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Looking for an easy, fun kids project for the Thanksgiving holiday? Make a basic popcorn ball recipe and shape into drumsticks rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon, or add raisins to make festive flint corn.
Plus, since it’s National Peanut Butter Month, a PB Popcorn Balls recipe, below. They’re flavored with both PB and peanut M&Ms. Resistance is futile!
Add a variety of colors and textures to appeal to your crowd including a seasoned bowl of Super Spicy Popcorn.
> The history of popcorn.
> The history of popcorn balls is below.
> The history of Thanksgiving.
> See more Fall and Thanksgiving popcorn recipes below.
> Year-round popcorn recipes.
> Peanut butter popcorn balls for National Peanut Butter Month, below.
> How to turn any popcorn recipe into popcorn balls, below.
> Popcorn trivia.
SEASONALIZE YOUR POPCORN FOR AUTUMN & THANKSGIVING
Go for warm spices and rich fall flavors: Cinnamon Spice Berry Popcorn, Cranberry & Chocolate Spiced Popcorn, Cranberry Orange Caramel Corn, Cranberry Relish Popcorn Balls, Maple Pumpkin Spice Popcorn, Pumpkin Spice Popcorn.
Add mix-ins:
Chocolate chips, any color or an assortment (you can find them in many colors online)
Dried fruit: apple chips, apricots, cranberries, dates, figs, raisins, golden raisins (sultanas)
Nuts/candied nuts & more: almonds pecans, walnuts
Candied: ginger, orange peel
RECIPE: PEANUT BUTTER POPCORN BALLS
In honor of National Peanut Butter Month, present peanut butter popcorn balls, flavored with both PB and peanut M&Ms. You can also leave them a loose bowl of PB popcorn as shown in photo #7.
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons peanut butter
8 cups popped popcorn
1 cup candy-coated peanut candy
1. LINE a baking sheet or work surface with waxed paper; set aside.
2. STIR in sugar, corn syrup, butter and peanut butter together in a large saucepan. Bring to a full boil over medium heat. Stir in the popcorn until well coated. Remove pan from heat and stir candy pieces gently into mixture.
3. ALLOW the mixture to cool just enough to permit handling. Using an ice cream scoop or buttered hands, shape the mixture into 2-inch balls and place on waxed paper to cool.
4. WRAP each ball in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container. For gifts, tie a paper ribbon around the neck of the wrap.
For parties, if you want to present a platter of popcorn balls, you can put them on a stick or tie unwrapped balls with a red licorice string.
FALL & THANKSGIVING POPCORN RECIPES
> Candy Corn Popcorn Balls.
> Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn With Cranberries & Toffee.
> Cinnamon Chocolate Popcorn.
> Cranberry & Chocolate Spiced Popcorn With Wine Pairings.
> Cranberry Orange Popcorn Balls.
> Fresh sage popcorn.
> Maple Pumpkin Spice Popcorn.
> Pumpkin Spice Popcorn.
RECIPE: HOW TO TURN ANY POPPED CORN INTO POPCORN BALLS
1. REMOVE all unpopped kernels from 8-10 cups of freshly popped corn. Keep the popcorn as warm as possible in a mixing bowl. Add any mix-ins (nuts, candies, herbs, etc.).
2. MAKE the binding syrup. Combine in a saucepan 1 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup light corn syrup, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and an optional 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or other flavoring.
3. COOK the syrup on the stove top to the soft-ball stage on a candy thermometer, 235°-240°F. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
4. REMOVE from the heat and allow the syrup to cool enough until you can touch it (hot syrup can burn you—use caution). Don’t let the syrup cool to room temperature: The balls won’t hold together if the syrup isn’t hot enough. the syrup wasn’t hot enough
5. POUR the syrup slowly over popcorn while stirring. Butter your hands (important!). Work quickly to form the warm popcorn mixture into baseball-sized balls while the popcorn is warm. Place the balls on wax paper to cool.
6. WRAP them individually in plastic wrap and store in airtight container. They are best eaten within 1-2 days but can be frozen for up to 6 weeks.
THE HISTORY OF POPCORN BALLS
Native Americans first learned how to popcorn and use them as flour to make other foods. Popcorn remnants found in Bat Cave, New Mexico date to around 3600 B.C.E. and ancient popping vessels have been discovered at various archaeological sites. Kernels at the Bat Cave could still be popped!
The Aztecs, had multiple uses for popcorn, which they called momochitl:
Religious and ceremonial offerings plus popcorn necklaces and headdresses
Adornment of statues
Popcorn garlands for young women
Food and tribute payment; street food
When the Spanish arrived with honey and molasses, they were mixed with popped corn (a proto popcorn ball?)
While different varieties of corn (which originated in Mexico) had traveled to the northeast of what is now the U.S., there is no indication that popcorn had made its way East at the time of the earliest Pilgrims.
But the first published recipe for popcorn balls appeared in the 1861 edition of Godey’s Lady’s Book. History tells us that recipes can be made for decades before the appearing in print.
Popcorn balls became very popular t gained massive popularity in the late Victorian era (roughly 1880 to 1901). During this time, popcorn balls were:
Commonly given out as Halloween and Christmas gifts and Halloween treats.
Particularly popular at autumn harvest festivals and county fairs.
The basic recipe involved shaping the ingredients into balls while still warm:
Freshly popped corn
Syrup made from molasses or sugar
Sometimes butter or other flavorings
During the Great Depression, popcorn balls became an inexpensive treat. Many families would make them for holidays when other candies were too costly.
While their popularity has declined since their heyday, popcorn balls remain a nostalgic treat, especially around Halloween and Christmas.
The practice of giving out homemade popcorn balls for Halloween was the norm for decades, until the practice of giving out homemade foods declined in the 1970s over safety concerns, kids were allowed to eat only factory-wrapped candy.
Today, if you can make savory popcorn balls with grated cheese, herbs, and spices (hot sauce or chili flakes for nacho and pizza flavors, culture-specific seasonings for Asian, Italian, or Mexican flavors). Or, add a sweetener for sweet flavors. Either way, popcorn is a satisfying whole grain snack.
But by colonial times, it had crossed the continent and was popped as a breakfast cereal as well as a snack.
Today, Americans consume around 13-14 billion quarts of popped popcorn annually. If you believe the numbers, this equals approximately 40 quarts per person per year.
About 70% of popcorn is eaten at home, abetted by the invention of microwave popcorn.
Microwave Popcorn
Microwaves as a cooking technique was an accidental discovery in 1945. While working with a magnetron (a radar component), Percy Spencer of Raytheon Corporation noticed that a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
He then experimented with popcorn, successfully popping kernels and realizing that the technology could cook food.
But this was wartime, and the first commercial development of the microwave oven didn’t happen until 1967, when the Radarange countertop microwave oven was introduced by the Raytheon subsidiary Amana (it’s now owned by Whirlpool Corporation). It cost $495, about $4,000 in today’s money.
The prices kept dropping through the 1970s, and by the mid-1980s basic models were available for under $100,
The Microwave Popcorn Bag
Although consumers learned to pop corn kernels in brown paper bags, General Mills developed the first patent for a microwave popcorn bag in 1981. But it needed work.
Succcess came via James Watkins, a food scientist, who that same year patented the first successful mass-market microwave popcorn bag.
He created a metalized film that could heat to proper popping temperature (around 450°F), expand and distribute the heat evenly, and neither caught fire nor released harmful chemicals
That year, Act I, manufactured by Golden Valley Microwave Foods, became the first successful microwave popcorn brand.
Orville Redenbacher, which became a market leader, launched in 1983 and is now the market leader with a 25% share. Act II, an improved version of Act I, replaced the original in 1984 and is in second place with 20% of sales. Pop Secret is the third largest brand, with 15%.
U.S. microwave popcorn sales are approximately $850-$900 million annually, abetted by the growth of streaming movies at home and interest in more healthful snacks.
Source: Claude.ai
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