POPCORN

There really is some popcorn called Princess Popcorn. My son gave me a jar of it for my birthday–he knows who butters his bread! The full name is Petite Princess Amber and apparently the same company (Crown Jewel Gourmet) has others because the label says it “has the smallest kernel size in the Crown Jewel ® Collection”. Well they are not kidding, it really is small. And crunchy. And delicious! I whipped up some popcorn and then whipped out my camera to show you a highly scientific comparison:

Size comparison of three different popcorn types

Both the Jolly Time (purchased at local grocery store) and Princess popcorn (received as gift from darling son) were popped in my previously lauded PowerPop popper. The other popcorn was a microwave-in-a-bag type of popcorn (I think it was Orville Redenbacher, but not completely sure about that–guess I should slow down a wee bit…). Isn’t the Princess Popcorn tiny and cute? As my sister and I are fond of saying, cute food is always good. Let me give you the rest of the skinny from the label on the Princess Popcorn jar:

…the smallest kernel size in the Crown Jewel ® Collection, possibly the smallest in the world. Also, due to its ultra-thin hull, it is the most tender popcorn available anywhere.

This extraordinary hybrid feeds on the rich, dark soil in east-central Iowa and relies solely on the rain provided by mother nature for its water. A low per acre yield makes it difficult and expensive to grow. Superior taste, unparalleled texture and its miniature size make it the most unique and unusual popcorn you will ever try.

Pretty good marketing copy. I definitely give this popcorn a thumbs up, and I may even have to try some others from Crown Jewel Gourmet. Shipping costs for unpopped corn can be relatively expensive due to the weight, so I don’t ordinarily buy it online. It is fun to splurge every once in a while, though! For example, a two pound bag of Princess Popcorn costs US $7.50 for the popcorn and $7.00 for residential delivery. Ouch. Perhaps this is the occasion to get your popcorn loving friends and neighbors together to place one combined order. I did see on their web site that Crown Jewel Gourmet is available at Williams Sonoma stores (though I could not find the popcorn listed on Williams Sonoma’s web site).

The only thing that bugs me about this mini popcorn, is, well, it’s mini. When you are used to savoring a bowl of a particular volume of popcorn, it can be alarming when you are faced with a much smaller amount in your vessel. Just a challenge I will have to try and try to overcome.

Anyone out there have a jewel of a popcorn they’d like to share?

Here in America, popcorn is a crazy popular snack. According to the Popcorn Board (yep, they actually exist–what other snack has a board? Twinkie Board? I think not),

Americans consume 16 billion quarts of popped popcorn annually or 54 quarts per man, woman and child.

And something I found surprising is that

Approximately 70 percent is eaten in the home (home popped and pre-popped) and about 30 percent outside the home (theaters, stadiums, schools, etc.). Unpopped popcorn accounts for approximately 90 percent of sales for home consumption.

(That stat is also from the benevolent Popcorn Board.) So with sales of unpopped popcorn topping $1 billion* in good ol’ American dollars, why is no one blogging about popcorn? It certainly has the popularity. Just think how much more money is being made on popped popcorn. Sales for the Xbox gaming console are estimated at about 28 million units as of January 2009. Let’s round off to $200 a pop, and that’s total sales of $5.6 billion. That is total sales, ever, for the game console.  Popcorn is earning over $1 billion every year. I think you can find tons of blogs related to the Xbox, yes? Why so silent on the popcorn, blog masters?

I am trying to be a responsible blogger, and keep up-to-date and informed about my topic. I am trying to reference outstanding posts related to popcorn. I am trying keep my fingers on the pulse of the mighty popcorn community. But really, there just ain’t much out there. There are business blogs that say they are about popcorn, but in actuality they post about their business. Their business happens to be popcorn-related, but their posts ultimately describe their business and not so much popcorn itself.

Popcorn does go hand in hand with movies, and that is an area where blogs abound. Here is an interesting post exploring a movie theme. The name of the blog is Serious Popcorn, so you have to like that. But other than the title, you aren’t going to get much of a popcorn fix.

Well, stick with me, intrepid reader, and I will try to help fill the popcorn blog void as best I can.

*latest figures from 2005, US sales of unpopped corn, as reported by The Popcorn Board; see complete data here

Even if you go for the plainest, most basic grocery store popcorn, you usually have the choice between white or yellow corn. I used to be a yellow corn person, but more recently I find myself strongly planted in the white camp. Seems odd to me that you don’t get that choice if you buy microwave popcorn–there are different varieties ranging from organic to kettle corn, low fat, movie theater style and even caramel available in microwave popcorn, but I don’t recall ever seeing the choice of yellow or white. Huh. When you buy a bag of popcorn to pop yourself, however, there on the shelf sit the bags of yellow and the bags of white. Yellow corn yields larger popped kernels, while white pops up smaller. What has made the difference for me is that yellow tends to be chewier, and I find I prefer the crispness of the white kernels. I also tend to like the taste a bit better.

But let’s be honest here. I hardly even notice the taste of the actual popcorn that sits underneath all the butter and salt. For what is popcorn but a vessel for getting butter and salt in your mouth? Mmmmmmmm. Which raises the cruel dichotomy of movie theater popcorn: the smell conjures up the taste of buttery goodness, but the reality is much less satisfying. I read somewhere that real butter is actually less expensive than the imitation oily substance on movie theater popcorn, but the cost of refrigeration is what quashes the use of the genuine stuff. Bummer.

I want to be in control of the amount of butter and salt I subject my popcorn to. Not to mention the hydrogenated oil and other somewhat mysterious additives or ingrediants (and not to further mention popcorn lung. Yikes.). Plus, microwave popcorn is relatively expensive, which is the price of convenience. My solution to this  dilemma of the ages is a microwave popper that uses my own corn (and butter and salt and no crazy hydrogenated anything). More convenient, IMHO, and less expensive than a hot air popper, but I get to say what does–and doesn’t–go in it. There are probably several different models out there; I have only tried the Presto PowerPop. It has worked well for me!

Today is Friday, and you know what that means? Movie night. Get popping.