Over the last six months Scott and I have experimented A LOT in different ways to make popcorn. Some batches have been great, some have gone straight to the trash. (Good thing popcorn kernels are really cheap!). I think we have finally figured out THE BEST ways to make popcorn at home now though!!

Things we have tried:

• regular popcorn in a cheapo air popper with butter or coconut oil
• regular popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave
• caramel corn
• white chocolate oreo covered popcorn
• kettle corn in a pot with butter or coconut oil
• kettle corn in a wok with a lid with coconut oil or vegetable oil

The failures:

1. Cheapo air poppers don’t work. It used to work but after a month it started spitting out 50% un-popped kernels.
2. A regular pot doesn’t have enough space in it to allow the popcorn to move around and not burn. If you’re going to use a pot it’s going to have to be one of those huge stock pots. Preferably one with a thick bottom so the heat is more uniform.
3. Butter browns and tastes funny.
4. Vegetable oil has a funny smell/taste. Plus it’s not even made out of vegetables??!! The one we bought is made out of soy. That is weird.

The successes:

1. Coconut oil tastes just like butter on popcorn and it’s much healthier (as far as I know). Plus if you get it on your fingers you can just rub it in to your hands like a moisturizer.
2. Caramel popcorn was ULTRA delicious. Just like Kernels stuff, but a fraction of the cost. Very unhealthy but extremely tasty.
3. White chocolate Oreo popcorn looks bad but tastes really really good. We brought this to Whistler over Christmas and everyone devoured it.
4. Kettle corn is pretty easy to make at home!!!
5. Coconut works very well for popping popcorn in a pot/wok.
6. A wok with a lid has enough room for popcorn to move around while allowing the oil to pool at the bottom with the kernels.

Conclusions:

Coconut oil is essential. You can get it at a lot of stores now, in the oil aisle. You can also get it online for cheaper. We bought a mega tub of it from well.ca with a $10 off coupon. Some brands have a hint of coconut smell/taste, and some are totally neutral. It is great for popping popcorn and for putting on top of popcorn.

These are our house recipes now:

REGULAR POPCORN: make in a wok on the stove with coconut oil. You’ll have to ask Scott for the measurements! He’s really mastered it now.

CARAMEL POPCORN: melt 4 tbsp of butter, then add 1/2 cup brown sugar + 1/4 cup honey + 1 tsp salt in a pot over medium heat until it reaches 235 Farenheit. Immediately take off heat and pour over 6 cups popped popcorn (you could use the previous method without salt). Stir stir stir, then let cool.

WHITE CHOCOLATE OREO POPCORN: I found no faults with this recipe.

KETTLE CORN: (for this one you should get all your tools/supplies prepared ahead of time because you have to work fairly fast.) Put 1/4 cup coconut oil in a wok or large pot over medium heat. Throw in three popcorn kernels and put the lid on. When those three kernels have popped throw in 1/2 cup popcorn kernels + 1/4 cup sugar in and quickly stir a bit. Put the lid back on and start to agitate the wok/pot. Never let the kernels stay still! Scott usually just shakes the pot back and forth over the element, with the odd vertical toss every once and a while. Keep it moving, this stuff burns super easily. When all the kernels have popped, pour it out on a baking sheet and immediately put some salt on it. Let cool!