Homemade Microwave Popcorn

Found while scouring the WayBack Machine for the old VoenixRising…

From November 2007:

Anyone who knows me will tell you that left to my own devices I’m a popcorn fiend. Unfortunately, over the past few years I’ve discovered that there’s something in commercially available microwave popcorn that causes me to break out in small pimples that waste no time turning into really ugly, open sores that take weeks to heal. Once I made the connection, I went cold turkey, only indulging in the salty, buttery goodness when I went to the movies.

Well, a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a recipe for home made microwave popcorn. I’d often wondered why you couldn’t just throw a bunch of popping corn into a paper bag and nuke it for a few minutes. Turns out that the process is almost that simple, and infinitely healthier for you than buying that commercial crap.

And guess what…no more breaking out!

Today, you will learn that which the huge food companies don’t want you to know. You will learn how simple and cheap it is to make your own microwave popcorn. Lets get started.

First you will need the following ingredients:

• • 1/4 cup of popping corn (generally $0.99 for a pound bag. This is enough to make at least 50 bags of microwave corn)
  • 1 Teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Popcorn salt to taste (it has finer granules than table salt with the same taste)

And the following tools:

• • A stapler
  • A teaspoon
  • A measuring cup
  • A brown paper bag, and—of course
  • A microwave

Step One:

Measure out the popcorn and dump it into the paper bag. Carefully add salt and any additional seasonings you might want. Shake gently. Now add the teaspoon of olive oil.

Step Two:

Close the bag, folding it over twice. Secure with one stable in the middle of the fold. (Contrary to popular belief, staples will not arc in the microwave.) Shake the bag to evenly distribute the corn/oil/salt mixture. Place the bag, side down, in your microwave and nuke it until you hear the popping occurring at roughly 3-5 second intervals. (My microwave has a “popcorn” setting on the control panel. I find that is about fifteen seconds too long.) You might want to put a folded paper towel under the bag to soak up the oil that will seep through the bag.

Step Three:

Open the bag with care because steam will escape and you can get scalded. Pour into a bowl, serve and enjoy the taste and the knowledge that this heaping bag of microwave popcorn cost less than ten cents and isn’t full of unnecessary added chemicals and preservatives!