Lightly Sweetened Kettle Corn

Stovetop popcorn is kind of our recent obsession. Perhaps foolishly, I recently bought a five pound bag of popcorn kernels.  So delicious. So cheap. So easy to make.  So much healthier than microwave popcorn.  Speaking of healthy, I especially like adding a tablespoon or two of melted butter! nom! Mr. Healthy likes a light sprinkling of salt. Boo. That's no fun.

After a few popcorn binges, I remembered all the delicious kettle corn I've enjoyed at Renaissance festivals and at the MN State Fair.  I started investigating and learned that kettle corn is surprisingly easy to make at home! I read a bunch of comments on various recipe sites. A lot of them were like "So easy and my kids loved it!" or "My kids keep asking for more!" So, in case you weren't sure if it was rated G for general audiences, you now know that kettle corn is indeed appropriate for children. What a relief! Plus it is really easy! All you have to do is listen and be quick! No speed leads to burnt sugar or popcorn. No one will be happy about that.

I don't have any children, but I will still give you instructions on how to make yummity kettle corn that your children will love!  Just to over-emphasize how speedy you need to be, I will use the words "immediately" and "quickly" over and over in the following directions.

First, get a big pot with a lid.  Probably you don't want to use your nicest pot (you'll see why afterward). Heat 1/4 cup of oil in the bottom of the pan on medium-high. We used grapeseed oil because it has a decently high smoke point, but I'm sure many different types would work.  Drop three (only three! plus or minus one) kernels of corn in and cover the pot.  Silence your children so that you can listen carefully.  Once you hear the three kernels pop, you know the oil is hot enough. Remove the lid, pour in 1/4 cup of sugar, and stir quickly and thoroughly for a few seconds to dissolve the sugar. Immediately pour in 1/2 cup of kernels and quickly place the lid back onto the pot.

For the next few minutes, you have two jobs: 1. shake the pot vigorously and frequently 2. listen to the popcorn pop. You need to do job 1 so that the sugar and popcorn don't burn.  You need to do job 2 so that you know when to turn the heat off.  Once the pops slow down to maybe one every four seconds, turn off the heat. Don't open the lid yet!  Just let the popcorn sit there (covered!) for a minute or two so that tardy kernels don't pop and send a handful of popcorn flying.

After you are 99% sure that the popcorn is done popping, remove the lid, pour the popcorn out and devour it.  This yields a pretty decent amount of popcorn, meaning the quarter cup of sugar will spread out nicely so that each kernel is only lightly sweetened.  If you have an intense sugar tooth, you could try using more sugar! Go nuts!