SNACKS. Today, January 19, is a day to celebrate one of those snacks that is highly adaptable with endless recipes and flavor combinations, it’s National POPCORN Day.

Buttered, salted, kettled, drizzled with caramel, popcorn is so versatile, but did you know that the corn we eat and the corn we pop are actually two different types of maize (or corn?). In fact, the corn found on the dinner table is most likely unable to be popped at all. Actually, only one form of maize is able to be popped, to become popcorn — Zea mays everta. This particular maize variety has small ears, and the kernels burst open when exposed to any kind of dry heat which wasn’t even discovered until 1948.

Herbert Dick and Earl Smith discovered Zea mays everta in a bat cave of west central New Mexico. Ranging in size from smaller than a penny to about two inches, the oldest ears of corn found in the bat cave were approximately 4,000 years old. Some popped kernels also discovered were eventually carbon dated and shown to be about 5,600 years old.

So, it turns out, the 1948 discovery was only a re-introduction to the delicious snack of popcorn. The bat cave findings showed clear evidence that people in Peru, Mexico and Guatemala (as well as other places in Central and Southern America) enjoyed this tasty treat.

There has also been archaeological evidence found that Aztecs, of Mexico, used popcorn to decorate their clothes, create ceremonial embellishments and also for snacking, of course. Padre (Father) Bernabe Cobo wrote about Peruvian natives and said, “They toast a certain kind of corn until it bursts. They call it pisancalla, and they use it as confection.”

For more information about National Popcorn Day and other holidays, visit NationalToday.com