Making Your Own Homemade Popcorn

Homemade Popcorn Popping Tips

When you make your own popcorn at home in your microwave oven or on your stovetop, you get to decide what ingredients to add. You also get to decide how much of each ingredient to add. Determining your ingredients and their portions lets you make healthier popcorn. Popping your own kernels from scratch also saves you money! :}

Inviting Children to Help Pop the Corn

Adults can invite children to get in on the popcorn making fun! Children participating in popcorn preparation usually get pretty good kicks out of the process, even if their job is merely to pour seeds or take out ingredients.

Ingredients	Utensils
Popcorn Seeds Butter or Margarine Popcorn Seasoning (Optional) Cooking Oil (Stovetop popcorn only.)	Microwave Popcorn Popper Sauce pan or pot with lid (Stovetop popping only.) Large bowl or a few small bowls for serving the popped corn Optional Small Bowl with Lid for melting Butter or Margarine

Add butter or margarine for enhanced flavor to your popcorn but consider that adding either puts more fat and calories into what would otherwise be a healthier popcorn....

Popcorn Seed Shopping

Popping Seeds at Home in a Microwave Popcorn Maker or Bowl

Popping Seeds on a Stove Top

When popping seeds on a stove top, the basic procedure of preparation is the same as that for microwaving fresh seeds. The main difference between the two is that unlike microwave popcorn that cooks itself once the start button is pushed, stove top popcorn requires constant attention.

When popping popcorn on a stove top, oil and fresh popcorn seeds must be poured into a hot pan, covered with a lid, and continually moved across the burner in order to prevent seed-burning.

The amount of oil and seeds to use will be determined by the size of the pan. Pour enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and then pour the seeds on top once the oil heats up. Seeds should also cover the bottom of the pan. With that said, however, not covering the bottom of the pan completely would be better than over lapping the seeds. Cooking more seeds than a pan allows at one time may lead to burnage if they fail to pop. In addition to that, unpopped seeds are a waste when not rejuvenated (which is another topic).

In order to know if the heat is high enough when popping corn on a stove burner... Generally speaking, at the outset, the flame should be turned up as high as it can go without overlapping the pan. Once the popcorn gets going good, turn the flame down to high or medium high. Once again, this will, in part, be determined by the size of the pan.

When using an electric stove, popping corn may be a little trickier because reducing the heat occurs more slowly than stoves with burner reduction. In this case, a bit of trial and error may help to improve the process. It may be a good idea to reduce the heat within the first 30 seconds to a minute after the seeds are added and the lid is placed on the pan.

Remember to keep the pan of popping corn moving across the stovetop as the popcorn pops. This is necessary to prevent burning the seeds. If necessary, use a baker's mitt while making this treat.

Once popping slows, turn off the flame and wait a minute or so before removing the lid. Then, if you like, add butter or margarine, and sprinkle a bit of salt or popcorn seasoning across the freshly made popcorn before serving and enjoying it :}

Stove-top popcorn may require a little more work than microwaving popcorn requires to prepare, however, it cooks almost as quickly. Plus... You get a Lot! more for your money!! :}