Popcorn

One of Robyn's favorite treats is popcorn. Actually, popcorn is one of her three main food groups, which are popcorn, popsicles, and pretzels. One of the great and generous wedding gifts that we received is a stove-top popcorn popper; the type of popper used only by professional and proficient poppers of popcorn. This gift is from the Quinn family, who we absolutely adore (Robyn's older sister, Lauren, just married Nathan Quinn, and Nathan's family gave us this gift).

The Quinn's are world-renowned for their popcorn popping abilities. They even included coconut oil, sea salt, and professional grade popping kernels to complete our popping kit.

Before popping our first batch of popcorn, we had to season the pan. This consisted of heating the pan, adding olive oil, allowing the oil to heat to a scalding temperature, and then rotating the pan sufficiently to cover the bottom and sides of the pan with oil. This may sound harmless and simple, but it was everything but. The heating of the pan and oil went according to plan, but then came the rotating and coating process with the scalding oil. It was probably operator error on my part, buy trying to coat the sides of this hot pan with boiling hot oil never quite worked. I ended up setting the pan on the stove and used a paper towel to coat the sides of the pan after the oil had cooled slightly.

After the seasoning fiasco, Robyn took over the duties of actually popping the kernels. We added the kernels and oil to the pan and set the pan on the burner that was preheated to medium-high.

Robyn turned the crank slowly...and then the magic happened....

The popcorn was perfect. Light. Crisp. Warm. Slightly salty. Full of flavor and rich with texture. Ah, we loved it. We even used one of our new Popcorn bowls to serve our popcorn in.

If you are interested to know how those little popcorn kernels turn into the crispy popcorn that you love to eat, read the short paragraph below. It has to be true, it is from Wikipedia.


HOW POPCORN POPS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn


Each kernel of popcorn contains a certain amount of moisture and oil. Unlike most other grains, the outer hull of the popcorn kernel is both strong and impervious to moisture and the starch inside consists almost entirely of a hard, dense type.


As the oil and the water are heated past the boiling point, they turn the moisture in the kernel, which has a moisture-proof hull, into a superheated pressurized steam. Under these conditions, the starch inside the kernel gelatinizes, softens and becomes pliable. The pressure continues to increase until the breaking point of the hull is reached: a pressure of about 135 psi (930 kPa) and a temperature of 180 °C (356 °F). The hull ruptures rapidly, causing a sudden drop in pressure inside the kernel and a corresponding rapid expansion of the steam, which expands the starch and proteins of the endosperm into airy foam. As the foam rapidly cools, the starch and protein polymers set into the familiar crispy puff.