Dumb popcorn questin...

[Richard]

Ok, I'm currently living in Jacksonville, FL. Wife/house/dogs/stuff are in Knoxville.

Had a hankering for some popcorn but don't have a microwave here. Then a bright idea hits me... why not buy a popper?!

Off to Walmart and I buy a $30 popper with a sweeper on the surface to mix the kernals.

I get some Orville popcorn, peanut oil and popcorn salt.

You should know that I view most foods more as salt delivery vehicles than anything else. I love salt.

I pop the corn to perfection, get the salt out.... start munching

It was rather hideous.

The popcorn itself, whose container was properly sealed, was kind of chewy. Not a huge complaint agasint it but I prefer the Pop-Secret "fluffyness" over what I experienced. Maybe I got a stale batch.

The popcorn was not greasy at all either. I mean that in a negative way. There was not enough oil on the popped kernals to allow the salt to adhere to it.

The salt simply worked its way to the bottom of the bowl (which I might add, I only ate about 1/4 of before I put it away thinking "blech"

I'm going to toss the remains of this popped corn.

Trying to figure out what I've done wrong.

I tend to NOT put butter on popcorn. I find I simply prefer it without.

I made the batch exactly per instructions. I think I used 1/2 cup kernals and 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil.

Thoughts on how to improve?

 

[rekees4300]

Thoughts on how to improve?

Replace the peanut oil with Mighty Pop oil and use popcorn salt (smaller grains) instead of regular salt.

 

[grsthegreat]

You have to be kidding...no butter. Popcorn needs LOTS of butter as a transport mechanism for the salt overload.

 

[Western]

You have to be kidding...no butter. Popcorn needs LOTS of butter as a transport mechanism for the salt overload.

Got to have my butter!! When I was a kid it was popped in a basket. In winter my grandfather would do it over a fire and I have never been able to do the same. My mom would do it on the stove in a 4qt pot, that worked good and was
easy.

The wife likes the sweetness of the "Kettle corn", I can't do it.

 

[TRR]

Peanut oil is the wrong oil. Each oil has it's own flavor that it imparts to the foods that are cooked in it. I prefer corn oil, mostly because that is what I grew up with. And the amount of oil (1.5 tblsp per 1/4 popcorn) seems really low, I thought it was more like 3 tblsp. Personally I use a hot air popper so I need to apply something to make the kernels hold the salt after they're popped - so I use butter, at least 1/4 cup butter per 1/4 cup unpopped popcorn.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Yep, the problem was definitely the oil. If you want to have a real popcorn experience, coconut oil is the place to start. Corn oil will work in a pinch, but it doesn't have the real flavor.

 

[ragkar]

Alton Brown (TV show) recommends 1/2 cup of corn, 3 tablespoons of peanut oil. After popping butter and salt (pickling salt) to taste. Popcorn is dry and without butter, the salt will not stick to it.

 

[brin]

My wife and I tried Orvile's popcorn and found it to be tough...We buy white popping corn in the bag at Kroger...Kroger's brand and use olive oil just covering the bottom of the pot then once the oil in the pot is hot enough and pops a couple of test kernels we add enough popcorn to again cover the bottom of the pot - then we cover the pot leaving the lid ajar enough to allow steam to escape and shake the pot back and forth on the burner until most of the corn has finished popping...then we take the pot off the burner and it is ready to salt , butter and eat. It is tender and melts in our mouth.

We had tried all the microwave brands and the old fashioned way is better...

 

[dieselbeef]

jiffy pop on the burner aint bad

 

[Thomas]

Could have been diet popcorn..yep diet popcorn,I had only one mouth full of that and.....
Maybe light carmel popcorn,try Jolly Time popcorn.

 

[forgeblast]

Love kettle corn.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

You have to be kidding...no butter. Popcorn needs LOTS of butter as a transport mechanism for the salt overload.

AMEN Brother grsthegreat!

Popcorn is a BUTTER and salt delivery vehicle!

My wife makes the popcorn. Orville is the best unless she can get local organic. MORE OIL, and steady stir until 10 seconds after it STOPS POPPING (you get less widows that way).

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Yep, the problem was definitely the oil. If you want to have a real popcorn experience, coconut oil is the place to start. Corn oil will work in a pinch, but it doesn't have the real flavor.

Larry,

YUP, Coconut oil ROCKS! Sometimes she even mixes a small amount of it it with the grass fed Amish butter we eat... NUMMERS!

There are a number of variations for fun, a little garlic in the butter, or a little bacon grease (don't knock it till you've tried it).

Mostly she pops with organic extra virgin olive oil though. It is reliably consistent and there is always a costco jug of it on the counter...

David

 

[looknlearn]

My wife and I tried Orvile's popcorn and found it to be tough...We buy white popping corn in the bag at Kroger...Kroger's brand and use olive oil just covering the bottom of the pot then once the oil in the pot is hot enough and pops a couple of test kernels we add enough popcorn to again cover the bottom of the pot - then we cover the pot leaving the lid ajar enough to allow steam to escape and shake the pot back and forth on the burner until most of the corn has finished popping...then we take the pot off the burner and it is ready to salt , butter and eat. It is tender and melts in our mouth.

We had tried all the microwave brands and the old fashioned way is better...

Almost to the letter of what we do except we skip the step of preheating the oil. We just throw a small bowl of popcorn in the bottom with the olive oil and shake it. Great stuff.

 

[EarPlug]

From Home Theater Express web site

What can I do if my popcorn comes out chewy?
Actually, popcorn is made up of hard starch and a little bit of moisture. This moisture is locked inside the kernel. As the temperature rises the moisture turns to steam and pressure begins to build. This continues until the kernel cannot withstand the force any longer, and explodes into the goodness we know and love.

Because popcorn kernels tend to lose moisture as they age the popping performance and quality of the popcorn can diminish.
To ensure popcorn maintains the appropriate moisture level, never store pop corn kernels in a refrigerator or freezer. This can dry them out very quickly. Also do not store them in a moist basement or our a humid garage. The best place to keep your unpopped pop corn is on a pantry shelf (at room temperature, below 90°F) in a sealed container. You can typically expect popcorn to have a shelf life of about 18 months.

Freshly popped corn quickly absorbs humidity from the air. As the popcorn absorbs moisture, it loses its crispness and it can become chewy. If you run into this problem try popping with the metal serving door on your popper in its open position to help vent the moisture. You can even keep the Plexiglas door slightly open as Paragon recommends, but watch out for stray popcorn if you are daring enough to keep it all the way open!

After the popcorn is done popping immediately open the plexiglas door and let the steam out. Depending on where you have placed your popper you may have more or less moisture in the air. A damp basement is less than ideal but you can get around this by trying to keep the popcorn warm but dry. A popcorn warmer is ideal for this and is sometimes included in the popper's design depending on the model you have purchased.

Other factors that can play a part are an excess of oil used in the initial popping or too much popcorn added for your size kettle (use 4 oz. for a 4 ox kettle, 6 for 6 oz and so on). Try experimenting and above all have fun with the possibilities!

 

[jonyyuma]

We use a Stir-crazy popper like yours. We put in the oil and heat it with 4 test kernels. When 3 pop then we add the right amount of corn. this makes it pop fluffier...very light popcorn salt for me.

 

[jinman]

Almost to the letter of what we do except we skip the step of preheating the oil. We just throw a small bowl of popcorn in the bottom with the olive oil and shake it. Great stuff.

I remember our popcorn pan we had when I was a kid. It was thick hammered aluminum pan with a big heavy lid. Our cookstove was a gas burner stove. There were no fancy poppers in those days except the ones at the movie theaters. We'd heat the oil ( usually Crisco) and then add the corn. I'd shake the pan and hold the lid down as the corn popped. I can remember a couple of times the lid slipped and I slung popcorn all over the top of the cookstove. I was not popular when I wasted popcorn. Plenty of homemade butter and salt made that popcorn the best.:licking:

 

[dmccarty]

The kids like microwave popcorn which seems to come with a large supply of fat and salt along with the corn. :confused2::laughing:

Prefer to make my popcorn in a pot on the stove. I put in a bit of EVOO and 2-3 kernels. When the kernels pop, I add the rest of the popcorn. Maybe a 1/3 or 1/4 cup. Enough to still be covered in oil.

No butter. YUCK!

I have tried a bit of bacon fat and it was ok. Prefer EVOO.

Pickling salt is what you need to stick to the corn. I use about two teaspoons. You can really over salt with Pickling salt so be careful.

From my sketchy memory, there are two kinds of popcorn, one with a fluffy big head and one that is smaller and tighter. I just buy the cheapest in the store.

Later,
Dan

 

[deepNdirt]

Quite allot of scientific approaches to master the science of popping corn here I would love to know how to pop pocorn like that, But for now nothing more scientific then Microwave popcorn the wife and I been using it for a couple years the only science in this is knowing how many minutes to pop it, and this depends on the microwave itsself, but we got that down to the science 2 minutes 45 sec. The wife got on a kick a few years ago after us building our theater room, She wanted one of these Wagon style tabletop popcorn machines, what a waist of money that was. we now just leave it up to the people who manufactures and sell popcorn in the bags to figure out the best way to pop it and to put the right amount of butter flavor right inside the bag, but don't get me wrong they're even bad batches of microwave popcorn as well we have figured out the best microwave popcorn is the Kroger store brand....... I do have to agree that Kettle corn rules:thumbsup:

 

[brin]

Have any of you tried Home made popcorn balls....Wow are they good..My wife and grand daughter make them, I know they pop the corn and then add corn syrup and other things but I want to say they are great..If anyone wants their recipe let me know and I will get it from the Mrs. and post it..