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Celebrate National Popcorn Day

Writer's picture: Sue LeonardSue Leonard

Today is National Popcorn Day, the day I pay homage to one of my all-time favorite foods! Some may not think of it as a meal, but for me, it’s been lunch...and more often than I care to admit, dinner.

National Popcorn Day

As a child, I got excited when mom made popcorn in a dented aluminum pan over a gas flame. She shook the pan as it popped and as the popping slowed, she’d open the lid a bit to let the steam escape.


Fast forward to my teenage years, when I ran the candy counter at the local theater. My primary job? Stocking the hot, buttery popcorn. Despite daily showers, the scent of popcorn oil clung to my hair well into my college years.


If you are a movie buff, AMC Theatres have Unlimited Refills on National Popcorn day. You can watch Wicked, A Complete Unknown (Bob Dylan biopic). or Sonic and refill your popcorn box for free. Who can resist that deal?


AMC Popcorn Day Unlimited Refills

If you are making your popcorn at home, The  Kitchn says “Don’t throw out leftover popcorn. See what it can do.” (1)  Leftover popcorn? Who are they kidding? One batch isn’t enough. We usually pop a second batch  But along those lines, back in our salad days, hubby and I used to eat tomato soup with popcorn to fill us up. We still make that concoction when we get nostalgic or can’t think of anything else for lunch.


tomato soup with popcorn

Speaking of things to do with popcorn, did you ever try making a popcorn garland? I did. Once. The popcorn broke apart as I tried to string it. Turns out I was using the wrong kind of popcorn. I used butterfly popcorn (which looks sort of like a butterfly). Butterfly popcorn is more delicate and great for home-popped popcorn, but not so good for stringing. (2) You need the sturdy mushroom popcorn for stringing and you probably won’t find it at your local grocery. But Amazon has it (of course). 

Butterfly and Mushroom popcorn

Princeton Farms sells mushroom popcorn, though you’ll need to shell out for shipping. (3) For hubby and me, Princeton Farms holds sentimental value. Seeing their silos on Highway 41 meant we were only 24 miles from my parents’ house in Evansville, IN—a welcome sight after a six-hour drive from Chicago.


Fun Popcorn Facts

  • Historians believe popcorn was first cultivated in Mexico over 6,000 years ago.  They found a fossil of a half-eaten bowl of popcorn in crockery carbon dated to 3,600 BC (just kidding, I don’t know why they believe that). (3)

  • In the 16th century, the Aztecs used popcorn in headdresses worn during ceremonies honoring Tlaloc, their god of maize and fertility.  (3)


aztec headdress in 16th century

  • Popcorn hit the U.S. in the mid-1800s. By 1893, Charles Cretors had invented a steam-powered popcorn popper, leading to horse-drawn popcorn wagons in Chicago. (4)

  • There’s a debate about who invented Cracker Jack. Some say Charles Fredrick Guenther, “The Candy Man” while others claim Louise Ruckheim who added peanuts and molasses to popcorn and sold it in 1896 in downtown Chicago. (5)

  • In 1908, Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer wrote Take Me Out to the Ballgame, the national anthem of baseball was born. From that point onward, Cracker Jack became married to the game. (6)

  • Until 1938 you had to buy popcorn from a street vendor. That’s when Glen W. Dickson invented and installed a vented popcorn machine that allowed popcorn to be popped indoors. He installed them in his movie theaters and ever since people have associated movies and popcorn. (7)

  • In 1949, a female entrepreneur founded the famous Garrett Popcorn Shops. She developed the recipes in her family kitchen. The first Shops in Chicago sold CaramelCrisp, CheeseCorn, Buttery, and Plain for 5 cents a bag. CaramelCrisp was cooked in copper kettles and hand-scooped right before fans’ eyes. (8)


Garrett's Popcorn - Caramel Crisp and CheeseCorn

  • Garrett’s is so popular that people would line up for a block outside even in the winter. I know. I was one of them. For 25 years I worked about five blocks from their Michigan Avenue Store.  Now Garrett’s has 48 shops with locations in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Tokyo, Korea, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Malaysia. (9)


Garrett's popcorn Chicago

  • By 1986, one in four American homes had a microwave which spurred home consumption of popcorn. Today, Americans consume 13 billion quarts of popcorn a year, more than any other country in the world.  (10) This must be true. In the 2010s I worked with a Brit and he would grumble every time someone made popcorn in the break room microwave. “I hate that smell. I don’t see how you Americans can eat that stuff.”  That’s ok; it saves more for us.

  • 1988 was the first National Popcorn Day (10)

  • Unpopped popcorn kernels are called either spinsters or old maids.  (10)

  • Nebraska is the top popcorn producer in the United States. (10)


Finally, notice the connection between Chicago and popcorn popularity. The steamed popcorn popper, Cracker Jack, Garrett's popcorn. No wonder popcorn is my soul food.


So celebrate popcorn day by popping a bowl. And add lots of butter – those calories don’t count on National Popcorn Day!

 

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