[exDemMom]

I’ve always wondered how it is that the first person who made popcorn came to a) obtain the right kind of corn, b) happen to dry it to just the right moisture content, and c) think to heat it over dry heat, to make popcorn. Maybe a wildfire swept through their corn patch, after the corn was somewhat dry, and made popcorn, then the ancient farmer tried to duplicate the process under controlled conditions?

Making popcorn simply would not come to mind, if someone had never seen it before.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Get a copy of Charles Mann’s recent book “1493.”

[SunkenCiv]

The discovery of popcorn is trivial compared with the discovery of, for example, making bread with yeast.

[6SJ7]

Making popcorn simply would not come to mind, if someone had never seen it before.

Ogg: First, we make the fire.
Nog: What for?
Ogg: To make the popcorn.
Nog: What for?
Ogg: To have snack while watching DVD.
Nog: Oh.

[Hot Tabasco]

Maybe a wildfire swept through their corn patch, after the corn was somewhat dry, and made popcorn, then the ancient farmer tried to duplicate the process under controlled conditions?

I'm sure that's what happened. Adding salt was just a natural reaction to enhance the bland taste but the addition of butter had to be divine intervention....

[thecodont]

Maybe a wildfire swept through their corn patch, after the corn was somewhat dry, and made popcorn, then the ancient farmer tried to duplicate the process under controlled conditions?

That sounds plausible. Popcorn (Zea mays praecox, a type of flint corn) will pop, even when still attached to the cob.