This is basically EXPLODING CORN that can be later eaten as a healthy snack.

Most people don't stop for long to think much about popcorn as they pull it out of the microwave, wait for it to pop in a special popper or shake it on a burner in their favorite popcorn stovetop pot.

There are at leat 6 places in North America (United States, specifically) that claim to be the popcorn capital of the world: Valpariaso Indiana, Van Bruen Indiana, Marion Ohio, Ridgway Illinois, Shaller Iowa, and North Loup Nebraska.

Popcorn has been used as food, threaded onto string for wall and Christmas tree decorations, and also as a packing material, though as a packing material, it has been known to attract unwanted pests. Obviously these pests knew the value of popcorn as a food item.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends not serving popcorn to children under the age of 4 years, because of the dry, jagged texture of popcorn and so that children under 4 years of age do not choke on popcorn.

Here's a really cool, slowed-motion video of a kernel of corn EXPLODING!

http://www.visionresearch.com/video/playvideo.cfm?file=popcorn5.flv&flash=yes

All cereal grains have a certain amount of moisture (with some natural oil and starch) inside, and popcorn is no exception. What happens to popcorn to make it pop is that the outer hull, which is moisture resistant, becomes heated very quickly. If you heat it enough, the outer shell will weaken while the inner ingredients are expanding and try to escape. Because the outer shell is moisture resistant, the moisture inside is not able to escape or seep out again when it expands into steam. The starchy stuff near the inner moisture also expands with no place to go causing incredible pressure insite the hull.

There is only one way for the starchy moisture to escape and this is a violent reaction, breaking the outer shell. It is simply an explosion....

"POP"

The pressure inside the corn hull can be around a 135 psi (135 pounds of pressure per square inch), and an average corn hull will only tolerate a temperature of about 180 degrees Celsius before the hull becomes weakened and lets the steam-oil-starch OUT with a gigantic POP.

The inner parts of the corn turn to water vapour and gelatinous (starchy and oily) substance, but they cool very quickly as the hull blows apart and this gives popcorn its crispy, puffy shape.

Be careful when you pop corn. It doesn't cool off THAT MUCH. But a cooling from 180 degrees down to where popcorn explodes and cools into the familiar shape we're used to is a significant flash of cooling.

It should cool for a few minutes more before you attempt to eat it!

I browsed around HubPages and found two really interesting (make-your-mouth-drool) hubs about popcorn.

Check out fellow Hubber, "gredmonson" for a great Caramel Corn recipe:

http://hubpages.com/hub/How_To_Make_Caramel_Corn

Hubber "frugalgranny" has an excellent, complete-with-pics hub about popping corn the old-fashioned way on the stovetop:

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Perfect-Pop---An-Illustrated-Guide-to-Making-Popcorn-on-the-Stove

I have some old Native (Native American/Indian) tales that I'm checking into to establish their validity. Rumour has it that Native American Indians are actually some of the first to add POPPED CORN to their diet on a regular basis.

I have actually checked out some HIGH PROFILE popcorn companies to see if they have a story about this. Many companies have a 'popcorn' history page and I have checked out 5 major companies already. So far, the "Indians Made Popcorn First" story still eludes me, in a sort of suspicious way (since I have already heard many oral Native speakers tell funny stories about the origins of popcorn) - but I'm on it!

I'll keep searching. Perhaps the 'Popcorn Stories' are all 'oral' speaking tales, is all...I'll keep checking it out until I find out, for sure.

Enjoy your EXPLODING CORN!

For this recipe, 6 cups of hot-air-popped corn is used.

Obviously, 6 cups of corn, popped, by stovetop method will also work.

You can also try microwaved popcorn, although you'll need to be sure to omit the SALT ingredient in this recipe if you use microwaved corn.

Ingredients:

* 6 Cups popped corn

* 1/3 cup margarine

* 3 tablespoons, chili sauce

* 1 teaspoon, onion powder (don't over-load this - just 1 teaspoon)

* 1 teaspoon, chili powder ("more" is not better!)

* (optional) 1/2 teaspoon, salt...but beware of this, just in case your popcorn was already salt/seasoned before you started with the BBQ recipe. If you had to use microwave popcorn, OMIT the salt, as most microwave popcorn packages are already loaded with salt.

* 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese (can be optional)

Now for the good stuff...the cooking part!

Directions:

Have your 6 cups of popcorn off to the side in a large bowl that is big enough to facilitate some rather exuberant MIXING once the 'sauce' is ready for the corn. There's nothing worse than working with a bowl that popcorn just 'nicely fits' into...those are good for the 'serving' bowl, but not very good for your 'creation' process!

So, popped corn, off to the side and ready.

In an size-appropriate saucepan (you won't need a very big one), melt the margarine over LOW HEAT. Once the margaring is melted, add the chili sauce and powders, then mix to blend thoroughly. Once the ingredients are all blended, REMOVE saucepan from heat and turn your burner off.

For safety's sake, you can wait about 1 minute or so before taking this 'sauce' to your popcorn - just so that the mixture isn't too hot to handle or if you're working with kids nearby. Don't wait too long or let the mixture cool too much or it won't coat the popcorn as well.

Pour the mixture over popcorn, tossing the popcorn well to distribute the sauce evenly over the popped corn.

If you opted to use parmesan cheese to top this off, now is the time to sprinkle then serve!

Enjoy!

The name of this song is 'Popcorn' by 'Hot Butter' but the 'animation' is from the youtube user.

* warning - after hearing the audio tracks to the vid - you may walk away from the computer soon with this song stuck in your head, so don't say I didn't warn you!

Likely, this song will be very familiar to you