Popcorn

Back in my youth, as a student at New Prague Elementary School, I was introduced to a delightful story by Ruth Adams.
It’s entitled “Mr. Picklepaw’s Popcorn.”

In the story Mr. Picklepaw grows a field of popcorn.

He picks it, and stores it in his shed. But one unseasonably warm day, Mr. Picklepaw fears for his crop. He climbs up onto the roof of the shed with a garden hose to try and cool it down.

Just then, the popcorn begins popping and Mr. Picklepaw rises into the air on a growing mountain of popped popcorn!

A helicopter is called to the rescue. Mr. Picklepaw is saved. And all the townspeople enjoy popcorn for a week.

We eat a lot of popcorn at this house. Most often, I make it in my air popper, and then top it with either melted butter and salt, or olive oil and popcorn seasoning. But we also like these two recipes very much:

Kettle Corn

½ cup unpopped popcorn

¼ cup oil

¼ cup sugar

½ - 1 tsp. salt

For this recipe you’ll need a large kettle with a lid and pot holders (or a hand crank popcorn popper). Heat the popcorn and the oil in the kettle over medium heat. When it starts to sizzle, add the sugar. Put the lid on your kettle. Keep the popcorn moving constantly by giving your pot vigorous shakes every few seconds. When the popping slows or stops remove the kettle from the stove, pour the popcorn into a large bowl, and sprinkle with salt.

Caramel Corn

15 cups popped popcorn (about 1 ice cream bucket-fulL)

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup butter or margarine

¼ cup light corn syrup

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

Divide popcorn between 2 ungreased cookie sheets. Cook brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around edges. Continue cooking 5 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in baking soda until foamy. Pour over popcorn, stirring until corn is well coated. Bake, uncovered, in 200° oven, for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Makes 15 servings (about 1 cup each).

Give them a try!

And for more recipes, games, and popcorn fun visit: www.popcorn.org

Happy National Popcorn Month!