Popcorn: Kids + Popcorn = FUN!
My niece and nephew love popcorn. Which is a good thing, considering it is all I (the King of Pop..corn) will buy them for Christmas. After a few holidays, you would think this would get boring, but it does not! There are so many different kinds of popcorn, oils, seasonings, and gourmet flavors, I plan on keeping up this trend until they are off to college. Then, it will be time for them to snack on their own, and they'll be left to their own snacking decisions. Pardon me for a sec... It's allergies! I'm not crying! Really!
Anyway, the reason I send popcorn to the kids is because it is a great anytime snack they love! If you would like to follow my fine example of uncle-ness (that is probably not a real word), here are a few guidelines to follow, and things to consider when offering up the number one amazing and honorable time-tested snack food champ, popcorn.
You might often hear that popcorn is a healthy snack. Well, this is true. And, well, it can also be not-so true. popcorn is pretty much fat free, salt free and sugar free. This is great, but without those elements, it is also kind of taste-free, too. For example, the healthiest popcorn is produced with an air popper and unseasoned. While this will keep your jaws busy, your taste buds will start making a run for a tube of uncooked cookie dough. So, people jazz up their popcorn in a variety of ways including cooking the kernels with oil (there are a variety of oils out there - see my past blog entitled "The Good, the Bad, and the Oily") and a kettle-style popcorn machine. Generally, the healthier oils you will find for popcorn are canola and sunflower. The traditional oil for kettle-made popcorn is Coconut. Sadly, the process of hydrogenation that most common brands of coconut oil go through in their production makes most coconut oils kind of unhealthy. Interestingly, raw (un-hydrogenated) coconut oil does not have this issue. So, if you are super health-conscious about the kids, you might want to consider jazzing up that canola or sunflower oil-cooked popcorn with some seasoning.
Seasonings are available in a huge variety of flavors. The most popular are white cheddar and jalapeno. However, BBQ, ranch, and even apple cinnamon are also very tasty! By its very nature, popcorn assimilates the flavors around it. Just about any sprinkled flavor concoction you can imagine will taste just dandy on a big bowl. I've even tried combining flavors that work well together. Powdered ginger, cinnamon, and ground cloves make a very tasty holiday treat. For the more seasoned (pardon the pun) popcorn aficionado, try combining a bit of sea salt with yellow curry! Wow!
popcorn will take on the characteristics of other flavors easily. This is
why there are so many folks out there making up gourmet blends of popcorn.
Chocolate, fudge, caramel, marshmallows, nuts, coconut... The list goes on and on. However, once again, these versions of popcorn are not exactly super-healthy.
All considered, there is much to be said for moderation. Don't get freaked out about the "health thing". Just about anything you use to make popcorn
is still going to be healthier than deep-fried Twinkies or a "meal deal" at a fast food chain. You could always do worse. That said, take the opportunity to explore a wide variety of taste sensations with a young person with whom you enjoy spending time. As we always say, "Popcorn is not about the popcorn. It's about the people you share it with."
