School’s back in session, and my school runs, field trip planning, and lunchbox prepping have resumed. What is a healthy snack that we all love in this house? Popcorn 🙂
History
Corn has an impressive history. It began “as a wild grass called teosinte in southwestern Mexico, according to research compiled by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. Corn was probably cultivated as a domesticated crop around 9,000 years ago, but it wasn’t until 2012 that archaeologists unearthed the first evidence of popcorn in Peru: 6,700-year-old corn cobs studded with puffed kernels.
Thanks to its versatility, nutrition, and possibly the fact that dried kernels were popped and “easily consumable with the simplest of technologies: fire,” according to Michael Blake in Maize for the Gods at Amazon, there’s evidence that the nimble grain was grown and consumed all over Mesoamerica, South America, and North America” (Michelle Delgado, “The History of Popcorn: How One Grain Became a Staple Snack,” seriouseats.com)
Early American settlers adopted corn, including popcorn, and learned to grow and to cultivate it, cementing its wide availability and enduring popularity for centuries to come. For more information on the rich history of corn in the Americas, you are welcome to check out this Smithsonian article.
Popcorn is one of several types of corn grown and harvested throughout the world. “Although other varieties of corn, such as flint and dent, can pop into a crunchy puff, nothing becomes a fluffy snack quite like proper popping corn. This is due to its unique combination of a tough exterior, a densely packed and starchy interior, and 14 to 20% moisture by weight” (Sohla El-Waylly, “The Best Way to Make Popcorn,” seriouseats.com) We couldn’t agree more: this is the best, fluffiest snack ever 🙂
Notable facts
Popcorn has fiber, is naturally low in fat and calories, and is sugar free, gluten free, and non-GMO, which makes it a great choice for day-to-day snacking.
Americans eat the most popcorn worldwide – some 14 billion quarts (average based on 2016-2020 sales) of popped popcorn each year. That amounts to about 43 quarts per person! We love it so much that we even have a special day for it – National Popcorn Day, on January 19 🙂
Why Make It at Home?
Instead of buying ready-made popcorn from the grocery store (some of which may include rather unhealthy additions), you can make popcorn at home, which is advantageous from several perspectives:
- You control the ingredients
- The popcorn is made “on demand” and it is super fresh
- It is a fun activity for the kids to observe
Method
- To make popcorn, you need a pot, popcorn kernels, and oil.
- My go-to ratio is 1 tbsp oil per 1 cup popcorn kernels.
- Place 1tbsp oil (I like to use coconut oil) and 2-3 kernels in the pot over medium heat, put the lid on, and wait for these “test” kernels to pop.
- Once they pop, the oil has reached optimal temperature, and you can take the pot off the stove, and carefully add the remaining kernels, making sure they are evenly coated in oil, and evenly distributed inside the pot. Add a little bit more oil for even coating, if needed.
- Place the pot with the lid on back on the stove, and wait for the kernels to pop over medium heat, slightly cracking the lid from time to time to allow the steam to escape.
- Once the kernels have finished popping, turn off the heat, move the fresh popcorn from the pot into a bowl, and add salt and/or your seasoning(s) of choice, tossing the popcorn to allow for even distribution of the seasoning.
- The lid is very important, otherwise the kernels will “fly” across the room during cooking!
If pressed for time, you can definitely skip the “test” part above, and place the popcorn kernels and the oil in the pot all at once. I have used both methods successfully.
Here in the US, I used to get 20oz bags of certified non-GMO popcorn kernels from Dollar Tree. These days, I buy them in bulk online from Azure Standard. They sell an amazing variety of organic popcorn kernels, along with coconut oil, and cheddar cheese powder and apple pie spice, which we use as popcorn seasonings. I love the latter, while our children love the former (they don’t have a sweet tooth, lol) Azure Standard also sell nutritional yeast, which can be used in lieu of powdered cheddar as a vegan seasoning.
For ready-made popcorn, I recommend Cretors, which I wrote about here. For excellent non-popcorn snacks that are perfect for school lunchboxes, I recommend Mary’s Gone Crackers and Mary’s Gone Kookies. I wrote about these here and here.
Do you make popcorn at home? What is your favorite popcorn seasoning? Let me know in the comments 🙂
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