National Popcorn Day falls annually on January 19, and while the origins of this bizarre holiday are unknown, don’t let that pop your corn!
Check out the poppin’ facts about popcorn below!
What Is Popcorn?
Popcorn is the only type of corn that will pop.
Popcorn has a scientific name, which is “Zea Mays Everta.”
It has been around for thousands of years, so even the cavemen could have eaten it while watching a film.
Popcorn At The Movies
Popcorn was introduced to cinemas and theaters in 1912, although the owners were not too keen on selling it because they thought it would be a distraction from the film.
Although later, they realized it wasn’t so bad.
This was done quite well at the start, but when popcorn was being sold outside of the cinemas/theaters, the owners were becoming very concerned that this would ruin it for their businesses when actually it made business better.
These days, popcorn alone reaches a greater profit than actually selling film tickets, especially in America.
Popcorn also makes people thirsty and more likely to buy extra drinks, which also earns them more money.
Popcorn Facts
Popcorn pops when it reaches a temperature of about 347°F (175°C).
Popcorn is high in fiber, and low in calories, fat, and sugar, although the toppings usually contain all the extra sugars, fats, and calories.
Popped popcorn comes in two shapes; these are mushroom and snowflake.
Cinemas and theaters prefer snowflake, mainly because it’s bigger, so they could put less in a box, and it will still look full.
Think about it… if they used mushroom-shaped popcorn, they would have to put more in, which would be less profitable.
Nebraska produces more popcorn than any other state in America; it produces roughly 250 million pounds each year, which is a quarter of all the popcorn made annually in the United States.
