Popcorn was discovered by Native Americans over five thousand years ago and predates corn eaten off the cob. Archaeologists have discovered 5600-year-old popcorn in New Mexico's Bat Cave and a thousand-year-old popped kernel in a dry cave in Utah. This unusual food fascinated the early explorers. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) brought a popcorn lei from the Caribbean Indians to the court of Ferdinand (1452-1516) and Isabella (1451-1504). Hernando Cortes (1485-1547) noted in 1510 that the Aztec Indians of Mexico used popcorn in religious rituals. The brother of Chief Massasoit (1580-1661) brought popcorn to the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621, and Pilgrim women began serving popcorn with warm cream for breakfast.

Methods of popping corn have varied over the centuries. Indians held ears of corn over fire, then tried removing the kernels from the ears when they popped. Later Indians covered the kernels with hot sand and dug them...