Tonight the Littles who are staying up at Libby’s house
trekked down to our house to make popcorn.
In my mind you have two options when making popcorn: either smother it
with …you guessed it, butter; or coat it with absolutely non-nutritious caramel
coating, which is mostly made of…you guessed it, butter. And sugar.
R.I.P. little red popcorn popper. |
Alas, we had to resort to the long forgotten methods of my
childhood. A large pot, a glug of
vegetable oil on top of a nice steady flame.
We popped our Orville Redenbacher successfully the way our mothers did,
on the stove top.
After consulting with the three powers that be, whose median
age was four and a half, we opted for the caramel version. This is not that
brownish sticky kind of caramel that makes popcorn balls. This is the white sugar kind you serve in a
big bowl and grab by the handful, crunching unconsciously while you watch a
show. We made two giant bowls, one to go
up to Libby’s with the kids and the movie, and one for our house, where tonight
we host nine delightful teenage girls for a church “mission” sleepover. Kate and I sat in the basement family room with the girls
and our guitars, the popcorn and a batch of brownies on the table in the middle
of us, the Young Women in their comfies curled up on the couches and snuggled
into pillows on the floor. I loved
watching them interact. I love hearing
them giggle, and sing, and pray together.
There is something completely divine in a girl trying to make good
choices, even if she’s not sure of them.
The desire is so beautiful to me.
This recipe is one that sits soundly in the brain and I
never need to open the recipe book to make it.
I carry it with me always. I
imagine one day I might be in some memory care unit and the only cohesive string
of words I will recall will be in the form of songs or recipes. I guess that’s ok, considering my songs are
my history, and for that matter, so are my recipes.
SHERRY’S CARAMEL CORN
(Sherry Davis, my sister)
Pop a couple batches of popcorn, enough to fill a very large
Tupperware bowl, or two. I like less
coating on mine, just enough to make it crunchy sweet, roughly 12 - 14 cups of popcorn. Salt the popcorn before you add caramel.
Caramel Coating:
1 c butter (2 sticks)
1 c sugar
2 T light corn syrup
2 T water
Melt butter, add sugar and corn syrup and water. Stir constantly over medium heat . Low boil for somewhere between 5 and 10
minutes. It should end up at a soft ball
stage. To test for soft ball stage, put
a small spoonful of the caramel in a cup of cold water. Try to gather it up with your fingers in the
water. If it will clump together in a
soft “ball” of caramel, then it’s ready.
If not, cook a while longer and keep testing. (If it cracks when you put it in the water
then it’s a hard crack stage and you’ve over cooked it.)
Pour mixture gradually over popcorn, stirring as you pour so
that the popcorn is evenly coated. I
find it best to stir it with a metal spatula or wide spoon.
Enjoy.