Monday, February 09, 2009

Kettle Corn

kettlecorn

Popcorn in Sweden is never sweet. Never. The traditional way to eat it is just plain, salted. Never with butter, either, until the microwave popcorn hit Sweden, with its ready-flavored fake-butteriness. Popcorn at the cinema is also mildly butter-flavored. (And no, it's *not* made in the theatres, it's delivered in great big bags, much like garbage bags, and just heated on the premises.) I definitely don't know anyone who'll pour their own melted butter on their popcorn - oh no. I think people like to think that popcorn are healthy, or at least relatively so.

Guess what? It's really not. (Unless, possibly, air-popped and un-buttered. And how fun is that?) But it can be really, really good. I got introduced to the wonders of more exciting popcorn when I was an exchange student in the US, and I became a great fan of caramel corn. It's not all that easy to make at home though, and I'm not so sure I want to - it's a bit too sweet, at least for eating a lot of. This is a very happy in-between. It has a definite hit of both sweet and salty and it's perfect for when the cravings set in.

Kettle Corn
80 ml (1/3 cup) neutral oil
80 g (1/3 cup) sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) popcorn kernels


Pour the oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan with a lid - a big one. Add a few kernels and place on medium heat. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the corn and the sugar, cover with a lid and shake around a bit to make sure it all pops evenly. When it's not popping anymore, and seems done, transfer to a bowl and salt generously.

Recipe in Swedish
Kettle Corn

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yum and bookmarked! I have never had kettle corn!

Nikki said...

Oh, I LOVE kettle corn!!! Have never tried making it though.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I don't really agree on what you wrote on Swedish popcorn traditions. I clearly recall eating what was called "Indianpopcorn" when I was in daycare, which was popcorn sprinkled with icing sugar. And at home we always put butter on the popcorns, and as this was in the early eighties, I believe this was before the microwave popcorns hit Sweden?

Anne said...

Emma, how interesting! I've never known anyone to eat sweetened popcorn in Sweden before! :) Butter seems a bit more widespread though - I know we did that too, for special occasions. Although I also remember being the only one in the family who liked it.. :)

Anonymous said...

We always put butter on the pops too, and this was in the early seventies and so did my friends.
I LOVE Caramel Pocorns and it´s not difficult at all to make it yourself, I do it all the time
Yummie!!

Susanne said...

I always eat mine with grill pepper-spice and tabasco.