I love it when the kettle corn guy is at the local high school craft show. Even if I don’t buy anything at the show, I’ll bring home some kettle corn for the family. I’ve tried the microwavable kettle corn but it has a funky taste. So I’ve been perfecting my non-dairy kettle corn recipe and with my sister visiting last weekend, I finally got the ratio of salt to sugar down.
Kettle Corn The Old Fashioned Way
1 Tbs Olive Oil
2 Tbs Sugar
3/8 tsp salt
1/2 Cup popcorn
Pot with lid
1. Mix the sugar and salt together and grind with mortar and pestle until fine. Grinding it up makes a little bit go a long way. Less sugar = more healthy, right?
2. Put Olive Oil in a pot with 5 kernels of popcorn and cover with lid. Heat on medium high until you hear 1 *pop*.
3. Quickly add Sugar/Salt combo and remaining popcorn and give a couple of good shakes to get everything mixed up well. Shake the pot front and back over the fire while doing a little dance. Popping will pick up, then it will start to slow. Remove from fire.
4. Continue to shake for a few more seconds and enjoy!
Mmmmmmmm!
Notes:
* Burned sugar is bad – very bad. Do not overcook!
*I use a gas stove. I imagine that an electric stove could get too hot and burn the sugar – be careful here and experiment to find the right setting on your stove.
CraftApple 
looks so yummy. drop some in the mail for me, ‘k? 🙂
I made 2 batches yesterday for chess club. Mmmm.
I can’t go near popcorn: the smell of it used to make me sick when I was pregnant and I haven’t got past that (orange juice, too). Bloody kids…
They really mess with our lives, don’t they? Popcorns not a huge loss, though. Now if I had lost the ability to eat chocolate, that would be sad. Or maybe it would have been a blessing in disguise.
Funny!
I just made some this way this morning for our school snack! Except I add the salt after cooking and I use a whirley pop. Stovetop popcorn is the best. We got rid of our microwave a month ago, so it has been old fashioned around here a lot lately!
Stovetop IS the best, isn’t it? Fun school snack-makes me want to make more.
We make stovetop popcorn all the time. But my last attempt at kettle corn had burnt bits all over the pan….
Oh I’m sorry! I find that if I stop the popping earlier to get it just right I end up with good results but also a lot of unpopped kernels. Burned sugar is bad, bad, bad.
I love this! We are kettle corn junkies at our house. It’s the only thing I’ll over pay for at the fairs. Now we can make our own. Thanks for the tip on using an electric stove.
Nikol
Near us it’s $3 for a small bag and $5 for a large one. I think I made 10+ batches to get it just right and now I won’t be tempted to buy it!
Wish I’d read your post before my kettle corn initiation this past weekend! The first batch: way too much sugar. Second batch: still a little too much sugar but salt sprinkled on after popping made it gritty to eat. I like your less-sugar idea combined with your mortar and pestle step. I think tonight’s batch might be just right!