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Down on the farm

Posted by Nathan Strum, 19 January 2010 · 66 views

Today is National Popcorn Day!

I'm ashamed to admit, I wasn't aware of this until a couple of hours ago.

There are few things I like better than good popcorn. All of that fake-butter-soaked microwave crud is not good popcorn. About the only microwave stuff I like is Jolly Time's Crispy 'n' White Light. It actually tastes like popcorn... not chemicals.

No sir... I like my popcorn soaked in real butter. (Well, not soaked... but certainly well-drizzled.) Hey - indulge in moderation, right? ;)

The best popcorn I've found (outside of movie theaters) are the Real Theater Popcorn packs, made by Wabash Farms. They use coconut oil, which is both really, really bad for you, but it tastes really, really good. This is what the movie theaters use.

The trick is, you have to have a real popcorn popper for the best results, or you have to deal with popping the popcorn in a pan of some sort, which is a pretty high-maintenance way to go. I have a West Bend Stir Crazy, which works just great with this stuff (hint: clean the base upside down, so the interior doesn't get water in it). I'd also suggest using only about 2/3 of the oil that comes with Wabash's packs, otherwise it tends towards the greasy side. (One of these days I should just buy the popcorn oil and seeds from them in bulk.) :roll:

Something else I've been meaning to try, is do-it-yourself microwave popcorn. (You can even apparently do this without oil.)

(I've never tried Wabash Farms' Whirly-Pop popper, but it's the same basic idea as the Stir Crazy except it's stove-top. The Stir Crazy is electric.)

And forget about air-popped popcorn. You might as well be eating packing styrofoam. Or rice cakes.

Anyway, I think I'll have to figure out some way to celebrate National Popcorn Day. Maybe with a snack of some sort...




I dunno, air popped popcorn with fresh melted butter and sea salt is certainly a step up from microwave stuff (which tastes to me like styrofoam). And thinking about it, it doesn't really matter how it's popped . . . in all cases you're trying to boil the moisture inside the kernel. The question is what it gets coated with afterwards - butter & salt or the oil it was cooked in.
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There's microwave bowls for making popcorn - here's one from Nordicware that can be used with or without oil.
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And you were concerned about confusing people with a late night talk show reference in your last post? Sheesh, talk about a stretch. :thumbsup:
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EricBall, on Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:30 AM, said:

And thinking about it, it doesn't really matter how it's popped . . . in all cases you're trying to boil the moisture inside the kernel. The question is what it gets coated with afterwards - butter & salt or the oil it was cooked in.
I think that's the key... the oil seems to add a crispness that's not there with air popped. Air popped always seems to come out chewy. Although keeping it in a hot oven afterwards seems to help a little.

DaveD, on Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:39 AM, said:

And you were concerned about confusing people with a late night talk show reference in your last post? Sheesh, talk about a stretch. :thumbsup:
But originally that post didn't even have any reference to Leno - only the title did. This post at least had the word "farm" in it. Twice! ;)
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SpiceWare, on Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:13 AM, said:

There's microwave bowls for making popcorn - here's one from Nordicware that can be used with or without oil.
Looks like there's quite a few of those. I may have to check that out, too.
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The year before last I grew popcorn in my garden, strawberry heirloom variety. It was a lot of work for one bowl of popcorn.
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Maybe that's why they call it a "healthy snack". :thumbsup:
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