/iStock via Getty Images Plus)The ancestor of maize was a grass called teosinte.
Figuring out when people started making popcorn is harder. There are several types of maize, most of which will pop if heated, but one variety, actually called “popcorn,” makes the best popcorn. Scientists have discovered phytoliths from Peru, as well as burned kernels, of this type of “poppable” maize from as early as 6,700 years ago.
Popped Corn, Preserved Food
Figuring out when people started making popcorn is harder. There are several types of maize, most of which will pop if heated, but one variety, actually called “popcorn,” makes the best popcorn. Scientists have discovered phytoliths from Peru, as well as burned kernels, of this type of “poppable” maize from as early as 6,700 years ago.
(Credit: Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images)Each popcorn kernel is a seed, ready to burst when heated.
You can imagine that popping maize kernels was first discovered by accident. Some maize probably fell into a cooking fire, and whoever was nearby figured out that this was a handy new way of preparing the food. Popped maize would last a long time and was easy to make.
Ancient popcorn was probably not much like the snack you might munch at the movie theater today. There was probably no salt and definitely no butter, since there were no cows to milk in the Americas yet. It probably wasn’t served hot and was likely pretty chewy compared with the version you’re used to today.
It’s impossible to know exactly why or how popcorn was invented, but I would guess it was a clever way to preserve the edible starch in corn by getting rid of the little bit of water inside each kernel that would make it more susceptible to spoiling. It’s the heated water in the kernel escaping as steam that makes popcorn pop. The popped corn could then last a long time. What you may consider a tasty snack today probably started as a useful way of preserving and storing food.
Sean Rafferty is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Albany, State University of New York. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
FAQs
Furthermore, French explorers who traveled to the new world discovered popcorn being made by the Iroquois Native Americans in the Great Lakes region. As colonists moved around North America, and as the United States of America came to be, people adopted this snack more and more.
What makes popcorn pop lab answers? ›
Popcorn kernels contain water. When that water turns into hot steam, it creates pressure inside the kernel and, eventually, causes it to explode into fluffy popcorn.
How was popcorn discovered by an archaeologist on its likely appeal for people in the Americas millennia ago? ›
Popped corn, preserved food
You can imagine that popping maize kernels was first discovered by accident. Some maize probably fell into a cooking fire, and whoever was nearby figured out that this was a handy new way of preparing the food. Popped maize would last a long time and was easy to make.
How did they figure out how to pop popcorn? ›
We don't know exactly who first discovered that popcorn can pop. But it's a process that would have happened when people first started mixing dried kernels and heat. Popcorn pops through interaction with heat. If you've ever looked at popcorn kernels before popping, you know they have a very hard outer shell.
How did they find popcorn? ›
It is believed that the first use of wild and early cultivated corn was popping. The oldest ears of popcorn ever found were discovered in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico in 1948 and 1950. Ranging from smaller than a penny to about 2 inches, the oldest Bat Cave ears are about 4,000 years old.
Who came up with eating popcorn? ›
Popcorn enjoyed since 3600 BCE.
Indigenous tribes such as the Aztecs and the Incas were some of the first people to discover and cultivate popcorn, using it for various purposes such as food, decoration, and as offerings to their gods. In these early societies, popcorn held great cultural significance.
Was popcorn invented by accident? ›
The Aztecs and the Mayans revered corn, using it as a staple in their diets and cultural rituals. It is believed that these ingenious people discovered the art of popping corn over open flames, an accidental but marvelous revelation.
How did Indians discover popcorn? ›
What the Indians did at first was to slide an ear of corn onto the end of a long, pointed stick and hold it over the fire. This would cause the kernels to pop off the cob in all directions. Some of the kernels, however, were lost in the fire. Another way was to throw the kernels directly into the fire.
Who figured out how to make popcorn? ›
The oldest definitive evidence for popping corn was discovered in New Mexico, United States, determined to be as early as 3600 BCE, and attributed to the Ancestral Puebloan peoples, who maintained trade networks with peoples in tropical Mexico.
Is popcorn just dried corn? ›
There are many corn varieties that can differ significantly from popcorn, which are not just dried kernels of the sweet corn we eat. Popcorn is actually a special variety of corn, and it is the only one that pops. The key to popcorn is the unique design of its kernels.
The parable of the popcorn
Now, the popcorn kernels represent us, diverse in our responses to God's call. Some burst early, eager to embrace His plan for their lives. These are the ones who step out from the crowd, keenly aware of God's “heat,” and joyously live out their calling with freedom and excitement.
Is popcorn healthy? ›
Popcorn is high in several important nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals and polyphenol antioxidants. Not only that, but it is also incredibly tasty and one of the world's best sources of fiber. At the end of the day, popcorn is very healthy and consuming it in moderation may even help with weight loss.
How did the popcorn trend begin? ›
Today, we primarily eat popcorn as a snack food, which became a trend during the Great Depression. This was due to popcorn being one of the few universally available and affordable snack foods for most families at that time.
How did Native Americans pop popcorn? ›
What the Indians did at first was to slide an ear of corn onto the end of a long, pointed stick and hold it over the fire. This would cause the kernels to pop off the cob in all directions. Some of the kernels, however, were lost in the fire. Another way was to throw the kernels directly into the fire.
Does popcorn have a dark history? ›
Popcorn, your favorite movie time snack, was once connected to human sacrifice and gruesome beheadings. That's right. The history of popcorn involves way more than just popping corn.
What caused the popcorn to pop? ›
As the kernel heats up, the water expands, building pressure against the hard starch surface. Eventually, this outer layer gives way, causing the popcorn to explode. As it explodes, the soft starch inside the popcorn becomes inflated and bursts, turning the kernel inside out.
