Biblical accounts of “corn” stored in the pyramids of Egypt are misunderstood. The “corn” from the bible was probably barley. The mistake comes from a changed use of the word “corn” was wheat and in Scotland and Ireland the word referred to oats. Since maize was the common American “corn”, it took that name—and keeps it today.
It is believed the first use of wild and early cultivated corn was popping. The oldest ears of popcorn ever found were discovered in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico in 1948 and 1950. Ranging from smaller than a penny to about 2 inches, the oldest Bat Cave ears are about 4,000 years old. Popcorn was integral to early 16th century Aztec Indian ceremonies. Bernardino de Sahagun writes: “And also a number of young women dance, having so vowed, a popcorn dance .As thick as tassels of maize were their popcorn garlands. And these they placed upon ( the girls ) heads”. In 1519, Cortes got his first sight of popcorn when he invaded Mexico and came into with the Aztecs. Popcorn was an important food for the Aztec Indians, who also used popcorn as decoration for ceremonial headdresses, necklaces and ornaments on statues of their gods, including Tlaloc, the god of rain and fertility.
An early Spanish account of a ceremony honoring the Aztec gods who watched over fishermen reads: “They scattered before him parched corn, called momochitl, a kind of corn which burst when parched and discloses its contents and makes its look like a very white flower; they said these were hailstones given to god of water.”
Writing of Peruvian Indians in 1650, the Spaniard Cabo says. “They toast a certain kind of corn until it bursts. They call it pisancalla, and they use it as a confection.”
The use of the moldboard plow became commonplace in the mid-1800 and led to the widespread planting of maize in the United States.
Popcorn is a type of maize which, unlike other types of popcorn, pops when heated in oil or dry. It was first found and used to pop in their microwaves is the species Zea mays L subsep mays. Popcorn was introduced to the west by Christopher Columbus in the late 15th century. As with other doesn’t let moisture escape as fast as other corn when heated.
As the kernel is heated to the boiling point water inside the kernel starts to turn into steam, causing pressure inside the kernel to about 9 times the pressure inside of air. Inside other types of corn – as well is damaged popcorn kernels- the steam escapes the kernels as fast as it is formed. The difference with popcorn is that the outer hull is strong enough to hold the steam in, until it ruptures in a small explosions and turns it inside out, to become the white fluffy stuff, better known as popcorn.
There are two explanations to why some kernels do not pop. One is that the popcorn kernel just doesn’t have enough moisture to turn to steam. The other explanation is the other hull is leaky, and causes the steam to escape before it can become super pressurized and explode to other hull. This could be caused by mishandling of the kernels at the factory, or maltreatment of the kernels at the best the best at the factory and during shipping and uses only the best corn?
I’ve found websites that host information on experiments done by people doing the same thing I am. On one website http://www.mercer.edu/camos/message/summer2001/ summer2001- popcorn.htm they concluded that ActII was the best popping popcorn. This website, though, didn’t tell how long they cooked each popcorn brand, and they popped each kernel individually. Another website http://www.k12.nf.ca/greenwood/virsci/Intermediate/popcorn/popcorn.htm said that the best popping popcorn was Orville Redenbacher. But, their expirement lso took into account price and taste. My experiment is only focusing on kernels.