Popcorn

Popcorn

Noel Laflin

2-22-23

I love popcorn; consequently, we are never out of it in this house

I also like the closing piece of history quoted here as it mentions just how well corn stands up to time.

We, three friends and I, were rafting through Cataract Canyon many years ago, camped at a beautiful spot called Spanish Bottom, and took a laborious hike up to a bluff high above known as the Dollhouse, a vast plateau laced with ancient burial caves and one particular secluded cliff dwelling which provided a magnificent view of both the muddy Colorado River and Canyonlands stretched out far below.

Our small party of four had lunch within the shade of this millennium-old structure, only to discover broken clay pots in the far back, some of which still contained small dried-out ears of corn. We were in a very old granary, apparently.

The ancients of this area left mysteriously some 500 years ago. Most speculate that it was due to a massive long lasting drought which parched the southwest for years.

Regardless of the reason for the mass exodus, some food staples were left behind.

I do not know if the remnants of corn we saw was of the popping kind, as we left it in place, but it was a find that I have never forgotten all these years later.

And on that note, I believe it's time for some popcorn, a beer, perhaps, and a little history about my favorite snack. Heck, sometimes it's just dinner.

"On this date in 1630, Quadequine, brother of Massasoit, leader of the Wampanoag tribe, introduced popcorn to the English colonists. He offered the treat as a token of goodwill during peace negotiations. The colonists called it popped corn, parching corn, or rice corn, and it was popped on top of heated stones or by placing the kernels, or cobs, into the hot embers of a fire. The discovery of popcorn was not new; people had been consuming it since 300 B.C. In 1948 and 1950 ears of popcorn believed to be 4,000 years old were discovered in the Bat Caves of west-central New Mexico. In 1650, the Spaniard Cobo said of the Peruvian Indians, “They toast a certain kind of corn until it bursts. They call it pisancalla, and they use it as a confection.” The popularity of popcorn has rarely waned, even during the Depression, when its relative inexpensive cost, at 5 or 10 cents a bag, made it one of the few luxuries even the down-and-out could afford. Americans consume more than 17.3 billion quarts of popcorn each year." The Writer's Almanac