Last week at the first MCM of 2013, I heard lots of chatter about Peter’s Kettle Corn. Market goers find their kettle corn snack to be an essential part of the market experience, so here’s a little more kettle corn (history) for your enjoyment!

The history of kettle corn, as it turns out, is a series of folklore stories, so I will share with you my favorite (with a few embellishments).

A long, long time ago, before any of us were babies, a Dutch man standing in his wooden clogs before a cast iron kettle (known as a dutch oven) discovered how much more efficiently he could pop corn when he used hot, rendered lard from pigs. One day while he was making the delicious pop corn with delightfully few un-popped kernels, his daughter accidentally knocked the sugar bowl into the ferociously popping kettle…what resulted was the sweet kettle corn. The tradition got carried across that large pond that separates the Americas and Holland, and eventually, years and years after Dutch settlers made kettle corn on the lovely island of Manhattan, the tradition was brought even further west to frontier cowboys who found delight in this delicious snack.

Fast-forward to 2007 when John and Peter Ngu formed Peter’s Kettle Corn which brings this delicious centuries-old treat to us at Mission Community Market! With variations on the traditional corn, like Horchata flavor, they are really bringing their own spin to this yummy, addictive treat. Peter’s Kettle Corn has an incredible following of devoted corn eaters. So, come and get your fill (for all you regulars) or try it for the first time and delight in the sweetness of the corn, the company, the music, and the market!!

We’ll see you this Thursday 4-8pm!