The Popcorn Trails of My Life

Shortly after I moved away from home, my Dad retired and Mom and Dad moved from the old homestead. That ended the popcorn supply. That was the last best popcorn I ever ate. The store-shelf brands just weren't the same. Oh, that doesn't mean I didn't eat them. Goodness no! I had grown to love popcorn and if I couldn't eat the best...then I would settle for what was available.
Over the years I have tried brand after brand of popcorn; but it was either too dry, too many hulls, not enough of this, too much of that. None of it measured up to what I grew up with.
When I would travel, I would always stop at country stores and markets and would end up taking home a bag of their popcorn. Nope! Not the same. When we had family gatherings, one of our topics of conversation would always be: have you found any good popcorn? We were all addicted to my dad's popcorn.

You can use brown lunch paper bags. I use whatever brown bag or whatever comes home to re-use. In my demo I am going to use an Arby's take-out paper bag. Just use any paper bag that will fit comfortably in your microwave. Set the bag on a microwavable plate. It needs to be able to rotate cleanly on the turntable. I use a small Corelle bowl in which I put extra-virgin olive oil. Next add enough popcorn in the oil. Set the bowl in the paper bag being careful not to spill it. (The bag should be laying on its side on the plate.) Lastly, fold over the end of the paper bag and tape it carefully all across and around each end to completely seal the bag. I use cellophane tape. Carefully set the bag in the microwave so the bowl stays upright. (Otherwise, you will not be happy with the results.) Set the timer for 3 minutes and watch carefully and listen for the popping to subside. Remove from microwave carefully with pot holders because the dish will be very hot. Cut off the taped end of the bag and cut across the top of the bag to open it up. Pour out the popcorn and the bowl into your favorite bowl. Be careful when handling the hot bowl. I then use the hot bowl to warm the butter. I use either organic butter or an olive oil spread. You choose how and if you want to season. The bowl will be still warm enough to melt the butter. Then I salt with kosher salt. Again...you season to your taste. It is really tasty cooked in this manner. Be sure to let me know if you like this method. See the photos below. What I like about this is no more dirty pans. I especially like eliminating those chemicals in the prepared popping bags. Let me know what you think and if you can improve on this method.

This is the best popcorn I have eaten since my childhood days munching on the family brand of popcorn. Until something better comes along...the popcorn trail will end here!

1. The thicker the paper bag the longer it will take to pop.
2. I tried this method by using a paper bowl to put the oil and kernels in and it was too hot.
3. I also tried putting the bag on paper plates in microwave and they also got too hot.
4. Be very careful when taking the dish out of the bowl when you have emptied the bag...it is very hot!
5. The thinner brown lunch bags pop the best and are very fast.

Popcorn Trail was updated June 2, 2012