Perfect Homemade Popcorn

 Last Sunday night Benzo and I finished up our weekend by sitting down to watch Food, Inc.  I had been on the waiting list to check it out from the library for forever, so I was very excited when it was finally my turn.  But when I brought it home we never could find time to sit down and watch it, and before I knew it my 7-day check-out period was up and the movie was overdue.  I kept it anyway because I didn’t want to put my name at the bottom of the list again.  The library fines are only 15 cents per day anyway.

Before we settled down we made homemade popcorn!  Did you know that popcorn is a whole grain?  Yep!  If you make it at home yourself it can be a very healthy snack.  Just watch the toppings and use a healthy oil.  I love using grapeseed oil to make popcorn at home.  There’s just something about the flavor of the oil that goes really well with fresh popped popcorn and a tiny bit of salt.

Perfect Homemade Popcorn
Serves 2-4

1/4 cup oil – any kind will work but try grapeseed sometime
1/2 cup popcorn
Sprinkle of fine sea salt

In a large pot heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add popcorn and cover. 

Wait until you hear the first kernal pop.  Then  shake the pan back and forth every few seconds to prevent the kernals from sticking and burning and to get the unpopped kernals to the bottom so they can pop in the oil.

We have a glass top stove so Benzo picks the pan up off the stove top to shake it, then sets it back on the burner.  He does this to avoid scratching the stovetop.  If you have coil burners you can probably just shake it back and forth on the burner.

When you no longer hear kernals popping or there is a long time between pops, remove pot from heat.  Dump popcorn into a large bowl and sprinkle with a bit of salt.  A little goes a long way so use a light hand!

Benzo popped almost every kernal and did not burn a single one!

I have been recently inspired by Chocolate-Covered Katie’s love of coconut butter, so I bought some of my own this weekend.  I was dying to try it immediately so I drizzled some on a small bowl of popcorn.

It was good, but honestly I wasn’t blown away.  Maybe popcorn isn’t the right vessel for coconut butter?  I’m looking forward to trying it on other things though!

There are so many other options for popcorn toppings.  I’ve read that you can sprinkle nutrional yeast on popcorn.  I should’ve tried it but didn’t remember until later.  Next time!  You can also top popcorn with cayenne pepper, cocoa powder or season salt.  I actually have an entire cookbook on popcorn that I need to read to find some new and adventurous toppings.

What do you like to put on your popcorn?

P.S. Food, Inc. was really informative.  I’m very glad I took the time to watch it.  I took some notes and hope to post some of my thoughts later this week.  Everyone should watch this movie!