Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Popcorn

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Almost everyone has had popcorn and some of you have even probably had some recently. Popcorn can be made at home, can be purchased pre packaged in stores, and has been tightly associated with movie theaters.  Yet, despite seeming like a rather modern snack, popcorn has actually been around for thousands of years. It exists because of a unique attribute of corn. Learn about the history of popcorn and how it has become one of the most popular snacks in the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.  Sponsors Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Mint Mobile Get your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Stash Go to get.stash.com/EVERYTHING to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase. Newspaper.com Go to Newspapers.com to get a gift subscription for the family historian in your life! Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Disce aliquid novi cotidie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost everyone has had popcorn, and some of you have probably even had some recently. Popcorn can be made at home, can be purchased pre-packaged in stores, and has been tightly associated with movie theaters. Yet despite seeming like a rather modern snack, popcorn has actually been around for thousands of years. It exists because of a unique attribute of corn. Learn more about the history of popcorn and how it became one of the most popular snacks in the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. hear about the selfie that solved a murder or the jury that used a Ouija board to speak to a victim. If that made you pause, you need to listen to Morning Cup of Murder. I'm Karina B. Mr. Durfer,

and every single day on Morning Cup of Murder, I tell one chilling true crime story tied to that exact day in history. With over 2,500 episodes to binge, you'll never run out of dark stories to start your morning with. Go listen to Morning Cup of Murder wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay safe. To understand popcorn, we first have to understand where popcorn comes from, that being, corn. Corn and the popcorn kernel are unique among most other grains due to the outer hull of the kernel. The hull can be viewed as the outer shell of the seed, protecting the internal part known as the endosperm. The inside of the seed holds a lot of starch and also contains

both oil and water. This gives the inside of the seed a moisture level of roughly for 14 to 20%. When the kernel is heated, the moisture inside the seed turns into a steam. The steam causes the starch to become softer and gelatinized. As the pressure of the steam builds up, the hull of the kernel will break. The hull breaking allows the kernel to expand forcefully as the starch and protein turn into a foam. As the foam cools, it turns into starch and then into popcorn. Popcorn kernels are typically sold dry as having too much moisture, within the seed results in the expansion of popcorn being too low. Additionally, there's a risk of mold if the seeds aren't dried out.

This is why we see hard textured popcorn kernels for sale. Not all corn makes for good popcorn. There are types of corn specifically cultivated to be used for popcorn. The most common type of corn used is known as Flint corn. Flint corn can also be known as Indian corn or calico corn. This variant of corn contains less of the softer forms of start. than other types of corn. The lack of soft starch causes the corn not to have dense between each kernel. Additionally, the outer layer or the hull is very hard and can be likened to Flint, giving

Flint corn its name. Historically, Flint corn was cultivated by Native Americans, first starting in Mexico and then the American Southwest around the year one. The variant then spread through North America by the year 1500. Flint corn is unique from other types of corn in a few key ways. One way is that it contains less water, making it less susceptible to the cold and able to survive longer and freezing temperatures. Additionally, the coloration of flint corn is not the stereotypical white and yellow that we tend to think of. Rather, flint corn is multicolored, having the colors of red, yellow, orange, white, blue, and black. There is a science to popping the perfect bowl of popcorn. If popcorn is heated at too fast a rate, the hull can burst too quickly, preventing the starch from having time to gelatinize.

If the starch doesn't gelatinize in time, the kernel will only be partially popped and have a hard center. On the opposite side of the spectrum, popping too slowly will also cause issues. When heated too slowly, the steam can leak out of the tip of the popcorn kernel, preventing enough pressure from building up and leaving you with an unpopped kernel. If you pop popcorn at the perfect temperature, you will still find that some kernels didn't pop. This is a result of the kernels not having enough moisture inside to expand. In the industry, these pieces are known as old maids. And you can actually solve this non-popping issue by re-moisterizing the kernel.

Selling popcorn depends on several variables. Popcorn can come in different colors, shapes, and sizes, so it's important for sellers to know what appeals to consumers. Though the kernel of the popcorn can vary in color, the resulting pop will typically either be yellow or white, and is considered either rice type or pearl type. Pearl type is rounded, typically yellow in color, and is the most sold type commercially. Meanwhile, rice-type popcorn is longer, pointed in both ends, and is typically white. For sellers, pearl popcorn sells better because the pop is larger.

Because pearl-type popcorn is typically yellow, yellow popcorn also sells better. Popcorn is actually one of the oldest snack foods, with its origin dating back thousands of years to the early Americas. If you remember back to my episode on the subject, corn is believed to have been domesticated about 9,000 years ago in central Mexico. Many experts believe that corn was developed through the crossbreeding of different wild grasses. The oldest evidence of popcorn was found in the Batcave, which is part of Carl's Bad Caverns in New Mexico. These ears can be dated back 5,600 years. Other early instances of popcorn have been found in Peru and Utah dating back about 1,000 years. Popcorn actually had a place in the Meso-American culture, being used in worship ceremonies by Aztecs as decoration on headdresses, ornaments, and necklaces.

Europeans were first introduced to popcorn when they traveled to the Americas. The first recorded instance of Europeans finding popcorn comes from the French around the year 1612. The French were exploring the Great Lakes region of North America and came across the Uriquois, who were popping corn using heated sand and a pottery vessel. Popcorn was embraced by the French, who quickly adapted the food into their diet. Many colonialists began placing popcorn in a bowl with milk, which became the precursor to modern cereal. Entering into the 19th century, popcorn began to be used as a holiday decoration due to its low cost. Popcorn could be strung on thread to create a cheap type of garland.

Colonels were initially sold in the 19th century under the names of pearls or non-Porell in the east coast of the United States. The word popcorn was officially documented in John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms in 1848. Popcorn became much more accessible to the general public after Charles Craters created the first popcorn maker in 1885. Craters had owned a bakery and confectionery shop near Decatur, Illinois. One of the main things Craters sold was freshly roasted peanuts. Craters had purchased a machine to roast the nuts but was unsatisfied with how it worked. In his frustration, he redesigned the machine to work better. During the redesign process, craters realized the machine could be used for more than just peanuts.

It could also pop popcorn. Seeing success from the machine, craters moved to get a vendor's license so he could sell the product in front of his shop. This led to the creation of the company, C, craters and company, which still operates today. The machine craters made automated the corn roasting process. Creators continued to work on improving this process, eventually creating a steam machine that allowed him to roast the popcorn in a mixture of butter, lard, and salt. This became the first machine to pop popcorn both uniformly and in seasoning. The success of the invention led Craters to apply for a patent, which he received in 1893. Craters later took his invention to Chicago for the 1893 World's Fair.

At the fair, he gave out samples of his warm buttered popcorn, and it became a massive hit. At the same fair, Frederick Rookheim introduced a new variation of popcorn. This popcorn was covered in molasses and marketed as candied popcorn. This was the first instance of caramel corn. In 1896, the recipe was taken by Rookheim's brother Lewis and became known as Crackerjack. Craters continued expanding the field of popcorn into the 1900s. One of the best examples of this was when he introduced the special, which was a horse-drawn popcorn wagon. Its success led to more versions of the wagon being made.

Creators further expanded his popcorn empire with the creation of the first popcorn machine that operated with an electric motor. This method for popcorn took off because steam power was considered dangerous to use. This led to Crater's popcorn machine holding one of the oldest active underwriters' laboratories' numbers for electrical machinery. Fast forward to the end of the 1920s and the world entered the Great Depression. This period was disastrous for many businesses. but the popcorn industry thrived. Popcorn was sold between 5 and 10 cents a bag, making it an affordable option during the Great Depression. Because of this, farmers and entrepreneurs were able to stay afloat by selling popcorn. The popcorn industry continued to grow during

World War II. Like many other industries, the candy industry diminished due to sugar rationing, and popcorn was used as a substitute. As a result, during World War II, popcorn consumption tripled. If you remember back to my episode on the microwave, after engineer Percy Spencer discovered that microwaves could heat objects, the first food he purposely cooked with microwaves was popcorn. Popcorn is most associated with the movie industry, but it wasn't always that way. In fact, popcorn was initially banned for movie theaters. A large reason for this was the mess that popcorn created. Movie theaters were originally marketed as classy with lush carpets aimed at wealthy clientele. They were fearful that the noisy popping and eating, as well as the aroma, would distract from the film. As the movie industry developed, films began incorporating sound. Simultaneously, the film industry became more accessible because people didn't need to know how to read to enjoy a movie.

With this attendance at movie theater skyrocketed, prompting theaters to look for other ways to maximize profit. Snacks were starting to be viewed as an option as the noise of the film would muffle the sounds of eating. As previously mentioned, the Great Depression was a phenomenal. nominal time for the popcorn industry and also presented a good opportunity for the movie industry. As the movies were cheap and distracting from the current state of the world, people would simply go to theaters. Yet, popcorn still wasn't available for purchase inside most theaters. Smart entrepreneurs saw this weakness and began investing in popcorn machines to sell popcorn just outside of movie theaters, ensuring that those who wanted popcorn during the movie would

have some. As more and more people began to enter movie theaters with bags of popcorn in hand, owners began to change their opinion on their own concessions, seeing the financial opportunity. However, there was still an issue. Many of the early theaters simply weren't built to have a popcorn machine because they had improper ventilation. To get her on that, theater owners began to lease out their lobbies to popcorn vendors. This allowed vendors to sell popcorn either inside the lobby or on the street in front of the theater for a small daily fee. However, a movie theater is new that cutting out the middleman and simply selling the product themselves would be way more profitable.

As the Great Depression continued into the mid-1930s, many movie theaters began to go at a business, usually the ones that weren't selling popcorn. World War II also played a part in cementing the connection between popcorn and movie theaters. As previously mentioned, popcorn wasn't rationed like sugar, meaning that popcorn sales and theaters continued to climb. By 1945, the marriage between popcorn and movie theaters was solidified. Over half of all popcorn consumed in the United States was done so in a movie theater. Advertisements for concessions promoting popcorn sales were shown before and after the movie,

demonstrating the industry's embrace of the snack. Today, concessions are the most profitable part of the entire movie theater industry, and the most profitable product is popcorn. In the 1960s, the popularity of television actually led to a decrease in sales of popcorn in movie theater tickets. At this point in time, popcorn really wasn't eaten inside the home that much because it was hard to make. To fill that void, Easy Pop was invented. Easy Pop was marketed as a popcorn maker for everyone. You put the popcorn kernels over something hot like your stove and bam, you have popcorn flavored and ready to be consumed.

Easy Pop, along with other brands like Jiffy Pop, helped popcorn become a popular snack inside the home as it was now easy to make. This was further aided when microwaves became a popular house. sold appliance, allowing popcorn to be made within mere minutes. Today, popcorn is approximately a $6.5 billion business globally and is estimated to reach $10 billion by the year 2030. Overall, popcorn has cemented itself as an at-home snack and part of the theater experience. Throughout the world, you can find popcorn for sale at stores and in theaters for immediate consumption or to make at home. So the next time you sit down to enjoy some popcorn, take a moment to reflect on how you are eating something that was first created over 5,000 years ago.

The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Olivia Ash. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. This is where everything happens that's outside of the show. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you two can have it read on the show.