Whole Grain Weekends- Popcorn!
I decided that this weekend would be the perfect time to participate in Whole Grain Weekends, inspired by the lovely Adrie over at Fields and Fire. Considering that I missed a Wednesday Food Post this past week, I thought it perfect timing and a good excuse to post about one of my favorite snacks.
Popcorn. Did you know that popcorn is a whole grain? I’ll tell you a secret… I really didn’t like popcorn for a long time. I thought it was always either too bland or too salty, got stuck in my teeth, and was always smothered in that yucky buttery topping that just tasted fake to me. Not to mention that there was a high likelihood that it would all burn in the process of making it. No thank you. But then it all changed…
I got one of these stove top popcorn poppers as a gift one year. Popcorn got a bit better for me. It also rarely burned. I’ve found this to be true even when I pop popcorn in a pot with a lid- i found that it was only an issue with the microwave popcorn in a bag. 
Eventually, I found my favorite way to eat popcorn, and I eat it often. I like it so much, I don’t even really mind it getting stuck in my teeth. It’s the price you pay for this delicious and very nutritious snack! So, without further ado- popcorn done right (according to me):
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Melt about a tablespoon of coconut oil or bacon fat in the popper (or pot- be sure to have a lid to cover!) on the highest heat setting on your stove. When that starts to melt and steam a bit, add a half cup of popcorn kernels. Cover and stir to coat with the fat. Within a couple of minutes it should start to pop! This is when you either stir the handle of your popper or shake your pot until the popping slows to almost nothing. Then you shake it all out into a big bowl. 
I season by drizzling a couple of tablespoons of melted butter over the whole thing, then add a sprinkling of good Celtic sea salt, several cracks of black pepper, and a small handful of nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast is totally necessary in my mind- it’s super nutritious and is just SO delicious on popcorn. 
Voila! One of the simplest, fastest, cheapest, most crowd-pleasing snacks ever. I love it, kids love it, and it’s a snack that I can really stand behind.
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Jake loves popcorn as a snack too, and we only do the whole kernel kind now. Having pre-packaged microwave popcorn now just tastes awful. I think it has to do with the powdered butter ‘stuff’ that’s in it.
Have you tried adding cinnamon or nutmeg to the popcorn? It adds a slightly nutty, sweet flavor that is a bit different from the usual savory kind we enjoy.
Yum! I love popcorn with nutritional yeast! Have you tried Dill on popcorn? Sooo good!
Nutritional yeast is SO good on popcorn! Yum!
Yum! We have popcorn 5 times a week or so; it’s Paul’s department. He usually tops with coconut oil and sea salt, but sometimes does 1/2 butter and 1/2 coconut oil (he calls it “Arnold Palmer popcorn”). We’ve tried it with the nutritional yeast, but neither of us liked that flavor.
My friend Carrie brought a big bag of popcorn with butter, kelp powder (!) and sea salt on a little adventure we took recently, and it disappeared rapidly. What a perfect snack.
You and I make our popcorn almost the same way. I fucking love nutritional yeast on my popcorn!
😀
good for you for photographing and writing about and enjoying something so simple.
I have never had popcorn made any other way other than the microwave. How sad is that?! I don’t like it and never thought to try it another way. Now I’m intrigued. 😛
This is exactly how I eat my popcorn. Sometimes instead of sea salt I use Tony’s Creole seasoning, AKA seasoned salt without sugar or MSG. Mmmm….
Popcorn is my favorite carrier for butter and salt, both of which I crave quite often. 🙂
yum!
Yummy, thanks so much for sharing this. Unfortunately, due to some spamming issues, I’m having to delete the linky widget. Could you kindly post a comment with a link to your post? Thank you again!
Adrie