AA Gifts & Baskets Idea Blog

Posts Tagged ‘popcorn gifts’

Homemade gifts are the best, and there can be nothing more delicious for a variety of occasions than popcorn balls. These crunchy treats can be made to satisfy a sweet or savory craving, and they are popular with kids and adults alike. Who can resist popcorn? Not Americans, it seems. We eat billions of quarts of popcorn a year, and assembling our favorite treat into another form just adds to the fun. Popcorn balls aren’t hard to make, are perfect for snack baskets and they are always crowd-pleasers: that is a recipe for success!

Traditional Popcorn Balls, courtesy of AllRecipes.com

You need:

• 2 cups unpopped popcorn

• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1 cup molasses

• ½ teaspoon salt

Put one tablespoon of oil in a saucepan, and heat. When the oil is hot, add ½ cup of popcorn kernels. Keep the saucepan moving – just like you would if you were popping Jiffy Pop. When the kernels stop popping, remove from heat. This recipe calls for you to continue doing this ½ cup at a time until all the popcorn is popped; if you want to do it all at once, go for it. If you have never popped in a saucepan before, you may want to go at the gradual pace to avoid burning.

Butter a bowl, and put the popped corn in it. Put this to the side, and melt your butter in a saucepan. Stir in the sugar, molasses, and salt. Boil this mixture on medium heat, and insert a candy thermometer. When it reads 260^o, you’re done. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, just wait for the mixture to boil. Pour the syrup over the popcorn, and make sure all of the corn is coated. Butter your hands, and shape the popcorn into balls.

There are other variations, which call for corn syrup that you may want to try.

Caramel Popcorn Balls, from Cooks.com

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 3 cups unpopped popcorn kernels

• ¾ cup white Karo syrup

• ½ cup butter

Start by popping the kernels and picking out those “old maids,” or unpopped kernels. Put the popped corn into a bowl and set aside.

Mix all the ingredients, save the popcorn, in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil this for about five minutes. Pour the syrupy mixture over the popcorn, making sure to coat it evenly. This mixture will be hot, so be careful. This recipe calls for you to dip your hands in cold water now and then to prevent burning and sticking. Other recipes, such as the one above, recommend buttering your hands. Experiment and see which works best for you. Shape the popcorn into balls, and enjoy!

Rocky Road Popcorn Balls, from AllRecipes.com

This variation adds a touch of sweet to these excellent treats.

• 3 cups mini marshmallows

• ¼ cup butter

• 8 cups of popped popcorn

• ½ dry roasted unsalted peanuts (but if you use salted, we won’t tell)

• ½ cup mini chocolate chips

Start by putting the marshmallows and butter in a saucepan on medium-low meat. Keep stirring them to keep them from burning. When they are melted and smooth, which should take about five minutes, remove from the heat. Working quickly, stir in the popcorn and peanuts. Stir them gently and make sure the popcorn is as evenly coated as possible. Stir in the chocolate chips. Butter your hands or grease them with a bit of oil, and shape the mixture into balls.

If you’re not going to eat or serve these immediately, wrap them in plastic. They make wonderful treats around Halloween or Christmas, and you can always customize the ingredients to add a little holiday flair: try red and green M&Ms instead of chocolate chips for the Rocky Road recipe, for instance. Whatever the flavor, these are a perfect item for gift baskets for kids of any age.

So how exactly does a small hard kernel transform into a big, fluffy delicious snack?

Each kernel of popcorn contains a small drop of water stored inside a circle of soft starch which is surrounded by the kernel's hard outer surface. Unlike most other types of grain, this hard outer surface is resistant to moisture. For the corn to be 'popcorn', it needs to contain at 13.5 to 14% moisture inside the hard outer surface.

As the kernel heats up, the water begins to expand turning it into superheated pressurized steam. The pressure builds against the hard hull until it gives way, causing the popcorn to explode. The hull rupture usually occurs at about 135 psi and a temperature of 180 degrees Celsius.

As it explodes, the soft starch inside the popcorn becomes inflated and bursts into an airy foam, turning the kernel inside out. As the foam cools, the starch and protein polymers set yielding the crispy popcorn puff that we all know and love.

Those unpopped kernels of corn that are left at the bottom of popcorn bowls are generally the result of either kernels that don't have the proper moisture content or they have a cracked outer hull which means that the expanding steam can't build enough pressure to cause the kernel to pop.

The next few weeks I'll be exploring the wonderful world of popcorn.  Who doesn't love a good bowl of these delicious, crunchy kernels?  But how did Popcorn come to be?  Who would of thought of heating the kernels up to make them pop?

The History of Popcorn

Popcorn has been grown and eaten as a snack in the United States for thousands of years.  It is believed that the popping of corn was first discovered by Native Americans who threw the corn into the fire causing it to pop. They also used popped corn to make garlands that the women wore as wedding ceremony accessories and at other celebration dances. Likely the native Americans introduced popcorn to the American colonists who actually ground it up mixing it with milk for breakfast.

Popping corn became quite popular as a recreational activity by the 1840s. In the 1870s popcorn was commonly sold at carnivals and circuses as well as in grocery stores.

With the introduction of the movies or 'talking pictures', popcorn solidified its place in America's movie theaters. Although theater owners initially refused to sell popcorn because it was too messy, many theater patrons brought the popcorn to the theater with them by purchasing it from street vendors on the way in. Of course, theater owners finally caught on and introduced the snack selling it at their own concession counters. This introduction of popcorn to movie theaters enabled the popcorn industry to keep growing even during the great depression of the 1930s. In addition, popcorn was a relatively affordable luxury even for struggling families as they could buy it for just 5 to 10 cents a bag.

Because of the sugar shortage during World War II, candy was not readily available as a snack item. Thanks to the lack of candy snacks, Americans turned to popcorn to fill their snack needs, eating 3 times as much popcorn as usual. World War II also induced a baking flour shortage which the popcorn industry capitalized on. Bread makers were forced to substitute 25% ground popcorn for their wheat flour.

After many years riding the popcorn popularity wave, the industry actually had a slump in the 1950s when TV was introduced. People stopped going to the theaters in lieu of staying home watching TV. The lack of theater goers created a huge drop in popcorn consumption. Up to that point, people didn't really eat popcorn at home. However, Americans missed their popcorn so they started popping it at home and the introduction of the microwave made home popping even easier. So the love affair has continued ever since. These days, popcorn is one of America's most popular and enduring snacks.

Check out our Popcorn Gifts and fall in love with popcorn all over again!