National Popcorn Day – January 19

Every day is national (insert word here) day. This series looks at holidays and how to make them a healthy celebration!

Today is National Popcorn Day. Popcorn is not the same as the type of corn you eat with dinner. Some strains of corn are cultivated specifically as popping corns. The Zea mays everta is the most common. This corn variety has small ears and the kernels burst when exposed to dry heat.

NUTRITION

As you may know, popcorn by itself is extremely low in calories. Air-popped popcorn only has 31 calories per cup, while oil-popped popcorn has only 55 calories per cup.

Of course, it’s what we put on popcorn that makes it become not a great snack choice. Movie theatre popcorn (Regal’s medium size) has 1,200 calories and, thanks to being popped in coconut oil, 60 grams of saturated fat.

That’s almost one whole day of calories for some of you! Plus the recommended guideline for saturated fat is about 22 grams or less per day (for a person on a 2000 calorie per day diet).

HISTORY OF POPCORN

Archaeologists discovered that people have known about popcorn for thousands of years. Corn was domesticated about 10,000 years ago, in what is now Mexico. Fossil evidence from Peru suggests that corn was popped as early as 4,700 BC.

In 1948, small heads of Zea mays everta were discovered by Herbert Dick and Earle Smith in a bat cave of west central New Mexico. 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.

Aztecs used popcorn to decorate their clothes, create ceremonial embellishments, and also for nourishment.

Native Americans have also been found to consume and use popcorn. In a cave in Utah, thought to be inhabited by Pueblo Native Americans, popcorn has been found that dates back to over 1,000 years ago. French explorers who traveled to the new world discovered popcorn being made by the Iroquois Natives in the Great Lakes region. As Americans moved around North America, many adopted popcorn as a popular and healthy snack.

RECIPE: CINNAMON APPLE POPCORN

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 cups popped popcorn, plain
  • 2 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar (or to taste)
  • 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 2.5 ounces dried apple chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place the popped popcorn into a large bowl. Pour in the apple chips.

2. Melt the butter in the microwave in a smaller bowl. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pour the butter mixture over the popcorn and apple chips and toss until well-coated.

This recipe was adapted from: https://www.aroundmyfamilytable.com/apple-cinnamon-popcorn/

Get more popcorn recipe ideas here: https://www.eatthis.com/popcorn-recipes/

HOW TO CELEBRATE

Make your own healthy popcorn snack! Post your popcorn creations using hashtags #NationalPopcornDay and #innerathleteus

Sources: Nationaldaycalendar, aroundmyfamilytable, eatthisnotthat, CSPI