Seventeen-billion quarts of popcorn are consumed in the United States every year, and popcorn is the official snack food of Illinois. Popcorn is mostly grown in Indiana and Nebraska and the quantity of popcorn grown in Texas is increasing. Native Americans originally discovered popcorn thousands of years ago in Mexico. Research has found that popcorn was popped in China during the Song Dynasty and in Sumatra and India over 1500 years ago. Not only has popcorn always been a popular food across civilizations and time, it was also used as ornaments on statues of Aztec gods such as decoration for ceremonial headdresses and necklaces. Charles Cretors of Chicago, Illinois, invented the first popcorn machine in 1885. This was the begging of street …show more content…
Steam is created when the water inside the kernel is heated. This builds pressure inside the pericarp. The pressure from the steam turns the soft starch in the endosperm into a gelatinous substance. The pericarp can only hold pressurized steam up to 9.2 atm (135 psi) rupturing when the pressure goes above that amount releasing the steam and starch. The solidified starch appears in the form of the white popcorn which is 40 to 50 times its original size (The Science of Popcorn, 2017).
Every kernel does not always pop when cooking popcorn. There is a scientific reason for this, i.e., moisture loss. Popcorn pops due to the phase change of water from a liquid to a gas. This is known as the kinetic molecular theory of gases (The Science of Popcorn, 2017). Popcorn kernels will not pop if the moisture inside of the kernel is lost. If the pericarp is damaged the water may escape it, thus no steam can be created, because the pressure cannot build up within the damaged pericarp. The popcorn kernel can be damaged during processing, it can get stale, or simply too old. Even cooking the kernel with the heat too high can damage the pericarp by scorching it (Why do some popcorn kernels not pop?,
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Others believe that the most expensive name brand for popcorn kernels must be purchased for the perfectly popped bowl of popcorn. Society today largely purchases popcorn at movie theaters or from grocery stores in the form of packaging prepared to be cooking in a microwave. Microwaves are very convenient to cook food by utilizing microwaves to heat the food. In fact an engineer named Percy Spencer accidentally discovered the use of microwaves for cooking food when the candy bar in his pocket melted while working with the technology. His first experiment was to try to cook popcorn with the microwaves. It did indeed work (Sobey,
In the first third of the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, he draws the reader in by bringing to light many interesting facts about corn that most individuals may not realize. He states that the majority of food that people consume contains corn. Although people of Mexican descent are usually referred to as the “corn people”, Americans have now surpassed them in the amount of corn consumed in their daily diet. Corn is consumed in a variety of forms and many of the animals that are eaten by Americans, such as the chicken, pig, turkey, and lamb are fed corn. When a person eats these animals, he or she is essentially increasing their corn intake, and in most cases without even realizing it. The corn crop has spread vastly and is massively produced because it is efficient. Unlike other crop plants, corn can survive in harsh weather conditions and it is light and easy to transport. Maize is also self-fertilized and pollinated by wind, and it has evolved over time and continues to evolve, into new forms and new uses.
Later, General Foods rejuvenated its carbonated-candy technology and created carbonated bubble gum. This product also provided the crackling sensation of the original Pop Rocks and Space Dust.
In conclusion, corn has come a long way since its first domestication. It began as a prized possession to the Natives as they worshipped corn goddesses and had steady rituals allowing them to receive the corn and give thanks for the corn. The views for the United States seem to be produce as much as possible – and profit from it. China and Hungary aim to produce corn as well but limit themselves to unmodified corn. Although all the groups previously mentioned have/had their own way of viewing corn, one thing is for certain: corn is a popular plant and is presently essential to our lives.
In the book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes about the fast food industry. Schlosser tells the story of J.R. Simplot, the man behind McDonald’s source for potatoes. He started his own business right out of the eighth grade, after dropping out. He started out small but eventually became one of the riches men in America. He owned then 160 acres of land to start off this business. He sold his potatoes to companies at first all natural. But he soon discovered that if you dry out the food it will keep for longer, more companies then bought from him. Then in the 1950's he found out about freezing them, and the method of frozen food. McDonald’s started buying and selling Simplot fries. The customers seemed to like it, they didn't mind the change or even realize it. As a result though from freezing the potatoes, they lost a lot of the natural flavors. Companies began cooking their food in a high percentage of animal fat to capture that flavor, but soon they switched. They traded beef fat for more chemicals. The fries flavor all depends on the chemicals, it is all fake, and there is even more saturated fat from their fries than in their burgers.
Food is an important factor in the everyday human life. Humans need food to be able to live. But how did the food people eat today come about, no one really knows the in depth explanation. What about more common foods that are a part of everyone’s everyday lives, like potato chips. They are a simple, easy snack food that is commonly in every American household. But does anyone know how they came about, who invented them. Well, let me explain a little about who that person was.
Corn is a high commodity in the U.S; our ham, eggs and pancakes for breakfast, California BLT at lunch, or double cheese hamburger for dinner were all produced with U.S. Cor...
Spanish culture adopts food and table service styles that are used across the globe though there could be variations that are unique to Spanish culture. Spaniards maintain a notable consistency in menu, décor, uniforms, cuisines, table setting and ambiance (Eichler, 2013).
Schlosser sets off chapter 5: “Why the Fries Taste Good,” in Aberdeen, Idaho at the J. R. Simplot Plant where he introduces John Richard Simplot, “America’s great potato baron,” (Schlosser 111). Simplot dropped out of school at 15, left home, and found work on a potato farm in Declo, Idaho making 30 cents an hour. Simplot bought and turned profit on some interest-bearing scrip from some school teachers and used the money to at 600 hogs at $1 a head. He feed the hogs horse meat from wild horses he shot himself, later selling them for $12.50 a head. At age 16 Simplot leased 160 acres to begin growing Russet Burbank Potatoes. In the 1920s the potato industry was just picking up as Idaho was discovered to have the ideal soil and conditions for successfully growing potatoes (Schlosser 112). Soon Simplot was the “largest shipper of potatoes in the West, operating 33 warehouses in Oregon and Idaho,” (Schlosser 113). During World War II Simplot sold dehydrated potatoes and onions to the U.S. Army. By the time he was 36 he “was growing his own potatoes, fe...
After viewing this documentary to the best of my ability I have learned numerous facts about corn and its pros/cons. Corn is stored in a silo and when an overflow occurs mountains of corn are made outside of the silos. This corn grown in the Midwest is in almost all of the food in every supermarket ranging from steak sauce to syrup to lasagna. Majority of its use is as a sweetener in the form of corn syrup or high
When I visit Pennsylvania or other states around New York, one of the things I see outside restaurants is corn, in this case, dry corn. When I eat around urban areas at small, typical, American restaurants, one of the only vegetables that are being served in the restaurants in great amounts is corn. In other words, corn is like the United States national vegetable. What is interesting is that many nations in the world can be recognized by a vegetable, a fruit or a product...
Throughout the United States, concern of rising health issues is a popular topic. Over a progression of many years, American fast food chains and junk food companies have risen as a common means for food replacing homemade family meals. This quick and easy habit of buying cheaply made and sold foods that lack real nutritional value has been reason for increasing health issues. This habit is seen in children just the same as adults. Children eat the quickest meal with the most sugar and fat (among other unhealthy ingredients). This habit needs to be broken to take better care of the children today. Children are eating snack cakes and other junk foods at school instead of the breakfast/lunch that is offered causing bad habits and a poor diet. The children of America are suffering from the effects of malnutrition and yet, society does not help them to better understand or give higher grade options for them to choose from. Therefore, junk food should not be allowed in schools as it imposes health risks on children, lacks requirements for the nutrition contained in them, and without offering them, children would learn many morals/lessons.
A surprising fact is that most of the corn we produce in the United States is not actually eaten. In 2008 the United States produced a total of 12.1 million bushels of maize. Of that 5.2 million was used as livestock feed, 3.6 million for ethanol production, 1.8 million for exporting, .9 million for production of starch, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, and oils, and finally .3 million for human consumption in grits, flour, alcohol, etc.
emphasizes that it is very important to a have food label for every food in variety packs. To support his claim he provided the example of his niece who has diabetes and was eating butter popcorn from a popcorn variety tin: the girl did not notice diffe...
"How Potato Chips are Made." State of Michigan. Michigan Department of Agriculture, 10 May 2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2010. .
MICROWAVE: Microwaves are used to heat up food in a microwave oven. It is also used by astronomers to study the structures of nearby galaxies.