About 15 years ago, my brother gave us a specialty stove top popcorn popper with a wooden hand crank.  It works simply with just a couple of parts, and no batteries or cords.  Therefore, there isn’t much to wear out or damage in washing.  It has seen regular, almost daily use since we first got it.  On my vintage Wedgewood gas stove, we can make a batch of popcorn in less than 3 minutes.  What’s great about the stove top popper is, it is also perfect for making homemade kettle corn.  I used to pay the premium prices at the farmer’s market when my kids were really little, that is until I started experimenting with home made versions about 10 years ago.  I don’t measure the ingredients precisely, but the proportions below are pretty close to what I use for each batch.  It fills about 3 to 4 cello bags or a bowl with enough for our family to share as an afternoon snack.

Kettle Corn

1/2 cup pop corn

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 T. Kosher Salt

Other cooking oils can be used, but I like the flavor with Coconut oil the best.

I add popping corn, oil, and sugar to the popper all at once, stirring constantly over high heat.  The popping begins within two minutes or so.  When the popping noises are more than 1 or 2 seconds apart, I remove it from heat.  Then I quickly dump hot popcorn into a large bowl (or large paper bag at Christmas time for giant batches) and add salt while it is still hot.

*At Christmas time, I also add food coloring/ cake frosting colorant to the separate batches along with the oil/ corn/ sugar mix prior to cooking.   I pop it up dozens of times over an hour or so, then mix together the different colored batches, and bag it into small cello bags. We pass it out, along with the other homemade gifts we make this time of year.