Culinary Historians | Popcorn as a Food, a Crop, and a Business
Channel: Ann Arbor District Library
Date: 25/03/2024

Amaizin’ Pop LLC is an Ann Arbor-area seed company that develops new, improved strains of the popcorn plant and also wholesales popcorn to a dozen local retail outlets. Today, corn hybrids pioneered by Amaizin’ Pop are being grown in the US, Brazil, Hungary, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, South Africa, and India. In this presentation, owner/operator Dr. Charles Sing will explain the biology of the popcorn plant, describe his personal experiences developing hybrids, and outline how popcorn is grown, processed, and distributed to consumers. If you savor popcorn, then you’ll savor this fun event!

When he was growing up in Illinois, Charlie Sing expected to follow his ancestors into farming. Instead, he ended up earning a Ph.D. in corn genetics. A chance encounter with the founders of the Univ. of Michigan Dept. of Human Genetics landed him in a career studying human variability in the risk of developing hypertension, high cholesterol, and heart disease; meanwhile, as a hobby, he pursued developing hybrid strains of popcorn. After all, you can take a boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of the boy! Following retirement, Charlie’s popcorn breeding hobby became his full-time passion.

This event is in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor.