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The habit of biting something while reading a book or watching a movie can adversely affect the figure if you use buns, cheesecakes and similar tasty, but high-calorie food. It is easy to replace it with popcorn, which has a decent calorie content of 401 units, but per 100 g of product. Eating so much at a time is difficult, so popcorn remains a good alternative to a solid diet. It is not difficult to cook it, there are several simple recipes available to novice cooks.
How popcorn came about
Delicacies that would immediately appeal to a large number of people rarely appear on the world market. Even chocolate has come a long way from a ritual ingredient to an aristocratic dish.
Corn has long been known; Mexico and Peru are called its homeland. According to archaeological findings, it can be argued that corn was grown 7 millennia ago. History has not preserved the names of the inventors of popcorn. They only talk about the peoples where this appetizer was popular and appeared before everyone else. In the ancient settlements of the Indians, dishes were found for making popcorn in grains and on the cob, as well as individual grains of the very variety that will open under the influence of high temperature.
Mexicans solved the problem in a peculiar way, laying out grain on hot stones. Treats reached Europe only in the 17th century. In America, popcorn peaked in the 30s of the 20th century. The first flavors in popcorn were introduced at the end of the 19th century. The idea belonged to Friedrich Rückheim, who added sweet syrup. Then came the fashion for a pungent flavor, cheese, vanilla caramel.
Appetizers were cumbersome, and with the invention of microwaves for popcorn lovers, a new era came when cooking was quick and easy. Special bags were developed in which corn grains were stored and sold. Now everyone can make popcorn at home, knowing for sure that there are no preservatives or stabilizers in it.
Cooking Technique
Sugar caramel
At the same time, 2 burners will be needed. A pan is placed on one, grains are poured on its bottom, distributed evenly.
Important: the pan must be tightly closed with a lid, otherwise everything tasty will fly into the kitchen.
The second burner will be needed for caramel. Water is poured into a small pan with a thick bottom, sugar is poured out in a ratio of 1: 1, and cooked with constant stirring. Once the mixture begins to bubble, you can’t move away from it. It is necessary to monitor the process of darkening and constantly stir. A uniform amber hue indicates the readiness of caramel. They quickly remove it from the fire, pour popcorn, mix and leave to cool, not trying to separate the sticky flakes. In order for the sweet mass to be distributed evenly, you need to adjust the time so that the popcorn and caramel are ready almost simultaneously and have the same temperature.
After the treat has cooled down, the particles are easily separated by hands.
Honey caramel
You can successfully replace part of the sugar with honey. The color of such a caramel will be more brown, and the taste will be saturated. For cooking you will need:
- 2 tbsp honey;
- 100 grams of sugar;
- 75 g butter;
- 0.5 teaspoon cinnamon.
The technique for making popcorn is standard. The best grains are heated in a cast-iron thick-walled pan.To mix them without opening the lid in such a dish is problematic due to its heavy weight. But the corn is revealed quickly and evenly.
Caramel syrup is boiled until golden, then quickly mixed with popcorn. If it turned out sticky, then you need to slightly dry it already in a caramel shell.
It is worth remembering: honey can catch fire, therefore, when cooking, you should be careful and not be distracted from the process.
Fruit joy
For those who are contraindicated in honey, the option of replacing it with any syrup is useful. Cranberry, raspberry and currant caramel are very tasty. The principle of preparation is absolutely no different from honey, the proportions are the same.
Some housewives use a little trick to better distribute caramel over popcorn. After removing the caramel from the fire, they pour 0.5 teaspoons of soda there and quickly mix the mass. It foams and increases several times in volume, becoming very light. The mixture is easily distributed and does not stick corn.
For better drying, caramel delicacy is distributed on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, greased with vegetable oil.
For some, it’s more convenient to use a microwave, not a frying pan, to open the corn. This option is also allowed. Caramel can be with any taste, each housewife has its own highlight for the recipe. The delicacy turns out to be very tasty, without harmful additives and much more economical than the purchased one.
Video: homemade caramel popcorn
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