Pop…Pop….POPCORN!!!

Hurray!!!!!!  We finally got our hands on some local popcorn and I could not be happier!  We got the lovely kernels at the first Worthington Farmers’ Market of the season from Pop and Judy’s Patch (George and Louise O’Briant – really nice people with great products!).  While we took turns mixing the butter last night, we made our first batch(es) of from-scratch popcorn.  Jacob took charge for round one, consulting wikiHow and pouring some oil in the dutch oven and adding a few kernels.  Once those popped, he added 1/4 cup of the kernels and covered them.  We both watched with excitement as they popped but it soon became apparent that we were doing something wrong because they were not all popping at once and the kernels that did pop were burning.  Quickly we poured that out to reveal only about a quarter of the kernels popped and many of those were a bit blackened.  So here comes Katie for round two.  I tried another recipe from Simply Recipes that took a slightly different approach.  I put in some oil, salt, and added my few kernels.  Once those popped, I added 1/3 cup of kernels and pulled the dutch oven off the heat.  I counted 30 seconds and put it back on the stove with the lid slightly ajar.  Once they started really popping I held the pot just above the burner and shook it back and forth (kind of tricky while keeping the lid slightly ajar – we had a few kernels shoot across the room), but the extra effort definitely paid off.  As you can see, my kernels (on the left) were beautiful, crisp, puffy, and white with only a couple of unpopped kernels and Jacob’s (on the right) were an honest effort (and still pretty tasty).  We added a little bit too much salt, but the popcorn was still delicious!!!