Amazing Popcorn Recipes – Not What You Thought!

Popcorn is the second snack food in U.S. history (the first was peanuts). It’s tasty, crunchy…well, you know the rest. AND – just about all Americans agree on one thing: They like popcorn. BUT, we modern Americans may be missing the popcorn boat. Not only is popcorn a great snack, but it is more versatile than you can imagine. Here are some recipes – we’ll supply the popcorn, ground or freshly popped.

POPCORN SANDWICHES

This lunchtime popcorn delight is perfect for the kid – or even grown-up – who wants to add fun to function mid-day, with just the right health benefits. This recipe is from 1915 – you can definitely change the filling.

Recipe: Put the popped corn through the food chopper and make a paste of it mixed with cream cheese or peanut butter. Spread this paste between thin slices of bread.

TIP: Forget the paste and chopper – it’s too much work. Just chop up popcorn and mix it in the peanut butter or cream cheese for a satisfying crunch. Don’t be shy – add raisins, tiny marshmallows, even chocolate chips to the mix, as the spirit moves you.

Comment: THIS IS DELICIOUS! I couldn’t stop eating the peanut butter sample. You can use other breads – even wholegrain would be great.

Popcorn Pudding

For Old Souls (from 1915). You’ll want to call this porridge it’s so old school.

Recipe: Use the finest blade of the chopper and put through enough popped corn to make two cupful’s. Cover the corn with three soak an hour. Beat three eggs. Add half a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of butter and half a cupful of brown sugar. Stir in the corn and milk, and cook in a slow oven forty minutes. Serve hot.

TIP: In the days of old, recipes changed depending on who was making them, often passed down orally. So this perfect comfort food may be even more perfect with a dash of vanilla extract (new and hard to find at the time) or a sprinkling of cinnamon. Or both. I vote for raisins here, too – they’ll plump up nicely and…mmmmm.

Sounds great, but you don’t want to chop the popcorn? Why not get some our Popcorn Cereal, where we do the chopping for you! If you have extra you can use it for the recipe just below.

Popcorn Cereal

From the 1940s, precisely like the ones starting in the late 1800s.

DO NOT scoff at this! It’s WONDERFUL – just like oatmeal but with more texture! You might be thinking it would be too soggy. Soggy? Think about Corn Flakes or Rice Krispies after about 15 seconds swimming in milk. Soggy? No – mushy. Popcorn cereal – textured, with a very subtle crunch. If you don’t like it, we’ll double your money back! Just kidding. That’s what they used to say – not now.

Recipe: The cereal recipe goes like this: Pop the corn, run it through a food chopper and add four cups of the corn to two cups of boiling water. Then cook until thickened. They say the cereal will come up fluffy, something like oatmeal that isn’t over wet or underdone. What’s left over you can slice and fry for next morning’s breakfast.

Tip: We provide the cereal – you add the water. PS: this is really good with butter, salt and sugar. Eat while hot.

Popcorn – the Garnish

Simple, but true! Esteemed Master chef Louis P. DeGouy of the acclaimed New York Waldorf-Astoria (1930s to 1950s) recommended popcorn as a garnish for salad and soup. For soup, he explains: “Serve the soup in heated soup plates, each plate garnished with a little popcorn, lightly toasted.” From: The Gold Cookbook, 1947.

Tip: Get some of our Baker’s Popcorn. It’s only slightly salted so it won’t interfere with other flavors. OR go all in and get…maybe… Breakfast Crunch? But don’t use that on Tomato Soup 🙂 .

In the news today, I read that federal agents were arresting Mexican immigrants in sanctuary cities. It reminded me of my own experience with Mexican immigrants about a year ago. This is it:

Cretor’s Horse Drawn Popcorn Machine, 1906

Last year, I decided we would make fresh popcorn at True Treats, my candy store. It seemed a natural fit: like candy, popcorn is associated with good times – movie theaters, carnivals, state fairs. In fact, the early popcorn machine was invented by Charles Cretors and showcased at the illustrious Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. What could be better?

The attempt didn’t go as well as expected: even though the old-fashioned looking machine was right at the door, exuding delicious waves of popcorn scent onto the street, we had relatively few takers. By the end of the day, we would have a stack of bags in the silent machine, awaiting unlikely purchase or disposal.

One evening, as I was starting to shut down the store, a family paused by the door. I heard kids’ voices, four of them, it turned out (and a baby held by the mother), all excited about – you got it – popcorn. The parents were young, likely in their late 20s, and, as I soon learned, originally from Mexico. The connection didn’t dawn on me then but popcorn originated in their homeland, dating back to 3600 BC. What I did notice was the excitement in the kids’ faces.

Maya relief from pre-Columbian Palenque at the origin of popcorn

When I reached the doorway, the kids were conferring with their parents about buying a bag. Then, after some discussion, the mother paused to ask the price of a bag. I told them and from the parent’s expression, I saw the answer wasn’t good news. More discussion, the kids’ anticipation almost palpable. The parents and kids came to an agreement and asked for one bag. One bag – for all those kids? Tell you what, I told them, I won’t charge you – you can have it.

I’m not sure what they thought I said, but the kids ran down the stairs all at once, with that kind of excited running happy kids get, and lined up in an eager row. I handed the smallest kid a bag of popcorn and the others waited in place for one of their own. Which was not what I had planned on doing, but the oldest kid, a chubby boy, was so excited he was doing a little dance, smiling, smiling, looking right at me.

So, seizing the moment, I handed out the bags with great ceremony, one at a time, taking a bag, turning the paper at the top a little so the contents wouldn’t spill out, and handing it to the next child in line. Then they thanked me and raced up the stairs, back to the father and the mother holding the baby, all of them very, very happy.

And I knew right then that giving them the popcorn wasn’t a handout but a gift, a gift that was available and wonderful, and, as they were kids and all, rightfully theirs.

Sources:

“The Evolution of Corn”. University of Utah HEALTH SCIENCES.

Mayan Freize: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada – Mayan Frieze from Classic Era – Palenque Archaeological Site Museum – Chiapas – Mexico – 01, CC BY-SA 2.0,

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Tag: popcorn