Bad Thing / Good Thing

[hyldemoer]

I'd stopped eating popcorn when I realized how high it's carbohydrate level was, especially when there were no extra fats in it to slow those carbohydrates down when its hot air popped.
Then my teacher in a nutrition class (that was part of the program at herb school) said added lipids could slow my body's digestion of the carbohydrates and suggested I use cod liver oil on pop corn since I was taking cod liver oil in the winter for vitamin D anyway.
(Its not so bad if one isn't eating the oil straight and by the spoon full. Some times one of the extra flavorings I add to the popped corn is dulse flakes and who knows which is fishier smelling.)

I suppose I could use popped corn to ingest my daily dosage of Omega 3 and 6 oil (a blend I take when I discovered just my body needed more than the Omega 3s I was supplimenting into my diet), but that oil blend I don't mind straight on my salads (with a bit of vinegar) or cooked vegetables (with a spray of tamari sauce).

If I were going to pop the corn on the stove or in a popper that used oil I probably would use the oil I use for all high heat cooking, coconut oil. Saturated oils don't deteriorate into transfats under heat as unsaturated fats do.

I feel sometimes heat distroys a flavor I might be looking for of an oil. If I wanted the flavor of butter on my popcorn I still wouldn't actually cook the corn in it. I'd melt the butter and pour it over the corn AFTER it popped, the same with any other flavorings I wanted to actually taste.

To those over in Europe,
salt and butter are probably the most traditional flavorings on popcorn here in the USA. There are "gourmet" popcorn stores that sell popcorn with all sorts of flavors on it though. Most grocery stores sell flavored salts especially for popcorn.
A company I used to buy my bulk herbs from even has a couple popcorn flavoring products. I tried free samples of them at herb conferences and they weren't half bad, (though they contained a lot more chemicals than I felt I needed to ingest).

I think caramel corn became nationally popular when a product called "Crackerjack" came on the market decades ago.
Crackerjacks are carameled popcorn and peanuts. I recall, as a child, only eating the peanuts of the blend (if that much) and that was only after emptying the box in a bowl to find the surprise toy (trinket) that came in every box.

My goodness, how times have changed!

[izzarina]

But consider the upside: you have a job. You can afford cheese!

and popcorn - and especially WHISTLES!!!

I'd prefer a nice wine with cheese.

You've been hanging around Slood Dood again, haven't you, Denny?

[izzarina]

Popcorn cannot be popped unless you use either peanut or coconut oil (unless of course you have allergies). I hate the way it tastes popped in vegetable oil

[jsluder]

and popcorn - and especially WHISTLES!!!

I'd prefer a nice wine with cheese.

You've been hanging around Slood Dood again, haven't you, Denny?

Nah. I'd've said "whine with cheese".

[Denny]

I'd prefer a nice wine with cheese.

You've been hanging around Slood Dood again, haven't you, Denny?

Nah. I'd've said "whine with cheese".

southerner...

[Nanohedron]

Salty-sweet popcorn is a big draw at local fairs.

Around here that's called "kettle corn" and they pop it in a very big old black cast iron kettle with a hinged lid. Yummy!

It's called that here, too.

I don't have much of a sweet tooth at all, but kettle corn is indeed tasty. Last time I had some must have been oh, say, ten years ago, and I'm still good: the hardly-any-sweet-tooth thing, you see. But I don't remember it in a particularly negative way.

[cowtime]

Salty-sweet popcorn is a big draw at local fairs.

Around here that's called "kettle corn" and they pop it in a very big old black cast iron kettle with a hinged lid. Yummy!

It's called that here, too.

I don't have much of a sweet tooth at all, but kettle corn is indeed tasty. Last time I had some must have been oh, say, ten years ago, and I'm still good: the hardly-any-sweet-tooth thing, you see. But I don't remember it in a particularly negative way.

I don't eat a lot of sweets either(except in Dec ). I just love the combination slightly sweet/salty taste of the stuff.

[Innocent Bystander]

My work out partner sometimes uses popcorn as a test bed for spices.

Half fill a paper bag with popcorn, add oil, and then add garlic powder/lemon zest/curry powder/chili pepper/rosemary or what ever combination that he wants to try out. Shake it up for a bit and snack. Due to the mild flavor of popcorn, it gives him a feel for how the spices mix without making the whole meal.


I have yet to try this, but I do have some extra sumac and wasabi powder, or perhaps sour grape powder (Ghoura Angure (sp?)).

That sounds like a tasty idea!

[Nanohedron]

I just love the combination slightly sweet/salty taste of the stuff.

Yes. One could almost call the pairing evil.

[seisflutes]

I tried a couple times to make kettle corn at home, but without success. I was winging it, and didn't wing it very well. This thread has inspired me to look for a recipe, and now I know where I went wrong and what I should do instead!
Apparently one is supposed to put the popcorn in the oil, wait for it to start moving around, and before it starts popping, sprinkle the sugar on. And then shake it a lot until it's done. Then salt.
I am so making popcorn when I get home.

[Innocent Bystander]

My sister is a Dulse fanatic. I'll have to suggest she puts it in flakes on her popcorn. I'm not sure she'll go for that.

So do you ever eat Dulse straight, Hylde?

[Scott McCallister]

...
After popping the corn in a hot air popper I usually pour a few teaspoons of cod liver oil on it ...

Ooof.

[hyldemoer]

My sister is a Dulse fanatic. I'll have to suggest she puts it in flakes on her popcorn. I'm not sure she'll go for that.

So do you ever eat Dulse straight, Hylde?

Sometimes I munch on toasted sheets of "seaweed laver" that is usually used to make maki rolls but I think that counts more as an algae product.

No, usually my seaweed consumption is when I use it to make soup in the Asian traditions.

Isn't seaweed traditionally used in soups in Ireland as well?

[hyldemoer]

...
After popping the corn in a hot air popper I usually pour a few teaspoons of cod liver oil on it ...

Ooof.

I think the hardest part about taking cod liver oil is that most people try to take it straight and by the spoonfull.
It doesn't help that there always seems to be someone sitting across the table gagging just by watching you trying to do it.

Consuming any oil is pretty much disgusting that way.
Like I said, I have no fear of lipids. I use them to slow down my digestion of carbohydrates.

Folks talk about how great butter is on popcorn.
I agree.
Butter tastes good on and in all sorts of foods.

When my daughter was a small child I had to hide the butter (unsalted) in the back of the refrigerator because she'd get up on Saturday mornings and get herself a stick of butter to eat plain as she sat in front of the TV watching cartoons.
She'd peal the wrapper off as she ate the stick of butter as if it were a candy bar.

A yummy stick of plain butter eaten like a candy bar, are we gagging yet?

CLO isn't half bad on popcorn with some other seasonings.