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Archaeologists discovered that people have known about popcorn for thousands of years. Fossil evidence from Peru suggests that corn was popped as early as 4,700 BC. Through the 19th century, popping of the kernels was achieved by hand, on stove tops.
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The term popped corn first appeared in John Russell Bartlett’s 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms.
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Charles Cretors invented the first commercial popcorn machine in 1885
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Midwestern theater owner named Glen W. Dickson installed popcorn machines in the lobbies of his theaters.
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In 1970, Orville Redenbacher's namesake brand of popcorn was launched.
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In 1981, General Mills received the first patent for a microwave popcorn bag, with popcorn consumption seeing a sharp increase by tens of thousands of pounds in the years following.