We grew up in a popcorn-eating family. Every movie night, every game day, and every holiday evening, there was popcorn on the coffee table. We rarely ate microwave popcorn, so the smell of hot canola oil and the sound of kernels exploding against the inside of a steel pot bring back memories.
We still love homemade popcorn, and we just found a new reason to make it much more often. Olive oil!!
Olive oil on popcorn is hardly a new idea. We can't take credit for it, but we do find it hard to believe we didn't try it sooner! It's so simple and delicious.
We only tried it in the first place because we have these four precious little bottles of olive oil from Oliviera, a shop and restaurant in Nice, France. The oils we bought there are just dang good; they are all grown by local producers, and pressed in small batches. Foodie pedigree aside, though, these oils are straight out delicious. One tastes like smooth, ripe citrus; another one is spiky and green like green olives themselves.
We've been looking for ways to enjoy the flavors of these oils, and it turns out that hot popcorn is simply the best. The heat releases so much flavor from the oils, and popcorn itself is mild enough to really let the oil shine.
We can hardly wait to try this with all our olive oils, then move to walnut and truffle oils!
What's your favorite topping for fresh popcorn?
Related: How To Make Popcorn
(Images: Top: Gregory Han; Bottom: Flickr member jslander licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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I cook the popcorn right in the olive oil, and then toss with salt, more olive oil, and nutritional yeast. a favorite, inexpensive, actually somewhat healthy snack!
I love popping my kernels with olive oil slipping in some cloves of garlic and topping it with cheese. YUM!
I did a graphic here:
http://myburningkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/10/easy-homemade-popcorn.html
I stopped using microwave popcorn years ago when our microwave broke and ever since have popped it on the stovetop. We normally use grapeseed oil because I assumed that the high heat required to pop the kernals meant that I couldn't use extra virgin olive oil. If I'm mistaken I'll have to try this but grapeseed oil does give the popcorn a nice flavor along with a little salt and perhaps some parmesan. There is nothing I like better than when I am on my own for dinner and I am sitting on the couch with a big bucket of popcorn as my meal. Yum.
Faith, are you popping the corn in the olive oil? or popping it in canola oil and just topping it with olive oil (instead of, for example butter)?
I have just been putting it on top, after popping; I haven't tried popping it in olive oil yet.
Butter, parmesan and a sprinkling of rosemary
Brewer's Yeast and that's it! It's my favorite popcorn on the planet.
Honey. On those occasions when my grandparents were looking after us as kids we had popcorn with honey.
I use coconut oil to pop the kernels.
I use coconut oil too. I melt a little coconut oil in a big glass bowl, then add some popcorn, cover it with a glass plate, microwave for about five minutes. Microwave popcorn, but without all the chemicals. Eat with a little salt. So good.
ditto the paresam and rosemay.
olive oil with black pepper.
butter and garlic.
every now and then, some melted sugar and butter.
hot sesame oil is yummy.
and you don't need any oil to pop it in the microwave. a brown paper lunch bag works great (though perhaps a little wasteful versus a pot).
I pop mine in a brown paper bag in the micro (you can reuse the bag multiple times, too). Just put the kernels in dry- then you can have more oil for topping!
My favorite olive oil for a topping is Green Lemon olive oil from O & Co. (www.oliviersandco.com)
I used to pop popcorn in olive oil all the time before I started using an air popper. You still get a nice olive oily-taste and at medium high heat I never had anything burst into flames. My favorite topping is nutritional yeast!
a frequent snack that the kids love (especially to take to the movies)
Air popped popcorn
topped with Flax seed oil and nutritional yeast, dried nettles, paprika and sometimes a sweet furikake.
I've been making my popcorn in olive oil for years. I simply toss it with some fine sea salt and it's the best ever. I'm thinking of infusing some olive oil with hot peppers and making popcorn with that, yum.
Butter and smoked salt. Amazing.
All of the above sound great to me - grapeseed, coconut, olive - all lovely fats! I avoid canola as much as possible, as it's all quite processed and not one of the better veg oils out there.
olive oil and truffle salt
sometimes french butter, truffle oil, sea salt and parmesean
salt and lemon/lime juice sprinkled on top! :)
truffle oil and cracked black pepper
Frank's hot sauce
I throw a big sprig of fresh rosemary in with the kernels and take it out after the popcorn has popped. It infuses everything with a subtle herb-y flavor.
I also love topping it with finely grated sharp cheddar and black pepper. Yum!
My friend used coconut oil and a little salt and it was delicious!