I'm Reasearching POPCORN PLEASE HELP!?!
Does anyone know where popcorn came from?
Please make information as accurate as possible and include recourses if you can! :D
Answers:
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Popcorn or 'popping corn' is corn (maize) which expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Corn is able to pop because, unlike other grains, its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy filling. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive "pop" results. Some strains of corn are now cultivated specifically as popping corns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn
Popcorn is a special type of corn grain, generally not edible like other styles of corn like white or yellow corn on the cob. Instead of being eaten off the cob, popcorn is usually stripped from the cob and then heated in a pan until the inside literally breaks through the tough hull, creating fluffy, crunchy kernels. This type of corn is a new world food, and its seeds have been found in archaeological digs that date back several thousands of years.
Archaeologists have found these kernels in popped form that carbon dating show to be at least 1000 years old. In this respect, Native Americans were considerably lucky; they got to enjoy popcorn much sooner that did the rest of the world. The first Europeans to taste popped corn were likely the pilgrims, who were introduced to the crunchy stuff by local Native American tribes.
It is believed that popcorn originated in Mexico. In 1948, the oldest ears of corn ever found were discovered in a bat cave in west central Mexico. Here, Cachise Indians dating back to 2,500 B.C., are thought to have grown and eaten popcorn. A funeral urn also found in Mexico from 300 A.D. shows a picture of a maize god with some form of primitive popcorn headdress. Popcorn kernels have also been found in tombs on the east coast of Peru, some of which still pop after 1,000 years. By the time Europeans began to settle in America, popcorn had spread to almost all Native American tribes. The English colonists were introduced to popcorn at the first Thanksgiving feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where one of the chief's brothers arrived with a goodwill gift of popped corn in a deerskin bag. After their introduction the colonists had the idea of eating popcorn with milk and sugar and so was born the breakfast cereal. At this point there were more than 700 varieties of popcorn.