I was perusing the snack aisle at the grocery store recently when I came across a bag of popcorn kernels. It occurred to me that I don't know what to do with a bag of kernels because we had a popcorn maker when I was a kid and more recently I've only had microwave popcorn.
Feeling motivated by the origin of the kernels in question (Jolly Time Popcorn, Sioux City, Iowa), I bought them and have been waiting for a good night for popcorn. Tonight seemed perfect--dinner is digested, temperature is cool, and internet TV is watchable. I watched some demonstrations of popcorn making on YouTube and felt pretty confident I had it figured out. How hard can it be? It's just heat and kernels.
So I heated 3 tablespoons of oil in a pot and put in 3 test kernels that would indicate when the oil was ready, à la the YouTube example. I stood over the pot waiting for signs of life when the first kernel popped right out of the pot. I was still peering in when the second kernel shot straight at my eye with some traces of oil. My immediate reaction was "Man down! Popcorn night is off!" I was sure that I looked like Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight but it turns out I'm just a huge baby who's terrified of cooking with hot oil and projectile-inclined food. I labored on and the popcorn was done in about 2 minutes. I was much more comfortable after the lid was on the pot. I think I should get one of those glass lids so I can peer in from behind a barrier. In all seriousness, I don't think I'll ever make microwave popcorn again. This is actually really easy, it takes about the same amount of time as the microwave and it tastes better.
I only ate a couple of handfuls of popcorn and I have a giant bowl left so I'm thinking about making some popcorn balls. I found a popcorn ball recipe that calls for honey instead of corn syrup. (I will find any excuse to cook with honey- I keep a five pound container of honey at all times).
The popcorn and popcorn balls brought back a couple of memories for me. When I was in middle school the janitor used to have a little side business going where he'd sell popcorn balls in the cafeteria. I think his wife made them, I just remember that they were the only thing I'd eat for lunch sometimes because the food was terrible and the school wasn't exactly vegetarian-friendly. They would always give me the bread ends with some nasty looking peanut butter and jelly as the vegetarian option-and even then they were rude about it.
The other memory was that when we were kids, my siblings and I and various members of our posse would sell bags of popcorn at our lemonade stand. Seems like an odd choice now, it was like 100 degrees outside and we were peddling stale popcorn. Maybe it was to make people want more lemonade...
Anyway, now that I've mastered popcorn and pretzels, it looks like I'm ready to start my own carnival. The only buzzkill to my new snack skills is that it makes me feel guilty based on what I've been learning in another nutrition class. Regular popcorn is pretty healthy, providing dietary fiber, protein, and iron-but adding salt or buying it at the movie theatre is a no-no. (A small movie-theatre popcorn has as much fat as 3 Big Macs. I know of at least one friend who won't care for this fact because they stop at the movie theatre to pick up popcorn.:)
The sodium thing is also really interesting. I didn't know that ideally people should consume about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt a day and no more than 1 tsp. I put that much salt in my coffee everyday! No, that's not true, but that just seems like a very small amount of salt versus what people are actually consuming. Popcorn also has a high glycemic index, so it's one of those foods that will give you the ol' food coma feeling. Speaking of food coma...
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