Popcorn is a delicious, nutritious snack that has been around since before the late 1800s. Traditionally, popcorn was made over the fire. This was not the best way to make popcorn as most of the corn would end up in the fire as it exploded. Since then, there have been many new ways created to make popcorn, including saucepans, air poppers, microwave ovens and woks. Below is an easy, quick way to make popcorn that tastes great.
What You Need To Make Popcorn
One of the easiest ways to make popcorn is with a regular saucepan. Just make sure that it has a lid to avoid having popcorn exploding all over your kitchen floor. You can also use a wok. A wok is a large deep frying pan used to cook oriental dishes. Many people prefer them because they keep the oil and un-popped corn kernels in the bottom of the pan directly over the heat. If you do not have a wok, a regular saucepan will do just fine.
You will need some popcorn kernels. These are different from regular kernels, so make sure you have the right ones. Other ingredients needed are some butter, approximately one stick, some vegetable oil and some regular salt.
How to Prepare Popcorn
Once you have your wok or saucepan and all of your ingredients, you will need to have your stove on medium heat, and place the vegetable oil in the bottom of the pan. You only need enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Do not go overboard or you will end up with fried corn rather than popcorn. Slowly melt your stick of butter in another pan on low heat.
Cover the bottom of your pan with popcorn kernels, making sure not to put too many in at once, but enough so that you can not see the bottom of the pan and cover the pan with a lid. After about a minute, you should begin to hear your popcorn start to explode. Move the pan around from side to side to help the process.
Once the popcorn starts to reach the lid, place it on an unheated burner while it finishes popping. Use the butter that you melted earlier to pour over the popcorn and add salt to taste. Place your popcorn in a bowl, and give it a shake around to make sure the salt and butter are distributed evenly. If you want fat-free popcorn, just use salt without the butter or for a sweet snack, use icing sugar instead of salt. Then sit back and enjoy the popcorn that you have just made.
