Pop Goes The Corn!

Are you a popcorn consumer?  Papaw Winkle has been on a popcorn eating binge lately.  Smartfood cheddar in the bag, Cousin Willey's Vermont Cheddar and Jolly Time Blast O'Butter are favorites.

"Reaching into a seemingly bottomless bucket of popcorn, eyes glued to the movie screen, hoping the guy gets the girl in the end, you hardly stop to think about the the buttery morsels you are furiously munching. Press play for these interesting facts about popcorn.

• Researchers found 1,000-year-old corn kernels in Peruvian tombs that were so well preserved they still popped.
• Popcorn was introduced to European settlers in the 1600s by the Iroquois Indians who used heated sand in a pottery vessel to pop their corn.
• Popcorn was enjoyed by colonists who sometimes ate it with sugar and cream for breakfast.
• Popcorn was first served at fairs, parks and other events in the 1890s.
• Nebraska is responsible for over one-fourth of national production, with Indiana coming in at a close second. Illinois, Ohio and Missouri are also major popcorn-producing states.
• Popcorn is harvested by machine after the corn has cured on the stalk for as long as possible.
• The corn is dried until it reaches a moisture level of 13.5 percent to 14 percent, after which it is removed from the cob, polished and packaged.
• Native Americans believed that spirits living in the kernels would become angry when their houses were heated, and eventually erupted angrily out of their home. In reality, water inside the kernel expands when heated and builds pressure, which causes the kernel to explode.
• One cup of air-popped popcorn has only 31 calories, while oil-popped popcorn only has 55 calories.
• Popcorn is whole grain, which provides complex carbohydrates and fiber.

Some of my friends raised popcorn in Darke County Ohio but I think most of that production is in Indiana these days.  I have raised some in the garden but never field production here.  I think my popcorn budget is lower than if I tried to produce my own, though lately my expenditures would plant quite a patch!

Farmers will make a controversial post on Ag Talk and make a comment like "I think I will grab some popcorn and sit back and watch what happens!"

Ed Winkle