5,600 year-old popcorn in a cave

[Wayne Harrison]

Between 1947 and 1950, the anthropologist Herbert Dick led an archaeological party to the "Bat Cave", in New Mexico, known to have been a site for primitive agriculture. There, he and his team dug through the layers of ancient rubbish and excrement until they found a collection of popcorn: shelled cobs, loose kernels and husks. Right at the bottom they found some tiny, primitive kernels which, when carbon-dated, proved to be 5,600 years old.

They then took a few of the unpopped kernels, dropped them in hot oil, and watched. They still popped perfectly. There is no record of whether any of the group tried the popcorn - though given the trouble they'd taken to find these precious kernels, it seems unlikely.

<a href="http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,,2153737,00.html">Full Story</a>

[JackW]

From the same article...

"Excited by this information, I headed to the gastronomic haven of Borough market in London to see if I could buy any particularly old delicacies. Surely certain foods must improve with age? I figured the two most likely were cheese and cured meats, and so bounded into the Neal's Yard Dairy shop and asked them to give me their oldest cheese."

Neal's Yard... Been there. It is a slice of heaven!