Year of Popcorn Yields World’s Largest Popcorn Ball
Special to Road Trips for Foodies
The largest popcorn ball ever created now rests at the Indiana State Fair, 1200 East 38th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana (map). Unveiled last Saturday (August 3, 2013) in the Ball State Agriculture/Horticulture Building, the edible oddity checked in at 6,510 pounds, topping the old record by 1,450 pounds.
The official weight was captured by the Indiana State Police Motor Pool and already includes a margin of error of 196 pounds, which means the ball could actually weigh more than 6,700 pounds. Transportation officials used four industry standard roll-off scales to weigh the considerable confection, which has an 8-foot diameter and a 24’ 9” circumference. A video of the unveiling can be seen here
Developed as a way to help celebrate the fair’s Year of Popcorn theme, the popcorn ball took 75 people 329 hours to build. It began in June when workers at the Snax in Pax Popcorn Company in Topeka, Indiana, began making and tamping the popcorn into a specially created wooden form. After reaching 2,700 pounds, the ball was then transported to the State Fairgrounds where State Fair staff, board members and volunteer groups packed on another 3,800 pounds of hot, gooey popcorn.
In the end, the record-breaking ball required:
· 977 pounds of popped popcorn
· 1,113 pounds of mushroom-shaped popcorn kernels
· 5,534 pounds of a syrup consisting of water, sugar and corn syrup (to hold it together)
The ball will remain on display through August 18, 2013 — the last day of the fair. Indiana’s Family of Farmers will then deconstruct the ball and use it as feed for livestock.
(Photo courtesy of the Indiana State Fair)
