When it comes to food, nothing screams fun like popcorn.  It’s light, fluffy, and is enjoyed by the handful by kids and adults alike.   Whether it’s at a ballgame, at home on the sofa, or as an old standby at the cinema, popcorn perks up almost every situation.

And being National Popcorn Day was Tuesday, January 19, it’s only fitting that I devote this piece to popcorn.

Popcorn has been around for generations.  In fact, historians believe popcorn was one of the things enjoyed by pilgrims and Native Americans alike at the first Thanksgiving, and archaeologists found popped kernels believed to be 5,000 years old in New Mexico caves.

Since then, popcorn has really come in all shapes, sizes and, most especially, tastes:  soup-saturated (believe it or not, it has been used in soup recipes), butter-battered, salt-encrusted, caramel-coated, kettle-cooked, air-popped, sugar-soaked and peanut-packed.

Eating popcorn when they’re drenched in butter or otherwise flavored is fine every once in a while, but make no mistake about it, popcorn can be abused.

Popcorn is actually a very healthy food.  It’s probably the healthiest snack there is, in fact, because it’s a whole grain, it has loads of fiber, and it’s a complex carbohydrate.  But just as vegetables can be turned into nutritional nightmares, popcorn offerings can be as well.

Consider the calorie count in one small bag of popcorn at AMC Theaters:  370 calories, 20 grams of fat and 210 milligrams of sodium.

And that’s a calorie-conscious version compared to the small popcorn you’ll find at Regal Cinemas.  Their small has 670 calories, 34 grams of fat and 550 milligrams of sodium!

That’s more than a meal’s worth of calories, certainly not a “light snack”!

I hate to be a popcorn party pooper, but be sensible with popcorn.  The best way to serve up popcorn is with an air popper.  There are several reasons for this.  For starters:

• Air popping makes for very “popable” popcorn.  By this I mean that you’ll get much fewer old-maids (kernels that don’t fully pop) and there won’t be a single scorched or overcooked kernel in the bunch.
  
  
• Air popping delivers a nicer kernel consistency and palatability.  You want popcorn that’s light and flavorful, not dense and over-flavored.  I find microwave popcorn to be just that.
  
  
• Most importantly, air-popped popcorn is free of oils and flavorings that bog down the popcorn.  As previously mentioned, it bogs it down from a consistency standpoint, but especially a nutritional standpoint.  One cup of air-popped popcorn has 31 calories per cup.  That’s a little more than a calorie a kernel!  That’s in stark comparison to the 55 calories per cup in popcorn that’s oil-popped.

Now, I know what you’re saying:  “But air-popped popcorn is bland!”

Au contraire.  You can still spice it up with lots of great flavors.  Besides sea salt (the organic, unrefined kind), people perk up their popcorn with salt-less spices like oregano, thyme, cinnamon, basil, rosemary or garlic powder.

So go ahead and dig in to that bowl of popcorn—It’s a healthy and fun way to celebrate the day!

Sources
latimesblogs.latimes.com
knowledgebase-script.com
popcorn.org