When the Popcorn Pops

  • By Daphne Ross
  • February 8, 2012
  • 295
                        
Column Summary Do you remember when potato chips, crackers, and marshmallows came in a metal can? Today the process of preparing our favorite snack foods has added a lot of vocabulary word ingredients to their natural flavors. Stick with the basic; popcorn. Snack foods, like most any marketed product, have with time changed their shapes, their ingredients, and their preparation. The first snacks were natural snacks in their truest form; berries, nuts, roots, and fruits. Today you can find eatables in the gas station; airy cheese puffs in crackly plastic bags, formed “potato” chips in tall cardboard cans, and even seasoned broken pretzels in grab-and-go packages. A snack food favorite with varying degrees of fat, calories, sodium, and yes even sugar, is one of those snacks, and it is popcorn. But popcorn eaten for its own true flavor is what I grew up with, well except for maybe the stove-top melted butter drizzled over it and salt of course. This was a basic popcorn snack. My Grandpa Miller grew popcorn, in the front field near the road. I thought this was special knowing he grew my favorite snack. His other fields of corn, wheat, and oats, they were just grains I did not care much about, even though my morning cereal bowl depended on him. In my child’s mind I see the seeds planted, green sprouts popping up through the brown earth, and green stalks towering towards the sky, urged by the sun, quenched by the rain. And in the high heat of a July afternoon, I wondered, would the field begin to pop as hot as it is today, snow would not fall; popcorn would blanket the field with white crunch. In Grandma Barton’s kitchen us three kids would gather around the stove and watch the Jiffy Pop foil ball untwist and rise as the kernels and oil on the inside performed amazing magic. In Grandma Miller’s kitchen we would gather around her country stove and watch oil poured into a pan, listen to kernel beads pour into the oil, listen to the heated sizzle, and with great excitement listen for that first pop; peaking under the lid put us to the edge of snack food excitement. At Christmas time both grandmothers would pop corn, cook-up gooey syrup, and then form popcorn balls, wrapping them in squares of wax paper. And caramel corn with peanuts slow baking in the big turkey roaster was a treat made throughout the year. We snacked well. Nowadays when we pop corn at home, I don’t stand in front of my microwave, my nose pushed up against the glass, waiting for the final pop. A rising bag in the microwave never has the magic, like a stainless steel pan shaken across the burner coil or a Jiffy Pop rising on the stove. Salty popcorn brings back the sweetest memories. Pop tonight! Send your favorite recipes to: Country Cupboard, 5973 Blachleyville Rd., Wooster, OH, 44691. Emails are always welcome; thewritecook@sssnet.com Crispy Caramel Corn (Ruth Leinbach, Greenwich) 2 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup white corn syrup 1 teaspoon salt 2 sticks margarine 1/2 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon vanilla 7 quarts popped corn Boil brown sugar, corn syrup and salt for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and mix well. Pour into pans. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Stir several times during baking. Pizza Popcorn 2 1/2 quarts popped popcorn, salted 1/3 cup butter 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon salt Place popcorn in an ungreased 13x9 baking pan. Melt butter in a small saucepan; add remaining ingredients. Pour over popcorn and mix well. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Honey Roasted Popcorn 1/3 cup honey 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup brown sugar 4 cups popcorn 1/2 tablespoon milk Mix in a bowl the honey, butter, brown sugar, and milk. Add popcorn. Mix. Spread on a pan and bake at 375 degrees for 10 min. Watch carefully. Cheese Popcorn 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn 1/4 cup butter, melted 3 tablespoons cooking oil 1 (1 1/2 ounce) envelope cheese sauce mix Pop corn in hot oil according to package. Place popcorn in large bowl. Pour butter over warm popcorn. Toss to coat. Add dry cheese sauce mix toss again. Cinnamon Popcorn 2 sticks butter 1 (9 1/2 ounce) package red hots 1/2 cup white karo syrup 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon oil 14 to 16 cups popped popcorn Mix butter, red hots and syrup together in heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 to 7 minutes until mixture is clear. Remove from heat and add cinnamon oil. Stir thoroughly and pour over popcorn. Stir well and put in 225 degree oven for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes. Chocolate Caramel Popcorn 1 (14 ounce) package caramels 1 (6 ounce) package chocolate chips 1/4 cup water 4 quarts popped popcorn Place caramels, chocolate chips and water in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth. Stir every minute. Place popcorn in a large bowl. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn. Let cool for a few minutes. Toss until well-coated. Jell-O Flavored Popcorn 2 sticks butter 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup dark corn syrup 4 tablespoon Jell-O (any flavor) 1/2 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon vanilla 16 cups popped popcorn Melt butter in saucepan. Add sugar and syrup and melt. Boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in Jell-O, soda and vanilla; pour over popcorn. Bake at 250 degrees for 15 minutes, stir and bake 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and break into pieces. Cool in clean bowls or pans, or it will stick. White Chocolate Pecan Popcorn 1 bag microwave popcorn 10 ounces almond bark 1/2 cup pecan halves Prepare popcorn in microwave. Put popcorn in large bowl. Melt almond bark in a 1 quart glass cup. Microwave on High for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Stir to melt completely. Stir in pecan halves. Mix with popcorn. Mix well. Spread on cookie sheet. Allow to cool completely. Makes 2 quarts. Healthy Popcorn Snacks 4 gallons popped popcorn 4 gallon size ice cream buckets 3/4 cup melted butter 1 teaspoon cinnamon & 4 teaspoons sugar 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese Dry taco or chili seasoning mix To each of 3 gallons of popped popcorn stir in 1/4 cup of melted butter and mix in the following: Bucket #1 unbuttered Bucket #2 - add cinnamon/sugar. Bucket #3 -add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bucket #4 - add dry taco or chili seasoning mix. Store for economical variety snacks.


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