Some ancient Mesoamerican farmer must have had the hell surprised out of them the first time popcorn was made

3 months ago by Catoblepas to c/showerthoughts

All corn can’t become popcorn, the kernel’s skin in something like yellow corn is too thick. So after corn was domesticated another variety with thinner skin had to emerge before the first popcorn could be made.

Imagine just trying to roast the staple crop you’ve grown up eating and it suddenly explodes and turns into this feather light white fluffy thing. If I didn’t grow up knowing what popcorn was I don’t know what I’d think.

HoneyMustardGas 16 points 3 months ago

I'm glad to see a showerthought on here. It's been awhile. And yea, it must've been a eureka moment.

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BCsven 5 points 3 months ago

Lots of seed crops pop, so corn may not have been the first they saw...but you need dried hard grain, not fresh off the cob juicy stuff

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OwOarchist 4 points 3 months ago

And in particular, you need special breeds of corn bred for popping. Your average corn kernel will have a very anti-climactic pop if you try to make popcorn with it, even with perfect preparation.

So, this ancient Mesoamerican farmer likely wasn't that surprised the first time he saw corn pop. It was probably nowhere near as extreme as the popcorn we know today. At some point, though, people started selectively breeding strains of corn for more impressive popping ... but those people wouldn't be so surprised by it, either. That's exactly what they were trying to achieve.

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Onomatopoeia 3 points 3 months ago

I'm thinking it was a "hold my beer" or "let's get Mikey" moment.

"Bet you won't eat that!"

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mrsemi 2 points 3 months ago

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