Popcorn: Who doesn't love it? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here, too. And this is Stuff You Should Know. That's right. Popcorn the snack dish. And uh I want to shout out listener Sean. O. Sullivan. He came up with this idea, sent it along, and I'm trying to get. better about crediting people when they. send great ideas that we use. Oh, that's.

that's a great New Year's resolution, Chuck. Yeah, which reminds me, I need to. do a pickup for Cliff's Notes because I. did not credit Mike D of Overland Park, Kansas. Or maybe that'll suffice. Yeah, it might. We'll have to ask Mike. D. Okay. And he'll, you know what he'll. say? He'll say the Mike stands for money. and the D is for diamond. That's right. Was that exactly what you were going to. say? No, but that's that was better. So, okay. Um, so yeah, we're talking popcorn.

today. And Chuck, there is a lot a lot. to talk about with popcorn. Um, who. helped us with this? Was it Anna? This. was uh Anna Green. Very nice. So, um, if. you don't know what popcorn is, we'll. wait a second. You go ahead and Google. popcorn and then come back. I'm pretty. sure most people know what popcorn is. because it's a global sensation. But I. have to say I'm quite proud that popcorn. is through and through American and not. just the United States version of.

American. Mexico, Central America, South. America, Canada. Yeah, we'll include. Canada. Sure. They love it. American in. that sense. That is popcorn through and. through. Even still today, most of the. popcorn in the world comes from the. Americas. That's right. Uh and we should. talk a little bit about corn because. popcorn is just a variety of corn. Uh. there are all kinds of varieties of corn. and popcorn is the verta uh variety. And. if you are corn you have three main.

things. You have a hole and may they. might call it a paracarp or maybe even. the bran. I like calling it the bran. The bran. And inside that hole you've. got the germ and the endosperm. Yeah. And popcorn's specific hull, that outer. shell that has that stuff inside of it. That is the main thing that makes it. popable corn. And that's what makes it. different than other kinds of corn. because popcorn has a a really hard hard. outer shell, much harder than other. varieties of corn. And inside that hole,

there's a much higher ratio of uh hard. starch to soft starch. Mhm. And all that. sounds well and good, but a little. tidbit I never ever knew until this. episode was like, what is making that. stuff pop? And it's very simple, right? It is. It's awesome. It's a little tiny. bit of water. Yeah. Apparently, anything. less than 13% water inside the um the. popcorn kernel is not good enough. But I. think you mean the hole. Yes, you're.

right. Sorry. Or the brand, as you like. to say. The brand. Yeah. Uh brand to me. is like mast. It's like one of those. homie words. I love it. Um, if so, the. sweet spot is between 13 and 20% water. content inside the brand. And when you. heat that, because the the brand is. non-porous, that that steam that gets. generated gets trapped inside. Well, as. we all know, when steam expands, it. really expands. And it expands so much. that it blows it blows the popcorn.

inside out. Yeah. And that what you're. eating, the the white uh styrofoamy. deliciousness that you're eating, that. is the starch. Uh while you're heating. that kernel up, I'm sorry, that hull. I. guess it's a kernel, too. Uh and that. water is is turning into steam and. expanding. The consistency of that. starch is changing, becoming more. pliable, uh aka edible. and you're in. eating that interior starch and you can.

still, you know, that that little thing. that gets stuck in your teeth, that's. the last bit of that hole that has. exploded. And like you said, anything. like when you get that unpopped stuff at. the bottom and you're like, "What was. your problem? Why didn't you do what you. were told?" They say, "I had less than. 13% more." Exactly. That's probably the. case. It also could be the case where. that hole um was was fractured or. something was wrong with that hole. Yeah. Something's wrong with it. It. ain't right. Yeah. And so you're like, "Okay, well, why doesn't rice pop, suckers? Why doesn't Why doesn't wheat.

pop, smart guys?" Well, it turns out. it's because they have porous holes. So. steam will come out of them. It won't. build up pressure inside like it does. popcorn. So popcorn is a very unique, darling, peculiar little thing that. everybody loves. Don't Don't even come. at us like you don't love popcorn. Everyone loves popcorn. Sorry. Agreed. And we're gonna get some some yum. yuckers that are going to say they hate. popcorn. I just don't get it. I don't. get it either. Uh there's a guy named.

Andrew Smith uh and he's um he's a. popcorn afficionado and and popped. culture. Pretty pretty great uh name for. something on the internet. Yep. He has. gone through and shared uh popcorn. varieties uh that were sold in the early. I guess 20th century between 1901 and. 1902. Mhm. He said some of these may be. different names, you know, like the same. thing that was named different by. whoever was growing it, but they had. some pretty fun names like Tom Thumb. popcorn or tattooed Yankee. Uh but.

popcorn wasn't sold um commercially at. scale like that. Maybe maybe a couple of. varieties were, but there it seemed to. be a lot more sort of local varieties. that people could grow and just sell. kind of locally. Uh but again, it's not. branded or anything at this point. You're just buying it by like the scoop. or the bag. Yeah, it was all popcorn. It. was just a generic term for popcorn. It. was all called popcorn. But I think in. the mid 19th century, later 19th. century, companies started to come along.

and basically branded their own version. And there was even a mascot in the 1870s. um called Colonel Pop. Love that one. I. couldn't find a picture of him, could. you? Uh no, but that's because I did not. look. Same here. And uh the there's actually a popcorn. company from not too far after Colonel. Pop was developed, 1914, called the. American Popcorn Company, and they're. the people who make Jolly Time popcorn. And if you've never made Jolly Time.

popcorn, you should just do it. Just go. buy one of those little foil things that. has all the stuff you need to pop the. corn in it. And as it pops, like the. foil expands and it's just such a great. little thing. Word of advice though, I. learned this the hard way. Don't do it. on a ceramic cook top. It's really, really bad for the ceramic cooktop. Oh, wait. I'm talking about Jiffy Pop. Jolly. time comes in the bags. Yeah. Yeah.

Still, you should try Jiffy Pop. Uh, I. guess I mean before we go further, I'm. curious of how you how do you pop your. popcorn? You know, I don't very much. We have. like a stir crazy. I don't remember who. makes it, but it's like the the the big. like black heavy bottom with like a. thing that spins around slowly on it so. that it stirs your your popcorn. apparently in a crazy way and then it. pop pops and a transparent well there's.

a hamster that runs the whole thing. I. guess technically it's mechanical. energy, but there's like a transparent. yellow bowl that keeps it from popping. out. And then you just turn it upside. down. Okay. Yeah. And then you have your. bowl of popcorn right there. So you got. the old school sort of uh mechanic. You. plug it in and it turns the little. stirring thing. Yeah. But weirdly, we. got it in the last few years. We tried. air popping for a while and that's just. like punishment. Garbage. Uh I use a. whirly pop. That is the stove top thing.

uh that you put, you know, on on your. stove. I have a gas stove, so it's. cooking with gas and you you hand crank. that thing and it stirs it around. You. need a hamster. I do. Uh those are like. 70 bucks. So, um you know, not cheap but not. expensive. There's also uh more. expensive brands like that that are like. a couple hundred bucks, like the. Popsmith. Uhhuh. Uh but the whole point. is you're cooking it on your stove top. and you're turning it yourself, right? Uh and that's how I like to do it. I use.

the um the o, you know, the that yellow. oil that's got the butter flavor in it. And um I just do a little bit of that. popcorn salt because I I love salt, but. um that stuff is super salty and goes a. long way. I saw Yeah, for sure. There's. a specific kind called flavorall, and. that's what the movie theaters use, and. it's designed to dissolve in oil and get. in every part of a popcorn, popcorn. Um, I can't remember. I saw the name for.

what? Oh, flake. That's what a pop pop. popcorn is called. Did you know that? Yeah. I did not know that. Well, at any. rate, um, it's meant to get in every. crevice and nook and cranny of a popped. flake. Um, and yeah, I would guess it. doesn't take very much of that stuff. Yeah. And and we don't popcorn a lot. Like, we should do it for every single. family movie night because there's. really no reason not to. But, uh, you. know, Ruby loves it, family loves it. Um, so I'm going to start popping more. popcorn, but let's go back. Wait, wait,

I'm not quite done. I should say more. like more often than not, it's microwave. popcorn that we make. Sorry, I'm judging you. Yeah, it's all. right. I can take it. I just don't like. it. What about smart food? I like that. stuff, too. Yeah, bagged popcorn. That's. a whole other game, but a huge industry. Yeah. Remember it used to be on our What. do they call it? Our rider. Yeah. like. you had to give us Smart Pop pop popcorn. backstage at our shows. Yeah, it's it's. a good snack. Low calorie, filling for.

sure, and cheesy, pleasing to the. tongue. Uh let's go back a little bit. though and talk about cultivation. because um if you look at uh you know, indigenous Americans before uh Europeans. came along and and wrecked everything. Uh they were farming popcorn in South. and Central America mainly. um in North. America where it was farmed, it was in. the southwest and uh of the United. States in Mexico or I guess most of that. was Mexico at the time. Uh but when. non-indigenous uh American, you know,

white Europeans came here, they started. farming popcorn in New England, that was. a surprise. Yeah. through most of the. 19th century that was sort of the the. center of popcorn uh I guess growing and. manufacturing uh until eventually it. moved to the Midwest and Chicago became. the hub of popcorn. Yes. Which explains. why Chicago is a caramel corn town. And. despite the fact that people in Chicago. won't admit it, Chicago is a caramel. corn town.

Uh but most of the popcorn these days in. that comes from the United States. Well, not most, but um 25% of the popcorn. popped in the US is grown in Nebraska. Uh should be no surprise. But also grown. in places like Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. Yeah. Apparently. also uh Brazil and Argentina grow a lot. of it, too. Yeah. Okay. So, Chuck, um, a.

big question is whether popcorn's. healthy, and the answer is a resounding. yes if you just air pop popcorn and only. eat popcorn undressed in anything and. not cooked in oil. That's right. But. what kind of cereal killer does that? Uh, yeah, it is. It's um it's low in. calorie. Like I said, it's a really good. source of fiber. Uh it's a 100% whole. grain and if you eat uh one serving is. three cups of popped corn. Um if you eat.

three cups of popcorn, that's about 15%. of your daily recommended fiber intake. So if you double that, you're getting. 30%. I saw So I was like, there's got to. be something wrong with popcorn. I. searched dark side of popcorn and the. best I could come up with is that it's. there's enough fiber in it that if you. have irritable bowel syndrome, you need. to be careful of your popcorn intake. That's the worst thing anyone has to say. about popcorn. Yeah. Uh you can also get. about three grams of protein per. serving, 18 grams of carbs, one gram of. fat. You can get vitamin B6, A, E, K,

rioplavin, thamine, niacine, folate. So, it's it's pretty good for you. Um the nutritional values are going to. shift some when you cook it in oil and. add toppings and butter flavored stuff, but it's not like it destroys the. nutritional value. That fiber is still. in there, right? Yeah, for sure. It just. makes it less healthy. You know, you got. all the problems that you have for. eating butter. And not just eating. butter, but liquid butter. Wow. Um, you.

want to talk about where popcorn came. from? Because I do. Yes. So, like I. said, popcorn is indigenous to the. Americas, and that's because corn is. indigenous to the Americas. Um, as far. as we can tell, especially if you read. 1492, uh, corn was domesticated from the wild. tea plant, um, as far back as 9,000. years ago. And the whole thing began in. Mexico and it was such a good idea that. it spread throughout Central and South. America, right? Yes. Popcorn itself is.

not that much younger. Um, maybe about. 2500 years or so. Yeah. I mean 6700. years ago there was popcorn. Uh we just. you know don't know exactly when people. started eating it, right? But we do have. archaeological evidence. I think um. people have found popcorn buried with. people in like South America and I think. there was one burial in Peru maybe where.

the the burial was a thousand years old. but the the popcorn was still viable. Like you could have popped it. Imagine. eating thousand-year-old funeral burial. popcorn. That would really be something. Yeah. It's probably in some fancy menu. somewhere in a fancy restaurant. Yeah. One of those underground restaurants for. Richies where they eat people. Yeah. Where they eat ancient foods and people. Yeah. Disguised as tasty. Uh there is written documentation. And I.

believe the first written documentation. of popcorn uh comes from when the. Europeans came over again uh to the. Americas. There was a missionary in the. 16th century named uh Bernardino de. Sahagun. He was not Italian. Really? No. And he claimed Aztecs were wearing. popcorn garlands. So it was already. being used as sort of a a decorative and. they called it Momo Cheetel. Okay. And. there was a 17th century uh missionary.

named uh I'm not even going to try. His. his last name was Coobo. I can say that. one. And he saw Peruvians toasting a. quote a certain kind of corn until it. burst. Clearly popcorn. Yeah. They. called it pins and colala. Cool. That's. all I got. Good stuff. Uh yeah. So yes, they were they were these guys were. witnessing popcorn. And you would think. like, oh, okay, well, it would. immediately become a big deal. everywhere. Uh, that's not necessarily. the case. Despite there being a a legend.

that popcorn was introduced to the. pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving, that. seems to have been a 19th century. invention, uh, which is actually about. the time that popcorn became a favored. American snack in the United States. Yeah, we should probably take a break. and, uh, come back and talk about what. happened from there. Huh. I think that's. a great idea, Chuck. All right, we'll be. right back. Want to learn about a terror. and call it pterodactyl. How to take a. perfect. fractal murders and a runain to your.

brain explo. [Music]. Word up Jerry. [Music]. So, Euroamericans knew of popcorn long. before they started eating it. It was. just associated with Native Americans. It was a Native American thing. They. love their popcorn. Um, but in the 19th.

century, as far back as the 1820s, um, people selling seeds started selling. popcorn seeds. Kind of slowly but surely. started to gain traction. Uh, Thorough. was a fan. He called popcorn a perfect. winter flower, which seems like a miss. to me. Um, and in 1848, popcorn showed. up in the debut edition of the. Dictionary of. Americanisms. And I was looking through. that, Chuck, and keep a stiff upper lip. was in there, too, which I associate.

100% with the UK, but apparently that's. American. Oh, I never really thought. about where that might have come from. I. always thought it was the UK, but I was. wrong. Well, as far as popcorn goes, they used to make it in all kinds of. crazy ways early on. And uh sometimes. they would just throw it in a fire and. wait for it to pop out, I guess, and eat. it with a little little ash on it. Gross. Uh sometimes they would put like. an iron um like a iron plank on a fire.

uh like you might do steamed oysters or. something if you're if you're sitting by. the beach these days, okay? And you got. some oysters and you throw a a wet towel. over those oysters uh with popcorn. You. could just throw those kernels on that. hot plate, stir them around just like it. was on your stove top and wait for it to. pop. What's the towel for? The towel is for the oysters to steam. them. Oh, so you cover the oysters with. the towel and it keeps the steam inside. Yeah. Yeah. With a wet towel. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. It creates that. steam. So, but that's oysters. It's. neither here nor there. Okay. So, uh a.

frying pan obviously um is one way you. could have popped it early on, but those. things were really really heavy to work. with. They still are very heavy to work. with as far as like holding one and. shaking it over a hot fire. Mhm. Uh, and. before they had gas stoves, you know, you got to nail the popcorn uh, heating. temperature or else you're going to. scorch it and it's not going to taste. great or it's never going to pop. So, until gas stoves came along, it was just. harder. Yeah. So, it wasn't quite as. popular, you know. Yeah. Although, you can. imagine there were some country women.

who had like a much bigger, stronger. right arm from popping popcorn in iron. skillet. Yeah. Dead giveaway that they. were a popcorn fan. Yeah. Uh finally in. 1866 the first patent was issued for a. popcorn popper and it was essentially. just like you know those oldtimey toast. makers. There's like a it's like a iron. rod and it ends in like a mesh basket. that you'd put the the bread in and. toast it. Yeah. Something like that. But. the mesh was thin enough that it the the.

popcorn brand wouldn't fall out when. you're popping it and it would just go. pop pop pop. My feet can't stop. They. still make those for camping. You know, you can still get those. Okay, that. makes sense. Well, that is the first uh. patented popcorn popper that came on the. market, and it was I mean, still hard to. do, but it was much lighter than holding. an iron skillet over the fire until your. popcorn popped. Yeah. At the very least, it's lighter and had a much longer. handle. Right. So, people were like, "Okay, I can kind of get into this." And.

that's when it just started to to take. off. Yeah. So, that was 1866, like you. said. So, in the 1870s, uh, if there was a public event, you. were going to be able to buy popcorn. there. Uh, anything that had a. concession stand was going to be selling. popcorn by that time. And in the 1890s, there was a guy named Charles uh, C R E. T O R S, Credors, I guess. Um, in 1893. he uh was a confectionary shop owner in. Ohio and he patented uh I guess the. first sort of mobile portable popcorn.

machine uh that he adapted from a peanut. roaster and of his own design and all of. a sudden you could have like a popcorn. stand on a sidewalk and that became like. a thing. People were buying popcorn cuz. it was always pretty cheap. Yeah, I. looked at a picture. This is glorious. It's got like the big old penny farthing. wheels on it. It's just I would love to. buy popcorn from it. You know why penny. farthing is called that? No. Cuz one. wheel was relatively the size of a penny. to the size of a farthing. Oh, wow.

That's neat. Is that kind of like that. thing where like uh if Earth was the. size of a um a pin head, the sun would. be the size of a basketball. Exactly. So, this is the 19th century. I think we. made it through, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, um, by the 20th century, um, well, no, we haven't quite made it out. of there because I think we would be. remiss to not mention Cracker Jacks. Yeah. I mean, people in the late 19th. century were into uh, popcorn balls and.

making popcorn sweet and delicious. So, it was a dirty lie when you said that we. made it out of the 19th century. So. dirty. I mean, this was 1896. We were so. close, but they were they were eating. sweet popcorn in the 1840s. I think. Cracker Jack came along in 96. Yes. Um, so another thing that people put popcorn. to use for, again, people are starting. to get pretty crazy with with this. Um, remember our live episode on the Kellogg. brothers at the Battle Creek Battle. Creek Sanitarium? um before they started.

serving cereal there, um John Harvey. Kellogg's wife, Ella Kellogg, um. introduced popcorn as a cereal, a. breakfast cereal with milk and a. sweetener. And it was essentially the. predecessor to the corn flakes and the. brand flakes and everything that came. after that. And in my opinion, it was. the direct indirect predecessor of Corn. Pops, which are still around today, but. they came out in 1950 and were one of my.

all-time favorite cereals. Oh, okay. I. was like, what is Corn Pops? Yeah. Yeah. Corn Pops. Uh, yeah. She called it. popcorn pudding. Mhm. And there's a. historian named Andrew Smith that was. basically like popcorn may have been. what cereal became if it hadn't have. been for other grain manufacturers. really getting super aggressive with the. breakfast cereal companies being like no. no no you want to use bran or oat or. whatever. Yeah, don't be stupid. Uh, another thing you could use it for back. then that I have recently used it for is.

for flour. Uh, you could grind popcorn. into flour. Uh, and I uh have had this. uh pancake uh popcorn pancake mix in my. house, which is pretty good and way. better for you than pancakes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's gluten-free, right? Yeah. Uh, and it is good. You're not just saying. that. Spent some money on it. By God, you're going to like it. I can't. remember the name of the company, unfortunately. But you could you can. find that out pretty easily. I saw a. recipe for popcorn bread, and I was. like, "Wow, that sounds interesting.". thing. And if you look closely, there's.

like five other types of of flour in it. It's just popcorn's just part of it. Yeah. I'd still eat it if somebody else. made it, you know? Yeah. So, we finally. made it to the 20th century. And the. reason the 20th century became such a. big deal uh as far as popcorn goes is. because that is when movies started to. come out. Uh, at first they were silent. movies and then talkies and movie. theaters started to open throughout the. United States and very quickly people. were like, "Popcorn and movies go. together really well." But it turns out.

the theater owners were the last ones to. um figure this out. Yeah. They were. like, "This stuff is a disaster of a. mess. It's all over the floor." And it. still is, but they deal with it because. they make a ton of money selling it. It. was the depression coming along uh where. theater owners were like, "Hey, wait a. minute. People don't have a lot of money. right now. Popcorn is very, very cheap. It's a very affordable snack." Uh so. they um people were selling popcorn. outside of theaters that people could.

bring in much like my mother did in the. 1980s in her purse. Yep. And uh they. finally were like, "Hey, maybe we could. lease lobby space these popcorn vendors. and just have them sell it in here." And. then someone was like, "Wait a minute. We're what are we doing? We're doing. this all wrong. We need to pop and sell. this popcorn because the markup is. incredible and we're just losing money.". So they started, you know, it became. handinhand with theaters making profits. from the concessions, largely popcorn.

Yes. Um I mean like a lot of money off. of popcorn. There's a a welltrodd story. about a theater owner from during the. depression named R.J. R.J. McKenna who. found that popcorn was basically keeping. his theater afloat during the. depression. Um, people didn't really. have much money for a movie theater. ticket, but if they did, they still had. money enough for popcorn because it was. a cheap snack. So R.J. McKenna made the. very wise business decision of lowering.

his ticket prices below what he would. have made a profit on because he made so. much money off of popcorn in the. concession stands. And I think they like. the number that's bandied about is. $200,000 from popcorn alone. Uh which is. more than $4.5 million today if that's. in 1936. from popcorn. Big big profits. Yeah, for. sure. And they said a bit of a tradition. as we'll find out that popcorn still big.

profits. Yeah, big time. Uh during World. War II, uh there were sugar shortages. So, uh, sweet treats were on the, uh, the Wayne, I guess, and salty treats. rose, and popcorn was right at the. center of that. Uh, apparently Americans. were eating three times more popcorn in. the 1940s than they ever had before. And, uh, also in the, you know, the. connection to movie theaters. strengthened during the 1940s. Uh, in. 1945, more than half the popcorn, uh, people were eating in the United States.

was in those movie theaters. Yeah. And. there's a uh another really great I want. to say it's an urban legend but it. actually happened um a guy named James. Vicari or Vicery who we've talked about. before because he was the basically the. inventor of subliminal advertising. um even though subliminal advertising. isn't really a thing but the reason he. ties into this is because he supposedly. experimented on people showing um frames. interlaced within movies that popped up.

so quickly that you couldn't perceive. them. You only perceived them. subliminally. And they said things like, "Go eat more popcorn." And popcorn sales. like tripled supposedly, even though the. whole thing was a total fraud. And the. guy made it up. It's still worth. mentioning if you ask me. Uh he didn't. actually even do that. He said later. that he he made all of that up. He never. even did the subliminal advertising. Yeah, I saw that, too. Yeah. So that. that was just a a fraud from top to. bottom. Uh prior to the 30s, most of the popcorn.

was white corn. Uh but movie theaters. moved to the yellow corn variety and it. just looked better. It looked buttery. even though it wasn't. And people that. just became the de facto popcorn uh that. you mainly eat here in the United States. is that yellow corn. I think by 1990 uh. 10% of commercially sold popcorn was. white corn. Let me ask you, do you get. buttered popcorn at the movies? I get popcorn and uh the AMC that I go.

to here has the the do your own butter. That's not butter, by the way. Uh at. all, no. Uh it's butter flavored oil and. and stuff. But um I add uh you know, when I was a kid, I would just drench it. in that stuff. Uh now I do not. Now I I. I do like that flavor, but I'll just do. a pretty sparing couple of squirts and. shakes. Yeah. I never was into it. Even. as a kid, I tried to be and I just. couldn't get into it for some reason. I. think cuz it just wets the popcorn and I.

don't like popcorn wet. I love it. But it's just you can't have. it drenched in that stuff. Uh like. that's when it's really bad for you is. when you're just like dumping all that. oil on there. Sure. But but a little bit. I I like and I'll shake it up and you. get you know you I get enough of that. flavor just from a dab. Good. I respect. our differences. Uh here's the thing though with TV uh. coming along uh the popcorn industry was. really really worried that like oh no. like you know all this popcorn is being.

eaten in movie theaters like we're toast. because people aren't going to go to the. movies anymore because of TV right a a. that didn't really happen people still. went to the movies back then uh but what. they found out was people loved popping. that popcorn at home while they watch TV. and you can also have popcorn ads on TV. and so people with their televisions. were eating more popcorn than ever in. the 1950s. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know. what stuck out to me from that that. anecdote, Chuck, is like that's a an.

example of early disruption, right? Where people are like, "Oh, there's a. change. There's a huge sea change in the. way people do things." So, this thing is. going to totally go away forever, right? And just since the internet age, we. found that just doesn't really happen. like everything from bookstores to paper. um to I don't know seeing people in. person were all just destined to just go. away because they'd been replaced and. it's just not how it goes which I think. is kind of neat to understand because it.

makes you a little less fearful of. change or technology or progress in some. ways. I agree. Although anyone who's. listened to the end of the world knows. there's plenty of technology to be. scared of. You just got to be selective. Yeah. And you know there are dents in. industries for sure like you know. newspapers and magazines a lot some have. shuttered but if you believed you know. what the the scare tactics everyone's. going to be like you're never going to. hold a newspaper again after a certain. year. Yeah. Newspapers though that one.

did take a pretty hard hit but it wasn't. necessarily because of the internet. It. was because of captains of industry. essentially realizing that they could. capture journalism if they if they. defunded local news and that's exactly. what happened. And I I don't remember. what episode it was on. There's this um. there's a YouTube podcast that I love. Yumi introduced it to me or me to it. One of the two called Doomcroll. It's. hosted by a guy named Joshua Cinderella.

and he has the most interesting guests. on who are just they just think and talk. about their thoughts and I mean like. it's it's all rooted in you know like. academia or research or something. They're not just riffing or anything. like that. But one of them was talking. about that that capture and what. happened to it. And it it's just so. strange to think like, yeah, local. newspapers went away, but the effect. that that had on democracy and on people. being informed and just generally caring.

about stuff, that was a huge, huge deal, allegedly. Did he eat popcorn while he. said this stuff? No, I don't think he. did. No, he drinks like Lacroy instead. No. All right. Well, let's take our. second break and we'll finish up with. popcorn right after this. Want to learn. about a terasaur and call a pterodactyl? How to take a perfect all about fractals. gone until the hunt. The Lizzy Border. Murders and the cannibal runs going to. explain everything to your brain. [Music].

Explod up Jerry. [Music]. All right. So, we talked a little bit. about innovations in how to pop popcorn. over the years. Uh, that is still. evolving. I feel like every few years. there's some new sort of weird gadget to. popcorn with. I did not know that, man. Yeah. Uh, electricity coming along uh. was a big deal obviously for electric.

popcorn poppers like you have. Uh, well, you and your electric hamster that is. Yeah. Uh, they uh had a drawback though. because they they were dangerous. The. early electric popcorn poppers were like. fires waiting to happen essentially. I. think in the late60s, Consumer Bulletin. examined all the most popular ones and. one of them they uh determined did not. pose safety hazards. Yeah, that's the. one we have. Yeah. From 1968. Although.

the hamster um that runs our popcorn. popper did come with a little fire. chief's hat that he wears. It's so cute. Um so yeah, that's that's another. interesting thing about popcorn. If you. if you kind of track its trajectory, it. just keeps evolving with new stuff. Like. anytime something new comes along that. you can apply to popcorn, whether it's. movies or TVs or electricity, people. apply it to popcorn. Like it's just this. little thing lurking in the background. that's been woven into our culture so. thoroughly and for so long, you just.

look right past it and then it trips you. as you walk by and you suddenly. recognize how important popcorn is. Yeah, TV time was another one. Uh, we. already mentioned Jippy Pop, but TV Time. was a it was just a a packaging. innovation where they had um like sealed. popcorn to keep it really fresh. Uh, and. then also separate kind of like Fun Dip, separate compartments for seasonings and. oil. So, it was kind of an all-in-one. thing. So, just even little innovations.

that aren't uh mechanical uh like. packaging innovations like microwave. popcorn I guess we could get to because. that really changed the game. Yeah. And. we've talked about this guy plenty of. times. He was kind of like um the. Haylick limit for a while on early stuff. you should know. He came up a lot. But a. guy named Percy Spencer worked for the. Rathon company and he was in charge of. creating magnetrons. I can't remember. what he was doing with them. I think. they're for like radar or something. Um. and he was standing next to one at some. point and he had a chocolate bar. I'm.

guessing Mr. Goodb Bar. That's what I've. always envisioned. Yeah. uh in his front. pocket like a total nerd because. obviously his um shirt was also a short. sleeve button-down shirt. Mhm. And the. the Mr. Goodbar melted in his pocket and. he thought, "hm, that's curious." And. he's like, "I was saving this for after. lunch." Exactly. No, it's just oozy. Uh. and then he decided almost immediately. to see what happens with popcorn if you. could do the same thing with popcorn. And he he did it. Yeah. And so like.

microwaves and popcorn, microwave. popcorn grew in lock step from the very. beginning. Uh in fact he even in his. 1946 patent for the microwave showed. popcorn being popped. Uh so it was. always sort of tied together. Uh the. first commercial microwaves were very. big and expensive and not really for the. home. They were more for restaurant. So. once they went to the house uh microwave. popcorn was was right there along with. it. Uh, in 1951, a gentleman named. Orville Redenbacher got together with a.

guy named Charles Bowman and bought a. corn plant in Indiana and experimented. with different versions of uh, popcorn. varieties and landed on the Redbo. variety. And in 1969, um, started. selling Orville Redenbacher uh, branded. popcorn. And here's what I didn't know. They sold that brand six years later. They sold it in 1976. Wow. To to Hunt. Wesson Foods, but he was just the name. and face of it. So he stayed the name. and face of it. Wow. Yeah. And a red bow.

variety. You said I wonder if they named. it after his pinchant for red bow ties. or he started wearing red bow ties. because of the variety. I don't think they named the variety. So. I bet you he started wearing that thing. because of that. There you go. He also. just said one more thing about Orville. Renbacher there. His EMS lounge chair. You know the one with the the ottoman. Yeah. He had one in his office in I. think Nebraska, Omaha or something and. it's still out there. Orville Rebacher's.

EMS lounge chair from his office is out. there somewhere in the world. Like. someone owns it. Yes. I've coveted it. ever since I first heard about that. Not. just an EMS chair. You want Orville Red. and Bucker's EMS chair? Yes. Okay. And I still I don't know why. I've never. really stepped back and asked myself, but it's it just got me for some reason. I mean, you can't be a Gen Xer and not. have a soft spot for Orville Redenbacher. and the Bartles and James guys. Oh, yeah. They were great. They were. wonderful dudes. They were the.

predecessor of Pen and Teller, I think. Yeah, I think you're right. Um, so yeah, we talked about microwaves and how. microwaves started coming into the home. and microwave popcorn came along quickly. after that. I think 1981 was when you. could start buying microwave popcorn. Uh, and like I said, it's a like a. global phenomenon. I think I said it at. the outset. Everybody knows popcorn. Whether you love it or not, you know. about popcorn. You know where to buy it. Um, and there's different tastes around. the world, as you might imagine.

Apparently, in the United States, the. favorite flavors of popcorn are salted, buttered, white cheddar, regular cheddar. So, white cheddar's finally overtaken. regular cheddar. This is a big deal. And then kettle, which is the sweet. kind. I like a kettle corn. That's all. right. I've never been crazy for it, but. you know, if somebody put it in my. mouth, I wouldn't just spit it out. I'm going to try that sometime. See what. happens. Backstage at our next live.

show. I'm just going to stuff some. kettle corn in your mouth. Do you. remember when we were filming a. um we were filming some commercial I. think and we were eating popcorn at the. movies for this the this part of the. commercial and uh we did that like one. take and then Chad our friend the. director who directed the stuff you know. TV show he came over he's like um just. one note uh don't mash a handful of. popcorn into your mouth all at once and.

he goes uh that's a note for regular. life. Oh, no. Yeah. And so, how else are you. supposed to eat it? I don't know. Like, I guess you hold it in one hand and then. like daintily pluck a few out with your. other hand. That's what I've seen people. do in the movies. Um, but I like that. Yeah. I just put my hand in a bag of. popcorn or a bowl of popcorn, just shove. it into my face as best I can. That's. how you're supposed to eat popcorn. Okay. I'm It's not just me, but yeah, Chad made it seem like it was just me. Isn't it a little funny that you ever.

think about that we used to get way more. opportunities to do that stuff very much. earlier in our career? Uh yeah. I think. also that we've kind of mellowed out in. our quest or our willingness to do stuff. like that. We've kind of like we said no. too much. Yeah. We're kind of like, hey, we're happy podcasting. We tried so many. different things and it's always just. come back to podcasting that I think. we're just like, yeah, we're happy. living this way. I mean, I am I'm kind. of glad now that I'm older and have a,

you know, family at home to not have to. travel to do that stuff. It just seems. weird. Like earlier on, I felt like TV. shows were trying to get us on to be. like talk show guests or like toy do. Toyota commercials or hey, come on and. talk about the housing crisis for the. NBC and like just nobody asks anymore. and it's it's quite wonderful. Yeah, it. is nice. Yeah, I love it. Anyway, um if. you go around the country, uh you're. going to get some interesting flavors. Uh in Japan, apparently, uh there's a. bagged popcorn company called Mike that.

Fredo owns, and they have, of course, like yuzu salt or uh kishu plum popcorn. So, you're going to get some uh some. pretty exciting flavors when you travel. around the world, uh depending what they. like there. Yeah. And I know for a fact. it's not pronounced Mike, but I failed. to ask Yumi how to pronounce it. So, what is it? Mik, we'll go with Mike. But. it's not Mike. Well, of course it's not. Mike, but I'm an American, so No, I'm. with you. I just wish I knew how to say. it. But you probably were right with. Mikay. What else could it be? Mikay.

Nike kind of. Yeah, Mikey. Um, what. else, Chuck? Is there anything else to. say about popcorn? Oh, I know one. Apparently, people have used popcorn as. like a packaging like Yeah. stuffer for. packing peanuts. Yeah, packing peanuts, but popcorn instead. um since like the. 1950s. But the problem is is if you use. popcorn, um it can get kind of gross, especially if you didn't think and you. popped it in oil and covered it with.

butter before you put it in as a. packaging material. Um it it'll just get. gross. It can attract pests and stuff. like that. So, no one's quite figured it. out, but I guess a few years back, 2021, there's some German researchers who are. like hot on the trail of this using um. scraps of corn that is like that you get. off the floor of like a cornflake. factory that they figured out how to. pop. And it it's essentially styrofoam, but it's made of popcorn. And I'm like,

hurry up with this because styrofoam is. one of the worst things humans produce. on this entire planet. Yeah, totally. Packing peanuts are a nightmare. They. really are. Uh so yeah, maybe popcorn. could could help out with that. Um just. a couple of things to finish on. Uh it. is an $850 million. uh industry, I guess, in the United. States alone. Um that bag popcorn, like. the smart pop and all that stuff. combined is about 1.5 billion. So it is.

it is uh it's popping. Yeah, it's po. it's popping. Uh, and I'm glad that we. held on to the stat because we kind of. teased about movie theaters and how much. the markup was and how much money they. made. Uh, the popcorn markup in movie. theaters is 1,275%. I totally buy that. That actually seems. low. Yeah, it's such a money maker. Uh, because it's just so cheap to get and. you get that machine that runs forever. Uh, maybe a little maintenance on it and. then the stuff goes with it and then you.

sell it for a gazillion dollars for a. bucket. uh then you got that that butter. flavored liquid. Uh that's no good. If. you if you do like real butter on on. your popcorn at home, I encourage that. because real butter is great. Uh but you. got to use clarified butter or ghee, right? Uh because the water and the milk. solids are removed in those and that's. what's going to make the popcorn soggy. So if you're just melting butter and. pouring on your popcorn, you're like, "Why is my popcorn soggy and gross?". That's why use clarified butter or. clarify your own butter and pour it over.

your popcorn and it is delicious and not. soggy. Very nice. Uh I think that's it. for popcorn, right? I've got nothing. else on popcorn. Go forth and eat it. It's good and pretty good for you. Yeah. And uh check out that book by Andrew. Smith, Pop Culture, because it's the. definitive toe on popcorn. That's right. Uh well, since we talked about Andrew. Smith, it's time obviously for listener. mail.

Uh this is from Cecilia S and it's about. our music bumpers that uh we've said. before, but it always bears repeating. Uh they are made by Stuff You Should. Know listeners. They always have been. Every single one of them are made by. listeners and they send them in and it's. a really cool like interactive part of. the show for the listenership. Guys, in. terms of your music bumpers, I love that. how they relate to the episode uh. subject. If it's about an eerie subject, the song reflects that with an eerie. tone. Or if it's a somber, sad subject, the song reflects that. And there are. many other examples. Uh this brings to.

mind my father who is a music director. at the church we belong to growing up. He would sometimes fill in uh when the. organist was unavailable. And before and. after mass, he would softly play hymns, but insert a bit of whimsy. For example, at the start of baseball season, he'd. play a little take me out to the ball. game in the style of a hymn. or during. football season, uh the university fight. song could be heard in the fashion of a. solemn lurggical piece. Uh many other. instances of his playfulness. He had a. big band combo in college in the 1940s. and into the 70s. Uh and they could.

sometimes be heard in church. Anyway, love the show. You both display such. curiosity and knowledge and with. wonderful wit and sensitivity when. needed. Uh thank you to whoever is. responsible for the music. It's not. often I would say that about a podcast. So, Cecilia, like we said, those are. from the listeners. Uh but uh Jerry uh. our esteemed third leg of our stool is. who ties those so aptly to the subject. matter with her own wit and whimsy. Yeah, Jerry deserves way more credit for. that, too, cuz sometimes it's just like,

man, you just knocked it out of the park. with that pick, Jerry. She does. And. we're never like, uh, hey, Jerry, this. is a Halloween one, so make sure to use. a scary bumper. Yeah, we don't do that. We leave it to Jerry. She does her. thing. Uh, yeah. And also a huge huge. heartfelt thanks. I think I just said. thanks, but I really meant thanks to. every single person who's ever sent in a. music bumper because that's just such a. a cool just little subtle part of the. show having all those different great.

little pieces of music. Thank you to. everybody who's ever done that. Thank. you to everybody who's going to do it in. the future even too. Yeah. Uh 12 seconds. or less. I think we say 16. No, I. thought it was 12. Somewhere in that. neighborhood. Between 12 and 16 seconds. How about that? Yeah. But if you send in. one of those 30 second long ones, you'll. hear from me saying, "This is great, but. cut it down and we'll use it." Yeah. That's a note for for real life, too. That's right. Uh well, if you want to. get in touch with us like Cecilia, uh.

you can send us an email, too. Send it. off to stuffodcast.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].