Cretors successfully introduced his invention at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. Although small quantities can be popped in a stove-top kettle or pot in a home kitchen, commercial sale of freshly popped popcorn employs specially designed popcorn machines, which were invented in Chicago, Illinois, by Charles Cretors in 1885. Popcorn can be cooked with butter or oil. Though the kernels of some other types will pop, the cultivated strain for popcorn is Zea mays everta, which is a special kind of flint corn. Special varieties are grown to give improved popping yield.
As the foam rapidly cools, the starch and protein polymers set into the familiar crispy puff. The hull thereupon ruptures rapidly and explodes, causing a sudden drop in pressure inside the kernel and a corresponding rapid expansion of the steam, which expands the starch and proteins of the endosperm into airy foam. The internal pressure of the entrapped steam continues to increase until the breaking point of the hull is reached: a pressure of approximately 135 psi (930 kPa) and a temperature of 356 ☏ (180 ☌). Under these conditions, the starch inside the kernel gelatinizes, softens, and becomes pliable. Īs the oil and water within the kernel are heated, they turn the moisture in the kernel into pressurized steam. Unlike most other grains, the outer hull of the popcorn kernel is both strong and impervious to moisture and the starch inside consists almost entirely of a hard type. Popping mechanismĮach kernel of popcorn contains a certain amount of moisture and oil. As the result of an elementary school project, popcorn became the official state snack food of Illinois. According to the USDA, corn used for popcorn production is specifically planted for this purpose most is grown in Nebraska and Indiana, with increasing area in Texas. Īt least six localities (all in the Midwestern United States) claim to be the "Popcorn Capital of the World ": Ridgway, Illinois Valparaiso, Indiana Van Buren, Indiana Schaller, Iowa Marion, Ohio and North Loup, Nebraska. In 1981, General Mills received the first patent for a microwave popcorn bag popcorn consumption saw a sharp increase, by tens of thousands of pounds, in the years following. In 1970, Orville Redenbacher's namesake brand of popcorn was launched. The Popcorn Institute (a trade association of popcorn processors) launched a campaign promoting popcorn consumption at home, bringing popcorn consumption back to previous levels. The rise of home televisions in the 1940s marked lower popcorn consumption as theater attendance fell. The venture was a financial success, and the trend to serve popcorn soon spread. Ray Aden, Dickinson purchased popcorn farms and was able to keep ticket prices down.
Popcorn was making more profit than theater tickets, and at the suggestion of his production consultant, R. installed popcorn machines in the lobbies of his Dickinson theaters. Their minds eventually changed, however, and in 1938 a Midwestern theater owner named Glen W. The snack was popular at theaters, much to the initial displeasure of many of the theater owners, who thought it distracted from the films. During World War II, sugar rations diminished candy production, and Americans compensated by eating three times as much popcorn as they had before. Thus, while other businesses failed, the popcorn business thrived and became a source of income for many struggling farmers, including the Redenbacher family, namesake of the famous popcorn brand. During the Great Depression, popcorn was fairly inexpensive at 5–10 cents a bag and became popular.
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