January 19th: National Popcorn Day in the United States

National Popcorn Day celebrates one of the quick, easy and popular snack of the United States: Popcorn!

Popcorn and Movies are a perfect combination for movie night. I mean is a movie even fun without popcorn. Did you know that Americans eat about 16 billion quarts of popcorn every year? This makes it almost 51 quarts per person per year, proving to be one of the most loved snacks in the country. Popcorn is also part of so many traditions like popcorn balls for Halloween, popcorn strings for Christmas, and many more. To celebrate this delicious snack, January 19th is observed as National Popcorn Day in the United States every year.

History and Significance

In the mid-1800s popcorn started becoming famous in the United States. A candy store owner, Charles Cretors, developed a machine to pop the corn kernels with steam. Soon after this invention, by 1900, he had horse-drawn popcorn wagons going through the streets of Chicago. 

A fun fact about popcorn is that not every corn that we eat can pop. Only one variety of corn can pop and that is Zea mays everta. Only this variety of corn can be turned into popcorn. Popcorn has been around for ages and is one of the oldest snacks in the country. 

Celebrations

Celebrating National Popcorn Day is very easy and fun. All you need to do is pop a bag of popcorn, switch on your favourite movie and relax at home. You can also go out and eat popcorn at your favourite joint. If you want to have some fun, then you can also experiment with some new popcorn recipes at home today.