A bunch of popped kernels encircled by the words: “Popcorn is very friendly with butter”. Perhaps as a child I had real butter on popcorn, at the movies or at home. Actually, at home we only had margarine, so that leaves the theaters as the only possibility. If I did have real buttered popcorn at the old movie theaters down on Main Street, it was only in my youngest years.
By the time I was an adolescent and the first multiplex cinemas were opening around the area, I’m quite certain that what flavored our popcorn was anything but melted butter. ‘Butter-flavored’, with plenty of salt in the mix. Big jugs of an orange-ish liquid (in jugs that remind me of automobile anti-freeze) were poured into the machine at the drive-in movie theater snack bar where I worked in California.
When I was in my 20’s I was passionate about brewer’s yeast on my popcorn. OMG. The infamous fifth taste: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. The deep foodiness of nutritional yeast on popcorn…I get shivers, little quivers at the thought. The sensation is similar to fresh, hand-made corn tortillas. Roots, bones, core, earth, satisfaction. Yeah.
Submitted on 2012/04/15 at 3:58 pm
I seem to remember a concession stand in the 70′s run by a woman named Goldie in Encinitas CA that used real coconut oil to pop with — huge 5 gallon containers back when everyone thought coconut oil was bad for you – and 100% real butter straight from the local supermarket. Of course, there was that strange orange salt that went into the popper to make it look like “real” popcorn… Research now says that popcorn is higher in antioxidants than some vegetables, as long as you make sure to eat the husks, and I do have some coconut oil in the cupboard — maybe it’s time to give it a try again! Thanks for the memories.
Ever tried growing popping corn?
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