American’s are popcorn junkies. According to the United States Popcorn Board, Americans consume 54 quarts per man, woman and child each year. That’s 17 billion quarts. Approximately 70 percent of that is purchased at retail stores in both raw and popped form, and eaten at home. Most of that popcorn is now made in the microwave oven. 80% of us own a microwave and the among the top uses of a microwave is popping popcorn. Microwave popcorn answers our need for speed and it’s certianly convenient, but it’s also loaded with very unhealthy transfats, salt, artificial flavorings and other potentially tocix chemicals. The very design of the microwave popcorn bag has even been under recent investigation by the FDA regarding it’s carcinogenic potential.
Still, we want our popcorn and we want it fast. About ten years ago, I’d tried a microwave popcorn popper from Presto and it just didn’t work very well. My family shortly abandonded it and jumped onto the microwave packed popcorn bandwagon along with everyone else. Recently, my husband and I started noticing that our favorite brands seemed to be leaving a bad taste in our mouths, literally. No matter what brand we tried, we noticed a very unpleasant,cloying greasiness that we’d never noticed before and we didn’t like it. Now, I don’t think the manufacturers have radically changed their process. I think we’ve changed, like many other middle aged baby boomers, we’re trying to eat better and are cutting down on transfats and salts. We started making popocorn in an electric popper and even on the stovetop, but it just wasn’t the answer for us. We decided to try a microwave popcorn popper again. Not anticipating good results, we were happily surprised with the Presto Power Pop.
We love this popper! The Presto Power Pop is everything we wanted in a popcorn popper. It can be used to make dry air popcorn or with oil or butter. It has a generous 3 quart capacity. Assembly was a little confusing, as there are small disks called Concentrators, that we’d never seen before and we actually had to read the directions to figure out what to do with them. The Concentrators, which focus heat in the bottom of the popper, have made all the difference in the successs of this microwave popper. Imagine getting all your popcorn popped with no annoying unpopped kernels. The instruction booklet says to expect up to 12 uses of a single Concentrator when used with oil, We’ve found that we generally get 12 or 14 before the inpopped old maids begin to appear and we need to change the Concentrator. Changing the Concentrator is as simple as changing a coffee filter.
The components of the Presto Power Pop interlock for safety and are dishwasher safe. We don’t have school aged children in the house anymore, but I would let them use this popper after instructing them in assembly. It’s reasonably cool when it comes out of the microwave and the steam issue is not as prevelant as when opening a microwave popcorn cooking bag.
With the Presto Power Pop, you can have popcorn just the way you like it. You can blend a variety of oils for flavor or add other flavor enhancers to the dry popcorn before you pop it. There are several heart healthy choices among oils such as safflower or cannola. We find that adding some flavoring agents to the dry popcorn before popping is an excellent way to evenly disperse the flavor. The instruction booklet comes with several ideas for creating gournet popcorn flavors. My favorities are a version of kettle corn and a parmesan peppercorn mix that I’ve created. Get this popper and enjoy popcorn as the healthful snack it was intended to be. Under $20 at mass merchandisers and the Internet.
The US Popcorn Board has lots of ideas for giving your popcorn that gourmet taste. They also include nutritional data so you can factor popcorn into any eating plan. How about TexMex popcorn at your next party?
TexMex Popcorn
I have adapted this recipe from the U.S.Popcorn Board for use with the Presto Power Pop.
1/3 cup dry popcorn kernels
1 1/2 Tablespoons popcorn oil
2 1/2 Teaspoons ground chili powder
2 1/2 Teaspoons paprika
2 1/2 Teaspoons ground cumin
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Cup cubed Monterey Jack cheese (about 1/4 inch cubes)
Pour oil onto the Concentrator in the popping bowl. Add the popcorn. Sprinkle the chili powder, paprika ,salt and over the dry popcorn. Cover and cook according to the directions for the Presto Power Pop. Add cheese and mix thoroughly.
My Kettle Corn for the Presto Power Pop
1/3 Cup unpopped popcorn kernels
1 1/2 Tablespoons popcorn oil
2 Tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
Pour oil onto the Concentrator in the popping bowl. Add the popcorn. Sprinkle the sugar and salt over the dry popcorn. Cover and cook according to the directions for the Presto Power Pop.
My Parmesan Peppercorn Popcorn
1/3 Cup unpopped popcorn kernels
1 1/2 Tablespoons popcorn oil
1 1/2 Tablespoond freshly ground black pepper
1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Pour oil onto the Concentrator in the popcorn bowl. Add the popcorn. Sprinkle with the freshly ground black pepper and garlic powder. I really like to use my peppermill on coarse ground and use a mixed pepper blend. Cover and cook according to the firection for the Presto Power Pop. When the popcorn is all popped, remove the cover and sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese. I’ll admit it, I use Parmesan in the round box…it’s great for this purpose. For my taste, I don’t add any salt, but you may want to add additional salt, or use a garlic salt instead of garlic powder.
