Popcorn Trivia

• Most popcorn comes in two basic shapes when it's popped: Snowflake and Mushroom.  Snowflake is sold in movie theaters and ballparks because it looks bigger.  Mushroom is usually used in confection shops because it holds up well and doesn't crumble like Snowflake popcorn does.

• Charles Cretors, founder of C. Cretors and Company in Chicago, introduced the world's first mobile popcorn machine at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

• National Caramel Corn Day is April 7th. 

• Strangely, National Popcorn Day is in January, yet National Popcorn Month is October.  According to tradition, National Popcorn Day is celebrated on January 19th each year. There is some suggestion that Popcorn Day may have been, at one point, tied to the Superbowl.  Now, that makes sense! 

• Most of the world's popcorn is grown in these states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio.

• An ancient way to pop corn was to heat sand in a fire and stir kernels of popcorn in when the sand was fully heated.

• Because home storage and handling can affect the moisture content of popcorn -- and therefore the "popability" -- opened packages of raw kernels should be stored in airtight containers until used.  Avoid storing popcorn in the refrigerator.  Air inside a refrigerator contains very little moisture and can cause the popcorn to dry out.

• The first time popcorn was mentioned in a cookbook was in 1846.

• Some of the popcorn flavorings used during the mid 1800's: orange & lemon juice, peppermint, honey, vanilla, and molasses & sugar, which later became known as caramel corn!

• Native Americans would spread oil on an ear of popcorn and lay it near a fire, causing the kernels to pop while still attached to the ear.  It was eaten similar to corn-on-the-cob.

• Percentage of popped kernels that good popcorn should produce: at least 98%

• In the early 1890's, unpopped kernels were referred to as "spinsters" or "old maids".  Although unflattering, these terms are sometimes still used today.

• The world's largest popcorn ball, as measured by the Guiness Book of World Records, is 12 feet in diameter, containing 2,000 pounds of popcorn, 40,000 pounds of sugar, 280 gallons of corn syrup and 400 gallons of water.

• Since 1936, popcorn yield in the U.S. has almost doubled.

• In the early 1900's Sears Roebuck & Co. sold home corn poppers for 8 cents each and 25 lbs. of popping corn still on the cob for 5 cents.

• Popcorn balls were among the most popular confections in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

• How much popcorn expands over its original size: from 40 to 42 times; some hybrids expand over 45 times.

• Popcorn went into a slump during the early 1950's, when television became popular.  Attendance at movie theaters dropped and, with it, popcorn consumption.  When the public began eating popcorn at home, the new relationship between television and popcorn led to a resurge in popularity.

• Microwave popcorn - the very first use of microwave heating in the 1940's - has already accounted for over $240 million in annual U.S. popcorn sales.

• The folklore of some Native American tribes told of spirits who lived inside each kernel of popcorn.  The spirits were quiet and content to live on their own -- but grew angry if their houses were heated.  The hotter their homes became, the angrier they'd get -- shaking inside the kernels until the heat was too much.  Finally, they would burst out of their homes and into the air in a disgruntled puff of steam.

Take Our Popcorn Quiz!

Cotton Candy Facts

A little cotton candy history  It is unclear who was the first person to invent cotton candy.  Four people, Thomas Patton, Josef Delarose Lascaux, John C. Wharton, and William Morrison, have all been named as the inventers of the candy.

Wharton and Morrison received a patent for the cotton candy machine in 1899.  They created the first electric cotton candy machine to melt and spin sugar through tiny holes using centrifugal force.  After the two candy makers from Tennessee received their patent, they took the invention to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.

Around the same time, a Louisiana dentist, Lascaux, introduced cotton candy at his dental practice, although he never received a patent.

Even though the beginnings of cotton candy can be debated, it has become one of America's favorite old fashioned treats.

How cotton candy is made  First, sugar is melted into a liquid state in a specially designed cotton candy machine.  The machine spins the extremely hot liquid at a very high speed and forces it out through tiny holes.  As it exits these holes and cools, the sugar looks like tiny threads.  Thousands and thousands of these sugar threads are collected and served on a stick or placed in bag or air-tight tub.

Did you know?  Cotton Candy was originally called Fairy Floss.  In 1920 it was re-named Cotton Candy, also known as Candy Floss.

Bet you didn't know!  America celebrates National Cotton Candy Day on December 7th.