I bought this Microwave Popper and used the Black Jewell kernals. Almost all of my kernals popped, but I found that a lot of the kernals were only half popped (there was still a lot of hull left when the kernal was partially popped). So is this due to the popper or the kernals?

When popping corn on the stovetop, has anyone found different/better results using corn oil as opposed to other vegetable oils? I'm in search of a type of roasted flavor, lost in my youth that I've been unable to recover in my adulthood. Switching white kernels in place of yellow helped a little, but I need something more, that crunchy "oomph" that's missing from my recent popping attempts.

Pucca wrote:I bought this Microwave Popper and used the Black Jewell kernals. Almost all of my kernals popped, but I found that a lot of the kernals were only half popped (there was still a lot of hull left when the kernal was partially popped). So is this due to the popper or the kernals?

I've been working through my first bag of Black Jewel and finding a similar situation, even though I use a stove-top handle-crank popper. I've been using this popper for years with standard yellow popcorn and having much less, so I'm going to guess that it's the corn.

The good thing is that I like eating the half-popped kernels!

We found one of those bowls for microwave use a couple years ago and find it very satisfactory. It's a Presto "Power Pop" and it produces fewer unpopped kernels per batch than any method I have ever used.
It was about $20.

I favor a load of garlic butter on my corn.

I experimented with different oils and found that corn oil is the best (which makes a certain amount of sense). If you use corn oil, oftentimes you don't even need the butter on top, not that I have any moral quibbles with butter. I also found that a thick-bottomed aluminum pot works better than a thin aluminum pot or a heavy cast-iron kettle, which was a surprise since I assumed the cast-iron would work the best, but it burned every time no matter how low I kept the flame.

I recently purchased a bag of Trader Joe's organic popcorn kernels. I just finished my first batch in my Nordicware bowl in the microwave (no oil). The popcorn was light, fluffy, and fully popped (no partially popped duds in this batch)! I nuked it for a little more than 2.5 minutes and only had a few unpopped kernals at the bottom b/c I was afraid of burning them. I highly recommend these kernels!

Thanks for the rec, Pucca. I'll have to check that out.

Can you tell me a little more about the bowl? What did you cover it with?

Saint Pizza wrote:Can you tell me a little more about the bowl? What did you cover it with?

Sure, it's this bowl that I also linked up above. I believe it's available at Target as well.

Oh, I never posted the winner we eventually settled on after trying quite a few:

Rainbow Ladyfinger

small, very tender kernels. pops cleanly.

Heirloom Popcorn Helps a Snack Reinvent Itself

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/dinin ... egion&_r=0

I grew a small cluster of cornstalks from the gem corn kernels, which I am told is "Pop" corn, that someone brought to the holiday party. As some of you know, my "farm" is actually my deck and the corn grew in pots and managed to get a surprising number of ears. My corn counselor (Freezer Pig) says they're not ready to pick quite yet but as soon as they are, you'll be the first to see the results. There's definitely a few that have some thickness--can't wait to see what's in there!!

boudreaulicious wrote:I grew a small cluster of cornstalks from the gem corn kernels, which I am told is "Pop" corn, that someone brought to the holiday party. As some of you know, my "farm" is actually my deck and the corn grew in pots and managed to get a surprising number of ears. My corn counselor (Freezer Pig) says they're not ready to pick quite yet but as soon as they are, you'll be the first to see the results. There's definitely a few that have some thickness--can't wait to see what's in there!!

Mamagotcha is your someone.

Dave148 wrote:

Heirloom Popcorn Helps a Snack Reinvent Itself

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/dinin ... ket-region®ion=pocket-region&WT.nav=pocket-region&_r=0

I can vouch for Tiny But Mighty - I'm certainly biased, as I know the family personally, and am friends with the Marketing and Social Media Manager of TBM (who incidentally lives in Chicago and has a great blog here: http://citygirlcountryroots.blogspot.com/). They are not big, fluffy kernels that some like - but are tiny, crunchy kernels (when compared to, say, Orville Redenbacher or even the Eden Organic brand from Whole Foods) that pack a lot of flavor (relatively...).

I'm a fan of Winona Pure Popcorn Movie Theater Butter Flavored canola spray. It's much better than any of the other "fake butter" toppings that I've come across. They have it at Jewel in the oil section, not the popcorn section (of course!).

To me, there is nothing like the movie theater popcorn cooked in coconut oil and of course the fake buttery topping. I used to get a case of Mega-Pop and cook it on the stove with my Whirly-Pop. I even bought a gallon of the movie theater topping. Man it was good, but I used too much topping and salt and it wasn't helping my body out. The Whirly Pop broke and I haven't replaced it yet. I'm debating the health factors of that decision.

We only use 'Tiny but Mighty', unless we can't find it. Whole Foods is often sold out, but lately Sunset has been carrying it.

I think tomorrow I will try with either ghee or coconut oil. I don't know why I never thought of that before. I have an electric bowl popper.

Coconut oil is great for popping, but if I have it on hand, I use bacon grease -- no need for additional butter.

I've found that farmers' markets often have wonderful options, including red, black, and white popcorns -- each one offering a different advantage.

The widest selection of popcorn varieties I've seen locally is at The Popcorn Shoppe in Long Grove.
http://longgrovepopcorn.com/Long_Grove_ ... lcome.html

pairs4life wrote:I think tomorrow I will try with either ghee or coconut oil. I don't know why I never thought of that before. I have an electric bowl popper.

I made Tiny But Mighty with coconut oil, and it was awesome. Salt only, no butter, and I can say I've never had a better bowl of popcorn. I have some bacon grease in the fridge that I'll use next, but I can't imagine ever going back to an oil other than coconut.

jordanhojo wrote:

pairs4life wrote:I think tomorrow I will try with either ghee or coconut oil. I don't know why I never thought of that before. I have an electric bowl popper.

I made Tiny But Mighty with coconut oil, and it was awesome. Salt only, no butter, and I can say I've never had a better bowl of popcorn. I have some bacon grease in the fridge that I'll use next, but I can't imagine ever going back to an oil other than coconut.

Coconut oil at Sunset was $16 for 14 Oz.

Are you guys seriously paying that kind of money?

Coconut oil at Sunset was $16 for 14 Oz.

Are you guys seriously paying that kind of money?

Well, it IS Sunset, you know.

You want to go to an Asian market for it (particularly Filipino places), or a place like Marketplace on Oakton. Cheap as chips, though more expensive than it used to be, alas.

54 oz for 15.99 at Costco.

Sam's is temporarily out of coconut oil, but they normally have a good price.

Trader Joe's does pretty well, at $5.99 for 16oz.

Those are for beautiful, fragrant, organic coconut oils. If you don't care if your oil actually tastes like coconut, then you can get really cheap coconut oil at Super H Mart.

Fresh pop Amish Country Popcorn dusted with zaatar = snack. #homecooking #socialdistancingcooking



Amish Country Popcorn, count me a Fan!

Looks great, Gary.

Speaking of popcorn, Alton Brown recently updated his popcorn method via a video posted at youtube . . .


Pantry Raid: Popcorn Edition

=R=

Excellent find! I happen to have ghee from a recent Culinary Historians meeting.

Just the other day, I popped a Jiffy Pop with the magic expanding foil turban of goodness. The sounds of the fat melting in the video were identical to the Jiffy Pop.

I cannot wait to see my family's reaction to using my stainless steel mixing bowl.

This is great.

Thanks!

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Excellent find! I happen to have ghee from a recent Culinary Historians meeting.

Just the other day, I popped a Jiffy Pop with the magic expanding foil turban of goodness. The sounds of the fat melting in the video were identical to the Jiffy Pop.

I cannot wait to see my family's reaction to using my stainless steel mixing bowl.

This is great.

Thanks!

Yeah, I just stumbled upon it. I'm not an Alton Brown follower but it was one of those 'you watched that, so you might like this' suggestions at youtube. Pretty interesting method. I'm definitely going to try it soon, too.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Speaking of popcorn, Alton Brown recently updated his popcorn method via a video posted at youtube . . .
Pantry Raid: Popcorn Edition

I watched AB's recent popcorn video, and I love me some Alton (generally). I found his bowl/foil method interesting but overly complicated, an ingenious solution to a non existent problem, so to speak. Please don't misunderstand, I don't mean difficult, just that there were more moving parts than necessary. AB's Turkey Frying technique is a perfect example of what I mean. AB's buzzing kosher salt in a food processor to fine powder is a good idea, though that's been around for years, including on LTH. Link

My technique, as I am sure many LTHers and cooks in general, is film neutral oil in a heavy bottom pot, add two kernels of popcorn, when they pop remove/eat, layer popcorn in even layer, cover.
Shake, shake, shake, shake
When popping slows to just a few pops pour in a big bowl.
Lightly salt.
Use residual heat in pot to melt butter.
Add flavor, Zaatar, chili oil, cheese powder etc.

Before someone states the obvious, sure, AB's method looks fun, probably works well, but uses foil, multiple side towels, a heavy stainless bowl of suitable size, that many don't have on hand etc.

Also, yes, I know, you can add salt, flavorings etc to the oil, butter or both. I simply outlined my basic method.

Note: I've long since switched from Jolly Time, Orville Redenbacher and/or other types of gourmet popcorn to Amish Popcorn.

Fill The Box is a decent deal, Mushroom Popcorn, (shape, not flavor), Extra Large Caramel, Baby White, Rainbow Ladyfinger, Baby Yellow, all delicious. Amish has a good selection of hulless popcorn as well. I haven't tried them all but, about 4 years ago, tried 9-10 to make bacon caramel corn (1200 portions for Baconfest) and settled on Mushroom both for flavor and size. Amish Popcorn sells from 1/lb to 25/lb.

Amish also has the best microwave popcorn I've tasted. I (very) occasionally use this and once bought my father a box of 60 just to hear his reaction. (Nothing says excess like excess)

I should add I'm tempted to try a Whirley Pop, Kenji sings its praise. Link

YMMV

We have used a Whirley Pop for probably 20 years. Tried other methods occasionally, but come back to the WP.

Have also tried many brands and our current favorite is the somewhat hard to find Bob's. Hard to find in a brick and mortar, even if they have a large selection of Bob's products. They make a white and yellow, and prefer the white, but only slightly. Great flavor and texture, not tough, and never seen so few unpopped kernels, usually none. Most of the heirloom brands tend to be tough.

We did get a bag of a red heirloom variety in our last Rancho Gordo shipment. We thought it was our second favorite, but more expensive and and not as gentle on your teeth.

Gary, you should give Bob's a try, we stopped using the Amish popcorn due to some batches being pretty tough on our teeth/crowns.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:Gary, you should give Bob's a try, we stopped using the Amish popcorn due to some batches being pretty tough on our teeth/crowns.

Al, thanks, I'll give Bob's a try. If you find some types of Amish popcorn tough try one of the hulless varieties, tender with good flavor. Amish Popcorn, Hulless

Just checked Bob's Red Mill web site, they are out of both white and yellow popcorn. I recently read somewhere there is a run on popcorn kernels, I'll try back in a few weeks.

I use a mixture of half olive oil and half butter. When the corn is popped, I liberally sprinkle it with Old Bay Seasoning.