Monday, February 9, 2009

Kettle Corn

kettlecorn

Popcorn in Sweden is never sweet. Never. The traditional way to eat it is just plain, salted. Never with butter, either, until the microwave popcorn hit Sweden, with its ready-flavored fake-butteriness. Popcorn at the cinema is also mildly butter-flavored. (And no, it's *not* made in the theatres, it's delivered in great big bags, much like garbage bags, and just heated on the premises.) I definitely don't know anyone who'll pour their own melted butter on their popcorn - oh no. I think people like to think that popcorn are healthy, or at least relatively so.

Guess what? It's really not. (Unless, possibly, air-popped and un-buttered. And how fun is that?) But it can be really, really good. I got introduced to the wonders of more exciting popcorn when I was an exchange student in the US, and I became a great fan of caramel corn. It's not all that easy to make at home though, and I'm not so sure I want to - it's a bit too sweet, at least for eating a lot of. This is a very happy in-between. It has a definite hit of both sweet and salty and it's perfect for when the cravings set in.

Kettle Corn
80 ml (1/3 cup) neutral oil
80 g (1/3 cup) sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) popcorn kernels


Pour the oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan with a lid - a big one. Add a few kernels and place on medium heat. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the corn and the sugar, cover with a lid and shake around a bit to make sure it all pops evenly. When it's not popping anymore, and seems done, transfer to a bowl and salt generously.

Recipe in Swedish
Kettle Corn

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