Popcorn! Savoury or Sweet?

Sam at DrizzleandDip’s post on flavoured popcorn reminded me of my father and how much he loved popcorn.  He always ate his popcorn sprinkled with castor sugar; no butter, just castor sugar. When my children made large batches of popcorn in the afternoons to ease them through homework and TV watching, Oupa over in the granny flat would always get a bowl of sugared popcorn.

My kids quickly got experimental with flavours, I remember a period when salt AND sugar (together) were very popular.  Their tastes got more sophisticated, and they moved onto butter, with herbs or chilli, and then caramel, which made the popcorn stick together into huge golden balls, to be chewed at carefully so that one didn’t crack a tooth on an un-popped kernel. 

There were near disasters – pots on fire, several batches in a row burnt, black ceilings, that sort of thing, but they all became pros at popcorn making – I’ve outlined their fool-proof method below.  I bought an air popcorn-maker for the sake of my pots, but they rejected it – apparently the popcorn just never tasted as good.

I’m not too fond of popcorn, but whenever I do make it, I still use a herby, salty, buttery mix to pour over the hot popcorn – then even I can’t resist it!

Here’s our method:

Buttered, Herbed Popcorn

A little oil

Popcorn kernels

Butter

Mixed herbs

Freshly ground salt and pepper

• Into a large pot, pour just enough oil to cover the base, and place 1 popcorn kernel in the oil
• Place the uncovered pot on the stove over a high heat
• Wait until the kernel pops and comes flying out at you – if it just pops and sits in the oil sullenly, scoop it out, because it’ll be the first to burn
• Pour in enough popcorn kernels to cover the base of the pot in a single layer, and now – and this is strongly recommended – put the lid on.
• Wait for the popcorn to start exploding, and remember to give the pot a good shake every now and then
• Remove from the heat when the popping slows right down, and take the lid off carefully when you think it’s safe to do so
• Pour the popcorn into a large bowl, the larger the better
• Put the pot back on the stove over a low heat, and add a good dollop of butter
• Once the butter has melted, add a teaspoon or so of mixed herbs, and a good grinding each of salt and pepper, especially the salt
• Once it’s all blended nicely, pour the butter slowly over the popcorn, whilst stirring the popcorn around to make sure each kernel is well coated
• Enjoy!

Make some changes to this recipe:  adding ground parmesan cheese with the herbs is just delicious, or you could add chilli or curry powder instead of the herbs, also quite delicious, people!

Then, if you need something sweet after all that savoury-ness, try this recipe:

Cinnamon Caramel Popcorn

A little oil

Popcorn

Butter

Sugar

Syrup

Cinnamon

• Make the popcorn as before, but when you pour it into a bowl, make sure there are no un-popped kernels, these will break your teeth
• In a small pot, melt some butter and add a spoon or so each of golden syrup and sugar
• Cook until the sugar is melted and it’s a nice golden colour, and thickened
• Add a few good shakes of cinnamon, stir well
• Pour over the popcorn, stirring thoroughly to coat each kernel
• Enjoy!

Must admit, I now feel I could eat a bowl of popcorn!  Have a great day, everyone.