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:
- Cheapo air poppers don’t work. It used to work but after a month it started spitting out 50% un-popped kernels.
- 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.
- Butter browns and tastes funny.
- 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:
- 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.
- Caramel popcorn was ULTRA delicious. Just like Kernels stuff, but a fraction of the cost. Very unhealthy but extremely tasty.
- White chocolate Oreo popcorn looks bad but tastes really really good. We brought this to Whistler over Christmas and everyone devoured it.
- Kettle corn is pretty easy to make at home!!!
- Coconut works very well for popping popcorn in a pot/wok.
- 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!
