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You’ve probably gone to the movies and tried it, or you most likely have munched on it at home for a snack, but have you ever given any thought to what causes popcorn kernels to pop into the fluffy white stuff we know and love? Well, first let’s see what other people thought of these little kernels. In some Native American tribes, they believed that spirits lived inside of each kernel of popcorn. They believed that these spirits were happy to live in the kernel as long as the house stayed cool. When the house began to heat up, the spirits began to get upset and shake. The hotter a house would get, the angrier the spirits would become until they blew off their steam by bursting into white puffs.

That is one way to look at popcorn, but the next time you make popcorn take a closer look at the kernel. The outer shell is hard and waterproof and has two inner layers called the pericarp. This pericarp is a circle of soft starch and inside of this starch is a small drop of water. Any time you have water inside a container and you heat it up it causes steam, so when you start to heat your kernels, the steam begins to build inside the kernel. As the kernels heat, the pressure builds until the hard outer surface can’t hold the steam in anymore. This is when the popcorn pops! As it bursts, the soft starch inside becomes 30 times its original size and the kernel gets turned inside out. This becomes the white fluffy popcorn that tastes so yummy.