Best Popcorn

Before discussing the best popcorn, here's a little about our site:

This website is devoted to popcorn and has everything from popcorn recipes, to nutritional guides to popcorn popper reviews to, well – everything! The best place to start looking depends upon what Information you want to find:

1. Look at the menu at the top of the page and click on any Popcorn Topic that interests you. If you don't see a specific Popcorn topic or page there then:
2. Look at the Categories to the right hand side. For example If you want to buy some fantastic Gourmet Popcorn then click on one of the categories on the right like "Flavored Popcorn" to see all of are articles and sources for Gourmet flavored Popcorn!
3. If you are looking for a specific Product like the best popcorn popper or a Gourmet Gift Basket, then click on the page closest to that subject and then on any of the hand picked advertisements on that or any page. Every product and every vendor has been carefully selected by us so it is quality or its out!
4. Use the Search feature - If you want to make popcorn and don't know how or want a special recipe then click on the FREE Recipes page! If it is Just Chocolate you want then enter "Chocolate" in the search field and click "Search"!

So what is the Best Popcorn?

We realize that this is a somewhat personal decision so we went with the wisdom of the masses and searched the rankings from consumer votes on places like Amazon.com (where people who actually purchase a product rate it afterwords – and Yes Amazon does carry some of the best) . Note that we did not go by which brand or type had the best sales but which had the best user ratings.

After our ranking of the best popcorn on this our home page, we give you an overview of THE BEST seasoning, toppings, Recipes, facts and information. We also give you instructions on how to find everything you need to know by clicking on the links in the right sidebar or the header of this page. For example You can click on this link  to read our  Popcorn Machines for Sale Guide!

Here is our choice for the Best Popcorn  that you can buy:

Wisconsin based Based Fireworks Popcorn – 3 pack Gourmet

OK we cheated on our number one pick! This is a 3 pack of Wisconsin's finest (not just one flavor)

This popcorn is known for:

1. Its thin hulls (less to get caught between your teeth).
   
2. Excellent flavor (yes it actually has a flavor of its own without salt and butter or any toppings)
   
3. High pop rate with almost no kernels left over.
   

The three pack contains:

1) Red River Valley

2) High Mountain Midnight Popcorn

3) Wisconsin White Birch.

It is available at Amazon.com  link to the right of this article in the list we have of our favorite products!

Or Direct thru the Fireworks Popcorn Lovers website at this link: FireworksPopcorn

What makes the Kernels  POP?

As everyone knows the outside of a popcorn kernel is hard. Not only is it hard but it is moisture proof. Inside the kernel there is moisture, protein and starchy oil. When you heat a popcorn kernel hot enough the moisture turns to steam and as it does it builds up pressure until the strong outer hull can't contain it anymore and it pops. When it pops the pressure is suddenly released outward which expands the starch and protein in the kernel into a puffy white foam. This foam cools and hardens almost instantly into the classic popcorn!! If you want the history of Popcorn or want to know more about why it pops then we suggest you click on this link and check out Wikipedias Popcorn History and Info

Also NASA has an excellent website page on the history of Popcorn and everything about popcorn. Why does NASA have a web page on Popcorn Kernels? I do not know. But here is the link to NASA's Popcorn Kernel Page!

7 Reasons why Popcorn Is Healthy:

1. It has more protein than any other cereal grain.
2. It is naturally  sugar-free, fat free and low in calories.
3. The hull and outer layers are rich in iron, phosphorous and protein (remember that before shopping for hull less Popcorn!
4. It  has more iron than eggs, peanuts, spinach, or roast beef so is popcorn healthy? YES!
5. It is a whole grain that contains 40 or more nutrients. 40 or more nutrients! So is popcorn healthy again it is !
6. The "germ" in the popcorn kernel contains all of the B complex vitamins, plus vitamin E,
7. It also has Riboflavin and Thiamine.

Here is the Truth about this healthy snack:

Three cups of Plain Popcorn that is un-buttered, no oil, air-popped popcorn, only has about 90 Calories!!

Thats 3 cups of  folks. Heck you could have 6 cups and have less fat then just about any candy bar on the planet.

So NO! Popcorn IS NOT Fattening and it IS NOT high in calories!!

Special Salt is part of the secret

One of popcorn’s favorite seasoning, if not the favorite is  Salt.  While Salt is known to bring out the flavor in most food that is not where the story ends.

First off, Popcorn Salt is not "regular" Table salt. And that is part of the secret  that we discuss in the next section.

The other part of the secret is that there are many kinds of salt coming from different sources. at the end of this article we give you a great Sea Salt Popcorn Recipe. Did you know that there are many kinds of sea salt? Sea salt is made by evaporating seawater but seawater form different places have different subtle flavors> different kinds of  sea salt include Black Celtic, French Grey, Hawaiian, etc!

Seasoning – Variety Popcorn Seasonings that will surprise you

As I said at the start we all know the basic popcorn seasoning and flavors because that is what you are exposed to Most often. To give you an idea of whats out there here is a bullet point list. This is no a complete list of all Popcorn Seasoning because really, you can season Popcorn with any flavor you like. This is just to get the conversation started:

• White Cheddar and Bacon Salt! Popcorn Seasoning (as seen in the photo above – it is great)

• Traditional Movie Theater Butter Popcorn Flavoring

• Cajun Seasoning

• Cheddar Cheese Popcorn Seasoning

• Other Cheese & Spice Popcorn Seasoning Combo's

• Chocolate Popcorn Topping and Gourmet Popcorn topping (Pretty much any chocolate you choose)

• Chocolate Caramel (Note this is a dual topping. Caramel first. Let it cool, then the chocolate second)

• Kettle Corn Popcorn Coating

• Nacho Cheese Popcorn Seasoning

• Parmesan Garlic

• Traditional Popcorn Salt Seasoning – or Sea Salt or even Garlic Salt!

• Salt combinations (Salt and Vinegar seasoning on Popcorn, salt and cheese, even salt and chocolate!

• Jalapeno

Special Toppings can really jazz it up!

1. Chocolate Covered Popcorn Toppings – We have an entire article on Chocolate Popcorn topping so we won't rehash that too much. Click on the link we just gave you to the article (In blue underlined). It has several recipes for Chocolate Popcorn Toppings.
2. Caramel Toppings – We give  a recipe in the next section on how to make Caramel Covered popcorn (think cracker jacks).
3. Glazed Toppings – We have an article on Flavored Popcorn that gives recipes on how to coat a candy glaze of various flavors on your popcorn. Check it out as it tastes great, is fun to make and very festive looking.
4. Tex Mex  Toppings – We have a recipe for Tex Mex popcorn in the next section. This is a great dish for football games, card night or any other similar event!
5. Cheese Toppings – This can be done 3 ways:

• Just buy cheese flavored microwave able popcorn or
• Pop your own corn and add Cheese Seasoning as we discuss in our Popcorn Seasoning article already mentioned or
• Follow the Tex Mex Recipe farther below but just season with the cheese or cheese and salt.

So whats the big deal with "Chicago Popcorn"

Well to start with Popcorn is the Official snack food of Chicago (True). Also, Chicago Popcorn has been sold on the streets of Chicago by pushcart vendors for around 100 years and popcorn actually has been around in Chicago longer then Hot Dogs or even the Cubbies curse so it really is a part of the Chicago culture not to mention the Chicago experience,. While Garretts Popcorn and Gary's Popcorn and Nuts on Clark all like to stake their claim as the best -  the fact is the best thing about Chicago popcorn is the subtle variety of the flavors.

The classic caramel and cheddar mix

Probably the best know Chicago Popcorn is the Classic Caramel popcorn and cheese Popcorn mix. Everyone always says it sounds gross until they taste it and then its great. Now how the classic Chicago mix is served is another question. Garrett's Popcorn serves it sticky. Other places (and myself) prefer the caramel corn to be candied – with a non sticky coating. And lets be clear, when we say Caramel and Cheese popcorn it is not both flavors on one kernel. It is a mixture of cheese popcorn kernels and Caramel popcorn kernels all in one bag.

And Why do you keep hearing about "Garretts Popcorn"?

1. Plain,
2. Buttery,
3. CaramelCrisp®  So good it is a registered trademark of Garretts popcorn (it can be mixed with 3 different kinds of nuts)
4. CheeseCorn™ .  - Also Trade Marked
5. "The Chicago Mix" – as stated earlier – one of Oprahs Favorite things

A quick note about "Hulless Popcorn": The Hulls are the little pieces that get caught in your teeth.

All popcorn has hulls but Hulless Popcorn has been bread so that the hulls break up when the corn is popping so there are a lot less of the normal sized hull pieces and the popcorn is more enjoyable to eat!

Nutrition Facts for 1 cup of AIR POPPED Popcorn With No Butter added:.

Calories 31

Fat 0.36g

Carbs 6.22g

Protein 1.04g

There are 31 calories in 1 cup of Air Popped Popcorn.

Calorie breakdown: 10% fat, 81% carbs, 9% protein.

Nutrition for 1 cup of AIR POPPED Popcorn WITH Butter added (not from USDA):.

Calories 63

Fat 3.63g

Carbs 6.98g

Protein 1.19g

Now if it is popped in OIL here are the calories for that same cup of popcorn:

Popcorn Nutrition for 1 cup of OIL POPPED Popcorn with NO BUTTER.

Calories 55

Fat 3.09g

Carbs 6.29g

Protein 0.99g

Popcorn Nutrition for 1 cup of OIL POPPED Popcorn WITH BUTTER ADDED (not from USDA).

Calories 80

Fat 5.27g

Carbs 7.27g

Protein 0.96g

You can click on this link to go to our main web page for more great articles like How Many Calories in Movie Theater Popcorn

The Information on this website has been developed by friends

You are not dealing with a corporation, department store, or a mass popcorn manufacturer or worse yet, one of those computer generated websites that read like.well….like a computer wrote it!

You are reading the pages and opinions of people who like quality!

So check out some of our recipes and have the BEST snack ever!

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