National Caramel Popcorn Day Date in the current year: April 6, 2024

Popcorn has been around for millennia; according to fossil evidence found in Peru, corn was popped as early as 6,700 years ago. For a long time, corn was popped by hand on stove tops. Popcorn became more accessible in the 1890s, when Charles Cretors invented the popcorn maker.

Caramel popcorn, also known as caramel corn, is a sweet treat made of popcorn coated with a thin caramel candy shell. It is made by mixing popped popcorn with sugar or molasses based caramel and allowing the mixture to cool. The result is a sweet, crunchy treat. Caramel popcorn should not be confused with kettle corn, which is also sweet, but has a lighter flavor due to being seasoned with light-colored refined sugar rather than caramelized sugar.

An early version of caramel popcorn was molasses-coated popcorn produced by Louis Rueckheim of F. W. Rueckheim & Bro. It included popcorn, peanuts, and molasses. The confection was first presented as “candied popcorn” at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This early version of the treat stuck together in chunks, but eventually Louis found a way to separate kernels from one another. The improved version of molasses-flavored popcorn was introduced in 1896 under the brand name Cracker Jack.

Today, many caramel corn brands are available in grocery stores, convenience stores, and cinemas. They include the above-mentioned Cracker Jack, Crunch ’n Munch, Fiddle Faddle, Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs, and a variety of local and specialty brands such as Chesapeake Popcorn (Ohio), Fisher’s Popcorn (Maryland) and Nuts on Clark (Chicago).

If you want to celebrate National Caramel Popcorn Day, try making this delicious treat at home. First of all, pop some corn or buy a bag of unsalted popcorn. Place the popcorn in a large bowl and preheat the oven to 250 °F.

While the oven is preheating, melt a stick of unsalted butter over medium heat. Stir in 1/4 cup of honey, 1 cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 tsp of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and let simmer for five minutes without stirring.

Remove the caramel from heat, stir in 1/4 tsp of baking soda and about 1-1 1/2 tsp of powdered cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg each. Pour or drizzle hot caramel over popcorn and stir well to make sure the popcorn is well-coated.

Transfer the popcorn into a parchment paper-lined baking pan and bake it for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes to keep the popcorn from burning. Let the caramel corn cool before serving it or transferring the popcorn into an airtight container, where it can be stored for 5 days at room temperature. Although we’re sure that the delicious treat won’t last that long!

To make the treat more nutritious, you can mix your caramel corn with roasted nuts, such as almonds, cashews, peanuts, or pecans (of course, if you’re not allergic to nuts).