Popcorn seems to be the most popular snack on the market these days….and in its most basic form, it’s pretty good for you—low in calories and filled with antioxidants that help fight disease. (You know the healthy varieties I’m talking about here don’t include microwave or movie theater popcorn!)
You’re not imagining that you’re seeing more and more popcorn brands on the grocery store shelves. Sales of ready to eat popcorn are up 60 percent since 2012. It’s not your grandma’s popcorn brands either. The new options have fun names, colorful bags and they’re grabbing a brand new crop of consumers–right along with their wallets. But the ready to eat popcorn isn’t cheap–and it never has that warm, just popped freshness. So why not DIY it?
If you want warm, fresh popcorn, where do you turn? I used to love microwave popcorn, but after it started getting bad press with the chemicals in the non-stick bags I realized it was time to stop buying that. Then, I tried putting popcorn kernels in a paper bag in the microwave, but that’s also a bad idea. A paper bag in the microwave? Really? Yeah, that just seems wrong for so many reasons. I tried an air popper but the popcorn tasted like styrofoam, unless it has a heavy coat of butter but now we just defeated the purpose of air popping. Finally, I decided to buy an electric popper like we had when I was a kid. It was called a Stir Crazy popcorn popper. I checked online and found one at a local department store and ran out and bought it. It was just as I remembered. You put a little oil on the base of the pan and a metal rod on the bottom of the base would stir the popcorn while it popped. We made popcorn with our Stir Crazy every Saturday night. I also remember it leaking hot oil and ruining our Formica countertop–but I bought the popcorn popper anyway beacause I wanted fresh popcorn and I was going to put a cutting board under it–just incase. I got the popcorn popper home, added popcorn and oil, plugged it in and….nothing! The unit didn’t work. The rod didn’t stir. Now what do I do? I have popcorn sitting in oil in an electric popcorn popper that doesn’t work.
AHAH!!!! I’d nearly forgotten with all these advances in popcorn making, the most basic and original way to make it–in a kettle above fire (my gas stove!)
A quick Google search gave me about 5,000 ways to make it on the stove, but they were all basically the same, except for topping options. I settled on 2 tablesspoons of oil in a kettle, adding ½ cup of popcorn, shaking it a few times to coat the popcorn and letting it sit on a medium flame. (The recipe actually said to add 3 tablespoons of oil, but I opted for 2.)
Sure enough, the popcorn started to pop and before I knew it I had a kettle filled with popcorn. When the popping nearly stopped, I turned off the burner and let it continue to pop for about 30 seconds.
Then, I put the popcorn in a paper shopping bag and shook it with Lawry’s seasoned salt. Obviously you can season it with anything you want….
It’s funny, making this popcorn in its very simpliest form made me so happy. All the advances in the ways to make popcorn and the best and easiest way was right on my stovetop, with no special tools or equipment.
I also learned that not all popcorn is created equal. So far, my favorite variety is Orville Redenbacher’s Original. It had the best “popability”—that’s the technical term for the percentage of kernels that pop. I bought a generic store brand and fewer kernels popped and it was tough to chew. It’s worth exploring some different brands, too.
According to Popcorn.org most popcorn comes in two basic shapes: snowflake and mushroom. Movie theaters and ballparks sell snowflake popcorn because it looks and pops bigger. Mushroom popcorn is used for candy confections because it doesn’t crumble. I’m going to do some experimenting. I might even make Grandma’s carmel corn.
I realize that I haven’t re-invented the wheel here, but sometimes you just need a little reminder that getting back to basics can be the best and easiest solution.
