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Eating Light: Homemade Popcorn with Olive Oil

2009_01_30-Popcorn.jpgWe 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)

Tags

Tips & Techniques, Inspiration, Hors d'oeuvres, Easy, snack, popcorn, eating light

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Comments (23)

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!

posted by jillrenee from boston on January 28th 2009 at 12:59pm
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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

posted by Darlene on January 28th 2009 at 1:37pm
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I love popping my kernels with a little Gun Oil.

Oh, wait... we're talking about popcorn.

Nevermind!

posted by patrick (the other one) on January 28th 2009 at 1:46pm
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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.

posted by rosebud on January 28th 2009 at 2:40pm
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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)?

posted by Leisureguy on January 28th 2009 at 5:16pm
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I have just been putting it on top, after popping; I haven't tried popping it in olive oil yet.

posted by faith on January 28th 2009 at 5:20pm
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Butter, parmesan and a sprinkling of rosemary

posted by silverivy on January 28th 2009 at 6:29pm
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Brewer's Yeast and that's it! It's my favorite popcorn on the planet.

posted by thegetupkid on January 28th 2009 at 7:09pm
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Honey. On those occasions when my grandparents were looking after us as kids we had popcorn with honey.

posted by melliemar on January 28th 2009 at 9:00pm
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I use coconut oil to pop the kernels.

posted by bipolarbear on January 28th 2009 at 9:17pm
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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.

posted by RoseCampion on January 28th 2009 at 10:12pm
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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).

posted by foodefafa on January 28th 2009 at 11:04pm
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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)

posted by LizO on January 28th 2009 at 11:25pm
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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!

posted by mizrobot on January 29th 2009 at 12:14am
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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.

posted by little green on January 29th 2009 at 1:08am
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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.

posted by wildwoodsflower on January 29th 2009 at 7:18am
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Butter and smoked salt. Amazing.

posted by violet222 on January 29th 2009 at 2:23pm
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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.

posted by Risa Kate on January 29th 2009 at 4:20pm
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olive oil and truffle salt
sometimes french butter, truffle oil, sea salt and parmesean

posted by rmarcus on January 29th 2009 at 11:23pm
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salt and lemon/lime juice sprinkled on top! :)

posted by witchbaby on January 30th 2009 at 1:52pm
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truffle oil and cracked black pepper
Frank's hot sauce

posted by HazeL4844 on January 30th 2009 at 4:58pm
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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!

posted by Anjali on January 30th 2009 at 6:59pm
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My friend used coconut oil and a little salt and it was delicious!

posted by quitecurious on May 27th 2009 at 12:40pm
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