- 2 days ago
Today on Epicurious, we’ve asked popcorn experts Bjorn Quenemoen, Shilpa Uskokovic, and Maiko Kyogoku to give us their unfiltered, honest reviews of some prominent microwave popcorn found on supermarket shelves. Which popcorn packs the most bang for your buck, and which should you avoid at all costs?
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00:00We've gathered three popcorn experts to blind taste test every microwave popcorn we could
00:06get our hands on to see which ones meet their standards.
00:13Pop Secret Butter.
00:15That's a nice looking bowl.
00:16We have some marbling between some light kernels and some yellow kernels here.
00:22So it's definitely a yellow butterfly popcorn.
00:25Some of the pieces are very big, like this one.
00:28It does smell mildly buttery.
00:30And when I mean buttery, I don't think it smells like real butter.
00:34It definitely smells like the smell of when you go into a theater.
00:37I see a few on the bottom here that are unpopped, but color wise it looks pretty even to me.
00:42The ideal flavor that I'm looking for in my popcorn is a nice balance of salt and a clean
00:48neutral flavor.
00:49I want to taste a balance of seasoning and salt and corn flavor.
00:57I'm looking for something that is nutty, but doesn't have too many grassy tones.
01:02It should feel crisp and also taste light and not be greasy in any way.
01:08I prefer it to be crispier over like billowy fluffiness.
01:13A good bowl of popcorn should have an unbiting aroma to it.
01:16The first thing I want to smell is actually the corn.
01:21Toasted corn at the same time as the hints of the flavoring.
01:25If it's too strong and it smells only of that butter flavor, you kind of know that you're
01:30probably going to get an experience that is extreme.
01:34And it's important that the popcorn looks full of life.
01:37I'm looking at the fullness of the pop.
01:39The bag pops to completion or not.
01:41I'm looking for a light, fluffy, voluminous appearance.
01:45I think there's a balanced flavor.
01:47It's not too salty.
01:48It definitely has the nutty aroma.
01:51The buttery flavor is really nice.
01:52It's strong and it's well seasoned.
01:54It's a very like basic popcorn.
01:58I don't know.
01:59Pop secret.
02:00Oh way!
02:01I can't believe I guessed that.
02:02Classic butter taste.
02:03Yeah, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't trying to be anything more than classic.
02:06So this is a conventional popcorn, but it's high quality.
02:09In order to pop correctly, needs to be at a pretty specific moisture content.
02:14And that's going to be somewhere between 12% and 14%.
02:19Popcorn kernel itself is extremely hard.
02:22And it holds in an incredible amount of force, upwards of 130 psi.
02:27And when you turn the microwave on, the microwave essentially emits these rays, which then heat
02:34up the water molecules by creating a lot of friction.
02:37And because these water molecules in the popcorn kernels get excited, they start heating up and
02:43creating a lot of energy.
02:45And that in turns builds up pressure and then causes the kernel to pop.
02:49I didn't grow up with pop secret.
02:52I'm an Orville Redenbacher girls, a little too salty for my taste.
02:55Act two, butter.
03:01Quite a few unpopped kernels.
03:03This was either not super fresh, causing, you know, loss of moisture, which leaves more
03:08unpopped kernels at the bottom.
03:09It's definitely trying to be a butter popcorn.
03:11It's popping a lot smaller, either a medium sized kernel or just a dried out kernel.
03:17I mean, it looks more buttery than the last one, but the smell isn't as strong.
03:21I taste the butter flavor.
03:23I taste the salt flavor.
03:25It's not too salty.
03:26I actually taste a lot of the corn flavor.
03:29It's just like natural popcorn corn.
03:32Is it act two?
03:34Oh yeah.
03:35Act two.
03:36I mean, act two has so many flavors of butter popcorn.
03:38This is like their classic one.
03:40That's interesting.
03:41They don't mention the word butter whatsoever, not butter flavoring even.
03:46Butter flavoring is like a identified molecules that are similar to butter.
03:51Manufacturers turn to fake butter extracts, and that is usually made with derivatives of
03:58other chemicals.
03:59It's really hard to put real actual butter in a shelf stable product.
04:04A solid microwavable popcorn product.
04:07I'm just waiting for act three, I guess.
04:11Oval Redenbacher's Butter.
04:14This is a great bowl of popcorn.
04:16This feels like popcorn for an ad.
04:19Generally, it looks like most of it has been popped.
04:22The oil itself is seasoned oil and low quality.
04:28Yeah, it smells like fake butter.
04:30I like that smell when you walk into a movie theater.
04:32Definitely leaving a mark there on both of my fingers.
04:35I like this one, because right away I can taste a little bit of salt, so it feels flavorful.
04:41This popcorn is making me a little thirsty.
04:44It's Orville something.
04:46Orville Redenbacher.
04:48I swear I didn't cheat.
04:51The man himself.
04:52The king.
04:53Most of the microwavable popcorn you'll see is usually this butterfly popcorn variety.
04:59And there's also another variety called a mushroom popcorn, which much like a mushroom,
05:04it sort of bursts up and over itself and creates a sort of cap.
05:07This one was impressive in how well it popped, which is something I would expect from Orville Redenbacher.
05:13Somebody commented that Orville looks a lot like the KFC man, and I just wonder if they're related.
05:22Skinny girl, butter and sea salt.
05:24It looks so meager in the bowl.
05:27If this is the entire bag, this is a lot less.
05:30It's very white in color.
05:32The popcorn is very large.
05:35Some of them burst violently.
05:37We call these types of kernels brained kernels.
05:41Maybe had too much moisture and they just ended up with this brain-like structure.
05:45You want something more like these, which are billowy, cloud-like.
05:50Flavor on this is very, very mild.
05:53This is a chewy popcorn.
05:54And that's one of the no-no's for popcorn, I think, because then you're going to have to pick it out of your molars.
05:59There's a good chunk of it that's now stuck in my tooth.
06:02It's clearly trying to market itself as a healthier brand, but really it's giving you less popcorn.
06:10Any time you see a popcorn talk in cups, that's very misleading because a cup of popcorn is almost nothing.
06:17You're never going to eat just a cup of popcorn.
06:20There's no actual butter in the ingredient list, but in something like popcorn, it matters less.
06:26With brands like this, it's really just marketing.
06:30Just eat less of the other popcorn that you like and you'll be a skinny girl.
06:35Skinny Pop Butter.
06:40So this is a very full bowl, large kernel, well popped.
06:45The fluff, the heights, all good things.
06:48It's nice to have these umami characteristics and make it taste like it has milk proteins in it.
06:56It doesn't taste like real butter.
06:58It's well seasoned.
06:59And really the hull is very pleasant.
07:01It's very thin and sort of dissolves as well along with the white part of the popcorn.
07:05It is Skinny Pop.
07:08It's definitely not butter.
07:11It's using vegan ingredients to create a butter-like flavor that creates like a more cheesy thing.
07:17The choice of fat in the popcorn will sort of affect the mouthfeel of it.
07:22I think they've mixed sunflower oil, which is unsaturated, and palm oil, which is saturated fat, to simply bring down the saturated fat content.
07:31Palm oil is the go-to fat of the food manufacturing industry because it is very shelf-stable.
07:37It is semi-solid at room temperature.
07:40The ones which are made predominantly with an unsaturated fat, like sunflower or canola oil, will I think taste a bit more greasy on your tongue because it's already in a liquid state.
07:51I think it's a decent microwave popcorn.
07:53My least favorite so far.
07:54I'm sorry.
08:00Oh, very nice.
08:02Not very many unpopped kernels.
08:05So we're definitely looking at a natural, marketed popcorn.
08:10It has a nice, more natural, buttery smell.
08:13That nutty popcorn aroma.
08:16It tastes very good.
08:17It's one of the better quality popcorn.
08:19But the seasoning and flavoring is kind of very bland.
08:23This is pretty unusual because it's really crispy right away.
08:26Like you get, it's loud, you hear that?
08:30So this is somebody's proprietary seed, I guess.
08:34Hokkaido, golden popcorn.
08:37Wow.
08:38It's all in Japanese.
08:39This goes into the category of things I don't know about.
08:41Hokkaido is actually really famous for its corn and its dairy.
08:45The northern part of Japan, lots of fields, an ideal place for agriculture and farming.
08:52There are far fewer unpopped kernels here.
08:55And so this shows me that it is like a superior quality popcorn.
09:01Popcorn kernels are literally like the seeds of the corn.
09:06When you see some that are unpopped, it's like a bad seed.
09:09I remember growing up in India, the popcorn that I used to eat was very heavily seasoned and a little bit spicy.
09:15It had turmeric and salt and sometimes black salt and cayenne.
09:19I'd be curious to see what other flavor or variations this brand has.
09:22I smell more like, I don't want to say burnt, but like cooked popcorn flavor that smells like fried food.
09:37We have yellow kernels and white kernels mixed together.
09:41This has got more color additives.
09:44That's where that color is mostly coming from.
09:47Wow.
09:48This is the saltiest of the bunch so far.
09:49Whoa.
09:50It's really salty.
09:51It's extremely salty.
09:52Should we call this like a Newman's own?
09:55Oh, wow.
09:56How about that?
09:57I think it's important for butter flavored popcorn to look like there's butter on it, even if it's not actually butter.
10:03And I think that's why companies use like a color additive, like a natural color additive, like annatto.
10:09Because you're eating with your eyes first.
10:12The annatto extract comes from acciote seeds, which are kind of emit a really deep orange color,
10:21but use sparingly to make it more like a buttery yellow color like this.
10:25Some brands also use other coloring agents such as riboflavin or beta carotene.
10:30Yeah, Newman, it's a nice box and I like your company, but it's not particularly flavorful.
10:36Flavor doesn't really bring to mind butter.
10:39It is not unpleasant, but it's not butter to me.
10:45Market Pantry. Butter.
10:47This smells like the microwave popcorn of my childhood.
10:51And it's oily, but not overly so.
10:54I almost taste like a lot of milkiness.
10:58It says natural and artificial flavor.
11:01So there is something artificial there as well.
11:03That's probably contributing to this cloying butter flavor.
11:06This is of Target's affordable line.
11:08So when a store does a private label brand, they're reaching out to a popcorn producer,
11:14maybe the one of the ones that are on the shelf and they're making their store brand.
11:19To do it cheap enough, you have to remove as many input costs as you can.
11:25Natural and artificial flavor.
11:28And probably that is in a bid to sort of, you know, keep the cost down.
11:32Although the ingredient list is short, the artificial flavor allows them to do a lot.
11:41Whole Foods organic buttery flavor.
11:43It looks very pale, but so many unpopped kernels.
11:47I don't see a lot of like bright yellow coloring.
11:50It has a nice aroma, nothing artificial about it.
11:54It tastes like nothing.
11:55It's very, very plain.
11:57The mildest of the popcorns I've tried so far.
12:00The kernel is pretty straightforward, not very complex.
12:03It's pretty crispy and that smaller kernel helps achieve that.
12:08Is this Whole Foods?
12:10Mmm.
12:11It is Whole Foods.
12:12It also says no added diacetyl.
12:15Diacetyl is a chemical that is often used in fake butter flavor to mimic the flavor of butter.
12:23There was a big lawsuit involving some microwave popcorn manufacturers
12:28that had some of their workers developing a condition known as popcorn lung
12:33that resulted from the exposure to the diacetyl.
12:36Although it is not a banned substance.
12:39Popcorn brands don't really use diacetyl anymore.
12:42I mean, it's nice that they point that out.
12:44You know, they don't really say what they use instead of diacetyl now.
12:48They usually just say natural flavorings or artificial flavorings.
12:52In the United States, that is a real useful tool for putting whatever you want in a product.
13:03Amish country. Butter.
13:05I usually see popcorn this small.
13:07These are such tiny kernels.
13:09It makes me feel like I'm really big.
13:11While very adorable and appealing, I think it sort of throws off the ratio of that white puffy bit to hull.
13:18Even though relatively speaking, the hull is proportionately smaller.
13:21I think the ratio is still a bit off.
13:23Tastes like it has a little bit of artificial flavor going on.
13:26Not what I'd expect from an heirloom kernel like this.
13:29Amish country popcorn.
13:31Oh, it does say ladyfinger popcorn.
13:33I can't believe it calls itself as hull-less popcorn because the hull was very evident.
13:37So hull-less is really a marketing term.
13:39Every popcorn needs to have a hull.
13:41That's sort of what defines popcorn.
13:44It says right here, ladyfinger popcorn.
13:46And that is one variety of heirloom mini popcorn.
13:50Typically associated with the Amish.
13:52Heirloom really means that it's like an older strain.
13:56You can understand how it would be like a novelty.
14:00The popcorn's cute.
14:01It's a good time.
14:02The kids will like it.
14:06Amish country.
14:07Microwave popcorn on the cob.
14:09This is so cute.
14:10It's popcorn that came off of this cob.
14:15This is a fun thing to do.
14:16You'll find these at roadside stops in farm country.
14:21This is like art.
14:22This is so pretty.
14:23No seasoning.
14:25Absolutely none.
14:26But a very pleasant texture.
14:28It has like a really concentrated corn taste.
14:31Whoa.
14:32This is so cool.
14:34Same company.
14:36Amish country.
14:37You got your red corn.
14:38So maybe some of these are dark because they were actually colored red originally.
14:44Almost like going back to the basics, but in like the best way.
14:48Black jewel.
14:49Touch of butter.
14:50Almost looks a little green like.
14:51Green tinted, which is really interesting.
14:52The hulls are dark red, which tells me that it came from a cob or kernels that, you know,
15:06were like reddish purple.
15:07Is it blue corn?
15:08The aroma is like mildly buttery.
15:11The whiff of corn is really prominent.
15:14It doesn't have a lot of lingering flavor.
15:17It's just like kind of really well balanced.
15:20It's crunchy.
15:21I kind of like this.
15:22It has a balanced buttery flavor and a very obvious saltiness.
15:29The darkness of this particular batch here brings out a toasty flavor.
15:34Not sure if this is a standard brand or not.
15:37Black jewel gourmet specialty popcorn.
15:40When you see like red or blue popcorn, it means that they come from an heirloom variety,
15:47which is what this box is marketing itself as.
15:50I think that darker kernels produce like more intense corn flavor.
15:55It's a little bit nuttier.
15:57The word gourmet means literally nothing in the context of this packaging.
16:01It is just a marketing term that makes you feel gourmet, I guess.
16:06They really mean like heirloom.
16:07This is a old variety.
16:09Great value, extra butter.
16:14Yep, we have blown through the butter door and here we are.
16:18This looks very intense.
16:20This is the most orange bowl of popcorn we've seen so far.
16:24Bright yellow and huge.
16:26This is the movie theater look.
16:28Oh my gosh, but this is actually like staining the bowl.
16:31That tastes really nice actually.
16:33That tastes like real butter and each individual kernel is very light.
16:37Yeah, it's actually like not sitting well on my stomach.
16:42You're going to be disappointed if you think this is like super intense butter popcorn.
16:46It's more super intense butter looking popcorn.
16:48Oh wow, great value.
16:51We got to the Walmart one.
16:53I've never tried this before.
16:55Probably be my last time.
16:57There's sort of a trend here that store bought brands are really accentuating the buttery look.
17:03Extra butter means that there's more seasonings, more natural butter flavors to make that sort of butter taste and color.
17:13They're adding coloring.
17:14They are not adding any more flavor.
17:18It really did work on me.
17:19It's from the color to the flavor and I could suss out that there was real butter in it.
17:25So this is a win for me.
17:28Jolly time.
17:29Blasto butter ultimate theater style.
17:32It's a beautiful looking ball of popcorn.
17:35A little bit of shimmering on some of these kernels.
17:37It smells like chili powder.
17:39The smell sort of reminds me of the popcorn that I grew up with.
17:43Color is like bright bright yellow.
17:46It almost smells like a little bit burnt.
17:49Really pleasant to eat.
17:50It's very light and fluffy.
17:52The hull is present but very thin.
17:55So it doesn't feel tough or feel like you're crunching down on something.
17:58Again, I don't understand it.
18:00It's like doesn't taste very buttery.
18:02There's like kind of something sweet about this.
18:04I can't put my finger on.
18:05Ooh, blasto butter.
18:08And dry buttermilk.
18:09Wow.
18:10The dry buttermilk is going to add a sweetness and that's probably what I was tasting in there.
18:16I reckon that's because of the extra lactic acid boost that buttermilk might bring.
18:21Dry buttermilk actually has an interesting flavor to it.
18:26It kind of has a cheesy quality, almost like sour cream actually.
18:31It's an inexpensive way to mimic butter.
18:34But popcorn, I think the minute it starts staining your hands with spots of grease, that's you gone a little too hard.
18:43Cousin Willy's buttery explosion.
18:45This smells a little chemically.
18:48Very strong.
18:49It's like the smell of oil hitting a very hot pan.
18:52Whoa.
18:53Ooh.
18:54This is some fake stuff right here.
18:56The bite is very good.
18:58Like it kind of shatters under your teeth.
19:00The artificial butter's taste is like over the top.
19:04Not a natural tasting butter flavor.
19:07Buttery explosion.
19:08Okay.
19:09Cousin Willy has amazing packaging.
19:11A very trustworthy character with his, you know, with his plaid buffalo check shirt.
19:16Clearly the ratio is wrong.
19:18Like this is just all butter.
19:20You have to balance it out with the salt level and the oil in order for it to taste pleasant.
19:26Microwave popcorns are always going to try to hit the most perfect butter flavor.
19:31But butter is just really hard to do.
19:33A lot of times you're not really trying to make it taste like buttery popcorn.
19:36You're trying to make it taste like artificial movie theater popcorn.
19:39But Willy, Willy turned it up.
19:41Good job, Cousin Willy.
19:45Oppo Pop.
19:46Super butter.
19:47This popcorn to me looks really good.
19:49It looks like what I would want to pop.
19:51The kernels are very irregular, I would say.
19:53Pure corn aroma.
19:55I think I detect more like cheesy notes rather than buttery notes.
20:00So there is something dairy going on.
20:02Hit somewhere between butter and cheese, I'd say.
20:05Has like a balanced salt flavor.
20:07Mild butter.
20:09Doesn't taste artificial.
20:11Kind of like lighter mouth feel too.
20:13There's like not as much oil.
20:15And the popcorn's nice and crunchy.
20:16I just want to keep eating it.
20:18Oppo Pop.
20:19I'm glad to see that it contains milk because there is a distinctive sort of lactic note to this popcorn.
20:25But is it super butter?
20:27Its attempt at being buttery is quite different than what you'd expect.
20:32A good balance of flavor for me.
20:34Super butter is a great term.
20:36Just maybe not for this particular one.
20:41AMC Theatre's classic butter.
20:43There's something promising about this bowl.
20:45It smells like a lot of butter.
20:48And it looks like there's a lot of butter flavor on it.
20:51It's very yellow.
20:52I don't really see many unpopped kernels.
20:55This is super buttery.
20:58This is kind of what I want when somebody tells me movie theater butter popcorn.
21:02I want to be slapped in the face with that flavor.
21:05This one really didn't surprise me.
21:06It is a bit salty, but the popcorn is pretty crunchy.
21:09I think that it's probably one of the better executed movie theater popcorns.
21:14Ooh.
21:15The Masters.
21:16Shut up!
21:18I did not know they made this.
21:19They set the standard I suppose.
21:21That's insane, but also so smart.
21:24It definitely has the butter flavor movie theater popcorn.
21:27It is its own thing.
21:28And how movie theaters do it is they usually use a substance called Flavacol,
21:34which is a salt, a very, very, very finely powdered salt mixed in with butter flavor.
21:40And they usually add it in the beginning when the kernels are popping.
21:44They put the Flavacol, they put the fat, whether it's coconut oil or palm oil.
21:48That makes it really easy for anybody to run a movie theater concession stand.
21:52You dump in the kernels, pour in the Flavacol.
21:55And I think across the varieties that we've tasted, we have noticed that anything that contains actual dairy,
22:00whether that's in the form of butter or milk, they really do stand out.
22:04I might explain part of the success here.
22:06It's the best popcorn that we've had so far.
22:08I really love it.
22:09I'm just, my mind is just blown that a movie theater sells its own popcorn.
22:13I think it's brilliant.
22:17Plancy's movie theater butter.
22:19Has that appealing fake butter smell.
22:22Kernels look very nice and fluffy.
22:24So I think it's well popped.
22:25The distribution of the flavoring is quite uneven.
22:28A lot of, like, pronounced white pieces and yellow pieces.
22:31Yeah, here we go. We got marbling again.
22:33This is very white and that's very yellow.
22:36So you gotta eat them together to get the real, what they're going for.
22:39I kind of like it though, because you can kind of self-regulate.
22:42You know, mix and match your intensity is kind of how, how I see it.
22:46Yeah, maybe it's like a milky flavor.
22:50Clancy's?
22:51Oh, it's distributed and sold by Aldi.
22:55Okay, got it.
22:56I mean, it does say it contains milk.
22:58Movie theater popcorn also does have sort of uneven flavoring.
23:01It's like wherever the sauce is hitting the popcorn.
23:04So maybe they're trying to mimic that.
23:06I think the people at Clancy need to go speak to the people at AMC
23:10and figure out how AMC got the flavor distribution so even.
23:14Kirkland Signature Movie Theater Butter.
23:19I know it sounds so weird, but it smells like dry aged steak.
23:22I am drawn to the natural look.
23:25Kind of natural popcorn white.
23:28This has a really balanced flavor.
23:31Oil popped corn, like a mild saltiness.
23:34Trader Joe's.
23:36Oh my God.
23:37Wow.
23:38Oh my God, I almost broke my arm.
23:39Kirkland, they did it.
23:40That's a huge box.
23:42I love Costco.
23:44I love Costco.
23:45No wonder this is Costco.
23:47This is a really good popcorn, I think.
23:49Like it's just kind of balanced, mild flavors that you don't really like get sick of.
23:54This popcorn reinforces my theory that any of the popcorns that seem to have some sort of butter or milk derivative
24:02are generally better tasting.
24:04Costco always does a good job.
24:06I think it's a good one to have in your pantry.
24:08Chili time.
24:11The big cheese.
24:13Very, very orange.
24:14What is this?
24:15Very orange in color.
24:17But the smell is quite neutral actually.
24:20This is going to be a really flavorful popcorn.
24:23At least from the looks of it.
24:25And I can see some bits of little granules of spice on here.
24:30It's not super spicy, but it's spiced somehow.
24:36I've turned my fingers a little orange.
24:38It's going to be a cheese description.
24:40The flavor is mysterious to me.
24:41Trader Joe's.
24:42I'm going to go with Trader Joe's until I get it right.
24:45The big cheese.
24:47Look, I'm right.
24:48It's a Z.
24:49I don't think I ever think of cheese on top of popcorn.
24:52Not many companies are trying to do cheese because it's hard to pull off.
24:56Getting like a cheesy flavor to microwavable popcorn is challenging because you really have to take different ingredients to mimic the taste of cheese popcorns.
25:08It is very difficult to get flavor to survive the microwave.
25:13You're generally going to end up with artificial flavors because of that.
25:20Stonewall Kitchen.
25:21Cheesy white cheddar.
25:22I do notice some sort of powdery substance on top.
25:26A mild sort of corn flavor, like corn aroma.
25:30I expect this to be a white cheddar situation.
25:33Again, a little surprised that it's not more flavorful, but I like it.
25:37There's really nothing offensive about this.
25:40I'm not entirely sure what this popcorn is being marketed as.
25:44Okay, here we go.
25:45We just entered the seasoning packets world.
25:47Urban Accents by Stonewall Kitchen.
25:49This makes sense why you see the granules on top.
25:52I don't mind the extra step, but I do wish it were a little cheesier.
25:57Now that I know what it is, it's sort of missing its mark.
25:59There's a lot going on here for what ended up being not that much going on.
26:05The seasoning packet I don't think is strong enough,
26:08and maybe there wasn't enough fat to sort of make it cling really well.
26:16Oville Redenbacher's Kettle Corn.
26:18I don't even know this popcorn, but I love her already.
26:21You have a natural look, which I like.
26:23No crazy colorings.
26:25This is noticeably sweet.
26:27It's sweeter than any other variety that we've tasted before.
26:29It is a kettle corn.
26:31Kettle corn is a flavor of popcorn that's a little bit sweet and salty.
26:36It has some sugar in it.
26:38Unfortunately, they're using sucralose instead of sugar.
26:41Within the environment of a microwave-safe bag, which has all of the steam and fat,
26:46it's really hard to work with actual granulated sugar.
26:49So this obviously has some sort of sugar derivative.
26:52Artificial sugars are easy to spot.
26:54Like, it's just sitting in my mouth right now.
26:56Roll the Redenbacher Kettle Corn.
26:58They've had to modify the sugar, and that's probably why they use like an ingredient like sucralose,
27:04to make it so that it melts at a lower temperature.
27:06If you're looking for a kettle corn, this is not the route for you.
27:11Stonewall Kitchen, buttery caramel corn.
27:16This one smells like maple.
27:17Kind of a fake maple-y thing going on.
27:20This one has a powdery substance on top, which to me feels like a dead giveaway.
27:25This might also have like a seasoning packet that you add on top.
27:28There is sweetness and saltiness, but it's not really working together.
27:32And looks natural, but it has that like strong McGriddle smell.
27:38We're back at Stonewall Kitchen.
27:41I think if this was called Kettle Corn, it would be perfectly acceptable.
27:45But to call something caramel corn that's being made in the microwave is almost impossible.
27:50Caramel corn is popcorn that you toss in caramel sauce and you really essentially like cook it.
27:59When you make caramel corn, you want something called mushroom popcorn.
28:03And mushroom popcorn is unique because as it pops, it sort of rises in on itself.
28:09It's a bit more sturdy and it's able to take the weight, the physical weight of certain toppings like caramel.
28:15You cannot do this in a microwave.
28:17But I like that they used real sugar, had you add it on afterwards.
28:22I just wish they did it without the fake aroma.
28:29Act two, hot and spicy.
28:31This is nuclear.
28:32Like it almost looks like it's been painted or accidentally spilled on.
28:37It is so intense in color, but it smells like absolutely nothing.
28:41I haven't seen anything like this.
28:43The heat is in the back of the throat for the most part.
28:47It's not like it's making your lips burn.
28:49I mean there's definitely like salt there too, so it's not just heat.
28:54But it's not a very sophisticated product here.
28:57It's like popcorn, hot, done.
28:59I don't think any of the big companies would make this.
29:02Act two.
29:03I was wrong.
29:04Act two did it.
29:05I see here there's a lot of coloring.
29:07Red 40, which is not that great.
29:10Red 40 is a very controversial coloring agent.
29:14I think with hot Cheetos there is like surprisingly lots of complex flavors there.
29:20When you have flaming hot Cheetos, they do spice really well.
29:24Because it's spicy, but it's also fruity.
29:26But you're really missing that here.
29:28I'm getting the box red just from my fingers touching it.
29:32So watch your couch.
29:33Arse kicking Carolina Reaper.
29:38This one smells like paprika, like bell pepper.
29:41It has a fruity kind of note to it.
29:43There's a good amount of paprika in this.
29:45It's causing it to be the color it is.
29:49And that's good because that is a natural way to do it.
29:51And paprika has a nice flavor for popcorn.
29:54Oh, this one is spicy.
29:58I need water.
29:59This is a challenge popcorn.
30:01I think the level of heat is silly.
30:04Nobody really wants that regularly.
30:06It's more for tricking people.
30:08Like biting into a pepper.
30:10It is extremely hot.
30:12They would label it like Carolina Reaper or whatever the pepper is that like elicits that, you know, super Scoville scale pepper that you see people running around screaming eating.
30:25All I taste is the heat.
30:26Ass kicking pepper or something like that.
30:30Ass kicking.
30:31Okay.
30:32Carolina Reaper.
30:33There it is.
30:34It did kick my ass.
30:35Caution.
30:36Extremely hot.
30:37Pop in well ventilated area.
30:39Use.
30:40I don't know about this one.
30:41It is hot.
30:43It's one of the hottest peppers out there.
30:46A Carolina Reaper is an extremely spicy chili.
30:49My best guess is the extractor capsaicin, which is the compound responsible for making a pepper hot and introduce it to the seasoning.
30:59I've concluded today that I don't need my popcorn to be either cheesy or spicy.
31:04Maybe a one time buy.
31:06Now let's see which popcorn our experts liked the most and the least.
31:10My favorite of the bunch was definitely the AMC movie theater popcorn.
31:14I think it was remarkable how similar it tasted to that smell that we get when you walk into a movie theater.
31:21It was crisp.
31:22It was fluffy, light.
31:23It was easy to chow down.
31:25So I like the AMC popcorn because it hits the spot for movie theater popcorn.
31:30Salty, buttery popcorn.
31:32The Black Jewel and the Hokkaido brand, those were just delicious in terms of the type of popcorn kernels they used.
31:42And then the real balance of flavor in terms of how the corn flavor shone through.
31:48The Skinny Pop was one of my favorites.
31:51It was more natural, which I tend to like.
31:54It was cheesy, but it didn't say so.
31:57It said it was butter and the reasoning became obvious.
32:00It was a vegan butter.
32:02Not a fan of the Jolly Time brand.
32:04It was just a little too artificial in flavor.
32:07Of the ones I didn't like, the Act II butter is on that list.
32:13It is clearly an inferior version of Pop Secret or Oral Rimbacher's butter.
32:19I also was not a fan of Act II's hot and spicy.
32:22I didn't like the extreme color of the red and the white.
32:26No point really in flavor, just spice.
32:29So I would definitely put both the spicy popcorns at the bottom of my list.
32:33Carolina Reaper popcorn is something I will never try again.
32:38My experience today has shown me that if the ingredient list says it contains milk, generally the flavor of the microwave popcorn is going to be better and it is going to deliver on the butter front.
32:50Microwave popcorn is obviously a big thing in the supermarket.
32:54It's an amazing technology, but it has a lot of limitations in terms of flavor.
33:00It's one of those like vessels and snacks that can carry different kinds of flavors.
33:05So it's like really fun to try different kinds.
33:08Maybe stop by the spice aisle.
33:09And then season it yourself.
33:11You can put like different dry seasonings and create your own adventure.
33:14Simply add it after the bag is popped and make sure you shake that bag.
33:20I like that bag.
33:21I like that bag progress.
33:25It's good to not get bored.
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