Happy National Popcorn Day

Salted, buttered, caramelized, and drizzled. All of these options are great with popcorn and it’s especially important for today because it’s National Popcorn Day.

The popcorn that we pop and don’t find on the dinner table comes from this variety of corn: Sea mays everta. This is the type of corn that we use today to burst the kernels in extreme heat and make the savory snack.

In 1948, small heads of Zea mays everta were discovered by Herbert Dick and Earle Smith in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico, according to National Today. Ranging from smaller than a penny to about two inches, the oldest Bat Cave ears were about 4,000 years old. Several individually popped kernels were also discovered, which have since been carbon dated and shown to be approximately 5,600 years old. There’s also evidence of early use of popcorn in Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala, as well as other places in Central and South America.

Here are a few ways to observe this day:

• Have a movie marathon with popcorn as the main snack.
• Create your own popcorn jewelry and accessories.
• Share your favorite flavor of popcorn on social media with a #NationalPopcornDay

Whether you're at the movies or sitting at home, it’s good to have a little popcorn for a nice, healthy snack. Happy National Popcorn Day to all!

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