New York, July 7: (Conversation) One might wonder how people first discovered what foods they like today. The cassava plant is poisonous if not carefully processed in several stages. Yogurt is basically old milk that has been around for a while and is contaminated with bacteria. And who would have thought that popcorn could be such a tasty and delicious treat?
These food mysteries are very difficult to solve. Archaeology relies on hard remains to understand what happened in the past, especially for people who did not use any form of writing. Unfortunately, most objects traditionally made by humans from wood, animal materials, or fabrics rot very quickly and archaeologists like me will never find them.
We have a lot of evidence of hard things like pottery and stone tools, but softer things like food remains are much harder to find. Sometimes we get lucky if we can find softer material in very dry places that will hold up. Also, if the object is burned, it can last a long time. National Snack Day: From Samosa to Golgappa, 5 Popular Street Foods in India That Everyone Loves to Grab!
Ancestors of corn
Fortunately, corn, also known as choclo, has hard parts like the husk of the kernel. These are the little bits at the bottom of the popcorn bowl that stick to your teeth. And because corn has to be heated to eat it, it was sometimes burned, and archaeologists find evidence of this. What’s more interesting is that some plants, including corn, have tiny, rock-like fragments called phytoliths that can last for thousands of years.
Scientists are certain about the age of corn. We know that corn may have first been cultivated by Native Americans in what is now Mexico. Early farmers grew corn from a type of grass called teosinte. Before cultivation, people gathered wild teosinte and ate the seeds, which contained starch, a carbohydrate like bread or pasta. They gathered the teosinte with the largest seeds and eventually began weeding and planting it. Over time, the wild plant evolved into something resembling what we call corn today. You can tell corn from teosinte by its larger kernels.
There is evidence of maize cultivation in dry caves in Mexico as early as 9,000 years ago. From there, maize cultivation spread throughout North and South America.
Popcorn, preserves
It’s harder to pinpoint when people first started eating popcorn. There are several varieties of corn, most of which wilt when heated, but one variety, actually called “popcorn,” makes the best popcorn. Peruvian scientists discovered phytoliths and burnt kernels of this “poptable” type of corn as early as 6,700 years ago. ‘No wonder people don’t go to cinemas anymore’: Bill of Noida PVR Theatre goes viral after people say it costs as much as an annual subscription to Amazon Prime Video.
You can imagine that the fumigation of corn kernels was first discovered by chance. Some corn might have gotten caught in the kitchen fire, and whoever was nearby realized that this was a convenient new way to prepare food. Popcorn lasted a long time and was easy to make. The popcorn of yesteryear might not have resembled the snack you get at the movies today. There was probably no salt, and certainly no butter, because there were no dairy cows in America yet. It probably wasn’t hot and was pretty bland compared to the version you’re used to today.
It is not clear why or how popcorn was invented, but I assume it was a clever way to preserve the edible starch in corn by removing some of the water inside each kernel, making it more susceptible to spoilage. It is the heated water in the kernel that escapes as steam and pops the popcorn. The sprouted corn can then be stored for a long time. What we might today consider a tasty snack probably began as a useful way to store and preserve food. (conversation)
