How to Grow and Make Popcorn | 15 Different Popcorn Recipes
This week’s we are chatting about Popcorn! The different varieties of popcorn, how to grow it, the different ways to make it, and 16 different ways to jazz up your popcorn with our family’s favorite popcorn recipe ebook!
The only thing better than hot, fresh popcorn is knowing that you grew that popcorn!
Two summers ago, we had several outdoor movie nights. And movie nights = popcorn nights and often a few kernels would get spread out onto the lawn.
Some kernels made their way into the dirt along our driveway and just like that, we were growing popcorn.
As much as it was an accident, we let those little sprouts grow up to be full-on popcorn stalks.
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In the fall, we harvested the popcorn cobs, the kids shucked them with their popcorn shellers and we have been enjoying fresh homegrown popcorn ever since.
We’ve learned a few things along the way. Like the best ways to prepare it and what to use it for. Since we had so much of it, we thought we’d try our hand at a few experimental popcorn recipes. You can grab our full 15 Ideas for popcorn recipe ebook here!
Growing and Making Popcorn | The Video
Cooking Popcorn in the Microwave using Brown Paper Sacks
When the kids are needing a quick snack, I love using these brown paper lunch sacks to put 1/4 cup of seeds in it, roll the top up, and lay it on its side in the microwave for 2:30-2:45 minutes or until the popping starts to slow down.
Then they can add all sorts of things to their individual bags. We generally do just butter, but sometimes I like to add a bit of black pepper to mine. While the kids love the from-scratch taco or Doritos flavors that we make. You can find all of our favorite seasoning recipes in the popcorn recipe ebook, too!
These bags make really nice, healthy snacks, to-go! When we are in the middle of harvest and I know the guys will be going late in the fields, I will pop up a bunch of bags of popcorn, pour a bit of melted butter and salt over the popcorn, give the bag a shake and hand them to the guys along with a frosty lemonade as they are passing by in their trucks!
Cooking your Popcorn in a Dutch Oven
I love this piece in my kitchen. Not only does it store the coveted and yet occasional oreo cookies, but it’s the one thing we turn to on a cold day to cook up a roast, soup, or my sourdough bread! Bonus, it looks pretty sitting on top of our refrigerator.
If we are doing a big gathering or need a family-style popcorn dinner, we’ll cook it up in our dutch oven. I add 2 tsp of olive oil, to a hot pot. Add a few kernels to see if they’ll pop. If they do, it means my pot is hot and ready. I remove the pot and turn off my stove. Then add 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels and stir them around. Then, place the cover back on and return the pot to the still-hot, but turned-off stove. The kernels always pop up so big and lovely this way! Also, make sure to cock your lid open a bit to let the steam release from the pot while popping. You can add your melted butter etc at this point too, then serve up nice and hot!
One of our favorite ways to prepare popcorn is to make kettle corn! It literally smells like the state fair in the house when we make Kettle Corn!
How do I know how much to cook up?
We found that 2 Tablespoons of popcorn kernels make approximately 4 cups of popped popcorn. Go wild!
What’s the difference?
Once we knew that we had a few different popcorn varieties to chose from, I really wanted to narrow it down to see just which types were our favorite. It’s not to say we couldn’t grow 8 different varieties of popcorn this year, but we really wouldn’t need to, if we choose just a few of our favorite!
Rainbow
So pretty in a glass jar. Medium popping kernel, but keep in mind, the color stays inside. It does not determine the color of the outside of the kernel.
Blue
Also really pretty and would make quite a lovely fall scape, too. This kernel tends to taste- slightly sweeter to us. Pops up in the medium category.
Mushroom
This is a yellow kernel and is a bit more rounded than some of the other varieties. I’d say this is in the larger category for popping kernels.
Yellow
Large and wonderful. But certainly not without a few hulls to dig out of your teeth. Good for a large crowd or group. Fills up a bag nice and full.
White
A large white, fluffy kernel. A lovely one to make for a crew. We really love how big this kernel gets!
Baby White
THIS is one of our favorites. It is little and is actually considered to be a hulless kernel. Since the starting size is so little, there is very little room for bother-some hulls.
Lady Finger
This is another hulless kernel. It’s ok, but super small and seemed almost annoying to have to pick up what seemed to be popcorn crumbs to eat. It works really well in our Marshmellow Popcorn Ball Recipe that you can find here!
Snappy
This kernel popped up a lot like the mushroom did. Medium-sized kernel.
So what will we be planting this spring?
We will be planting Baby White, White, and Blue for a little contrast! This popcorn planting is the perfect project for kids. They love to be in charge of direct planting the seeds, watching their little stalks grow up and produce little corn cobs. Once those cobs are mature, they can be picked and set somewhere cool and dry to dry (make sure to keep them out of reach of little rodents that might want to join in on the popcorn party). In the late fall or winter is when we will take those dried cobs and shuck them into cake pans. We then store them in air-tight ball glass jars until we are ready to pop up our first batch!
What do I do with all the popcorn I grow?
We have experimented with making popcorn in so many different ways, we want to share 15 of our family’s favorite popcorn recipes in our new popcorn recipe eBook!
Pin it for later!
What are your favorite ways to make popcorn? Leave me a comment below!
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This post may contain affiliate links from a paid sponsor, Amazon or other program. When you use these links to make a purchase I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This allows me to continue creating the content that you love. The content in this article is created for information only and based on my research and/or opinion.
Emily T.
DAILY INSPIRATION ON THE GRAM @hearty.sol
it's hip to be square!
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