The LuLac Edtion #5, 652, May 10th, , 2026

 

POPCORN. THE LEGENDSARY

GUILT FREE SNACK

 

Popcorn like most snacks in the United States is a billion dollars industry. I’m not sure there is anyone who doesn’t like popcorn in its many facets. To me the best popcorn is in a theater followed by fresh or of a bag. Microwave popcorn is very good too.  In terms of any lack of growth in the popcorn industry………think again.

US Popcorn Market size was valued at USD 4.74 Billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 7.81 Billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2026 to 2032.

The US Popcorn Market refers to the business sector that produces, distributes, and sells popcorn products in a variety of forms, including kernels, ready to eat popcorn, and flavored variants. Popcorn is a popular snack item enjoyed by a wide spectrum of customers. It is made mostly from maize kernels, which swell when heated. It comes in a variety of formats, including air popped, microwave, and pre popped popcorn, and is usually available in a variety of flavors to suit different consumer tastes. Popcorn's principal applications cover both the domestic and business sectors. It is commonly consumed in families as a fast and healthful snack, especially by those looking for low calorie options.

Commercial uses include the snack food business, where flavored and gourmet popcorn variations are becoming popular. Popcorn is also a common sight in movie theaters, entertainment venues, and concession stalls, which contributes to its popularity. Furthermore, popcorn is used in packaged snack products that are frequently advertised as part of healthy eating habits, particularly as low calorie and organic varieties become more popular. In the US, The demand for unusual, flavorful, and premium popcorn is predicted to increase, particularly in gourmet versions that cater to more refined palates. Furthermore, as consumers prefer healthier snack options, air popped, low sodium, and organic popcorn are expected to remain popular. The market may also witness innovation in packaging and distribution techniques, reacting to customer desires for convenience and sustainable product alternatives, influencing the growth of the popcorn sector in the years ahead.

Corn was domesticated about 9,000 years ago, in what is now the Balsas River Valley of Central Mexico. Archaeologists discovered that people have known about popcorn for millennia. Fossil evidence from Peru suggests that corn was present there as early as 4,700 BCE, and popped there over 1,000 years ago. Between 2007 and 2011, evidence as early as 4,700 BCE for popping corn was discovered as macrofossil cobs at the Paredones and Huaca Prieta archaeological sites on the northern coast of Peru. Corn cultivation was present in Amazon basin farming practices as evidenced by cultivation of corn in the Amazon basin 6,000 years ago

In 1948 and 1950, evidence as early as 3600 BCE for popping corn as ears of popcorn were discovered by Harvard anthropology graduate student Herbert W. Dick[18] and Harvard botany graduate student Claude Earle Smith, Junior (1922–1987), in a complex of rock shelters, dubbed the "Bat Cave", in Catron County,west-central New Mexico, and attributed to the Ancestral Puebloan peoples, who maintained trade networks with peoples in tropical Mexico. Excessive citations.

Through the 19th century, popping of the kernels was achieved by hand, on stove tops over flame. Kernels were sold on the East Coast of the United States under names such as Pearls or Nonpareil. The term popped corn first appeared in John Russell Bartlett's 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms. Popcorn is an ingredient in Cracker Jack and, in the early years of the product, it was popped by hand.

An early popcorn machine in a street cart, invented in the 1880s by Charles Cretors in Chicago.

Popcorn's accessibility increased rapidly in the 1890s with Charles Cretors' invention of the popcorn maker. Cretors, a Chicago candy store owner, had created a number of steam-powered machines for roasting nuts and applied the technology to the corn kernels.

By the turn of the century, Cretors had created and deployed street carts equipped with steam-powered popcorn makers.

During the Great Depression, popcorn was fairly inexpensive at 5–10 cents a bag and became popular. Thus, while other businesses failed, the popcorn business thrived and became a source of income for many struggling farmers and entrepreneurs, including the Redenbacher family, namesake of the Orville Redenbacher's popcorn brand. During World War II, sugar rations diminished candy production, and Americans compensated by eating three times as much popcorn as they had before.  The snack was popular at theaters, much to the initial displeasure of many of the theater owners, who thought it distracted from the films. Their minds eventually changed, however, and in 1938 a Midwestern theater owner named Glen W. Dickinson Sr. installed popcorn machines in the lobbies of his Dickinson theaters. Popcorn was more profitable than theater tickets, and at the suggestion of his production consultant, R. Ray Aden, Dickinson purchased popcorn farms and was able to keep ticket prices down. The venture was a success, and popcorn soon spread.[29] The rise of television in the 1940s brought lower popcorn consumption as theater attendance fell. The Popcorn Institute, a trade association of popcorn processors, promoted popcorn consumption at home, bringing it back to previous levels.

An ear of popcorn grown in an Oklahoma organic garden

In 1970, Orville Redenbacher's namesake brand of popcorn was launched. In 1981, General Mills received the first patent for a microwave oven popcorn bag; popcorn consumption saw an increase. (wikipedia, LuLac) 

  

SCIENTISTS CREATE WORLD’S FIRST TOMATOES THAT SMELL LIKE ‘BUTTERED POPCORN’

SCIENTISTS GENERATE WORLD’S FIRST ’EXTRAORDINARY AROMATIC TOMATO PLANTS’ BY SIMULTANEOUSLY ALTERING TWO KEY GENES

 

Chinese scientists have developed a new tomato variety with "popcorn-like" aroma using gene editing technology, an advance aimed at tackling the problem of fading flavour in the fruit during transport and storage.

Tomatoes are one of the most widely cultivated and consumed grocery products globally, highly valued for their vibrant colour, culinary versatility, and nutritional benefits.

In particular, the fragrance of tomatoes significantly enhances the sensory appeal of food, influencing their consumption and market price.

However, tomatoes start losing their aroma due to metabolic changes which begin right after the fruit is removed from the vine, leading them to further lose their flavour during transportation and storage.

Now, scientists have generated the world’s first “extraordinary aromatic tomato plants” by simultaneously altering two key genes in tomato varieties using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology.

Researchers disrupted a gene called betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (BADH2) in a variety of tomatoes. They found that blocking the gene led to an accumulation of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP), the organic compound responsible for the delightful "popcorn-like" aroma.

Scientists then screened tomatoes for forms of the BADH2 gene and found two variants, SlBADH1 and SlBADH2, and blocked their function. These mutant lines, they found, exhibited significantly greater 2‐AP content.

“The CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated genome editing technology was used to knock out individual or both SlBADH1 and SlBADH2 genes in the variety AC (Alisa Craig),” explained Shengchun Xu, an author of the study published in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture. (Science Digest)