Not craving hatch down the hatch

Sorry, Crave Canyon, but this popcorn really didn't do it for me. 

I am a spice wuss, it's true. But this popcorn isn't even that spicy. The problem is that the chili powder is just that: powder. It kept making me cough. If there were a way to make it adhere to the popcorn better then I would be absolutely willing to give it another try. I am fond of corn companies that try out unusual flavor combos and these guys obviously do that. 

Also, this could be a regional thing, but I've never heard of a hatch chili and neither has my hot sauce loving husband. So, the name of this snack confused me at first. The rhyme is cute, but I think making the actual flavors in a bigger font would make more sense. Just my two cents. 

It seems they are not the only ones to combine hatch chilies with cheese and Popcorn Indiana calls theirs exclusive. Uh oh! Fist fight?

And now I see Hatch, New Mexico, is considered the chili capitol of the world. I guess you got me there, Crave Canyon.  

All of it fits in my belly

Popcorn is a strange beast since it's either thought of as healthy and blah or unhealthy and decadent. There is not much middle ground unless you're popping it yourself. 

Although most of the Popcorn Indiana products lean more toward the unhealthy (but delicious) side, this is going for the opposite end of the spectrum: people who rank calories before taste. This popcorn is designed for people like the overly made-up woman I overheard berating her boyfriend for eating the outrageous dinner of a grilled cheese with salami. 

The Fit popcorn, unfortunately, suffers from the Snackwells problem, which is that when one is eating a snack labeled as being low cal, one then eats more of it. I never even got a chance to check how many servings there were in this bag since I went through it so fast. And plus, since it wasn't super great tasting I kept eating it in hopes of finally being satisfied by it. 

Don't get me wrong. It's not all that bad of a popcorn. The seasonings are pretty tasty, but there could have been a tad more flavor. Or maybe all the tasty flavors are too high in calories. 

Note that there are five flavors of Fit corn. I had the olive oil one, which I see now includes only tapioca (ew?) and parsley. So that explains the lack of depth to the flavor. 

In any event, I would buy it again, especially to try one of the other flavors, since I wouldn't feel guilty if I ate the whole bagful. 

Quinn popcorn update

I can't believe I waited this long to attempt popping Quinn Popcorn on the stove! It made a world of difference. It took about as long to pop it on the stove as it would to pop in the microwave (as I had tried previously) and I had only a single unpopped kernel. Of course, I do have to wash out the pot now, but it's a small price to pay for all the kernels to pop and none of them to be burnt.

It is pictured here in my favorite tomato bowl with the parmesan & rosemary topping.

Travel snacks at Newark Penn Station

The wintry weather kept us from going to Asheville, North Carolina, this weekend. But it didn't keep us from hopping a train to Philly for a few days.

The most important task before boarding a train at either the New York or Newark Penn Stations is picking up a bag (or two) of freshly popped popcorn for the journey. But not just any popcorn kiosk will do.

Always avoid the Zarro's popcorn no matter where you are. I don't know what they do to their popcorn, but it smells and tastes like chemicals. And anyway, they hadn't fired up their popper when we were getting ready to board our train.

I didn't realize popcorn was a seasonal treat, but I suppose it is considered for summer only, like iced tea. (Good luck finding a decent brewed iced tea at Newark Penn, by the way.)

This kind gentleman sells the best popcorn at Newark Penn Station. His kiosk is next to the McDonald's.

The popcorn from this stand is a tad greasy, but it does the job. There are some seasonings you can add, like cinnamon and a bright yellow one labeled butter. Probably best to avoid that one.  He also sells various kinds of nuts.

We wound up finding copious amounts of popcorn in Philly, so much so that by the end of the trip I felt like I had OD'd on popcorn. At least for one day.

Butter & Scotch caramel popcorn

Even though we agreed that we weren't doing Valentine's Day presents this year, I got a package at work yesterday from one of my favorite gourmet food sites, Mouth. Mouth sells a number of wonderful popcorns, many of which I've tried although I see there are some new ones and I WANT them in my mouth, Mouth.

In my gift box were two bags of 'corn from Butter & Scotch, one in hot toddy flavor and one in dark and stormy flavor. They both smell amazing. The hot toddy caramel corn is more along the lines of a traditional caramel corn with a hint of lemon and cinnamon. The dark and stormy has a noticeable ginger kick to it, but it's by no means overwhelming.

Butter & Scotch is the partnership of Keavy Blueher of Kumquat Cupcakery and Allison Kave of First Prize Pies. In the cutely illustrated info on the back of the bag, it says that in 2012 they teamed up to create a craft cocktail and dessert bar in Brooklyn. The packaged popcorn is made by hand in small batches (which don't last too long based on the date stamp on the bag, although I doubt that's a problem for many caramel corn lovers) with fresh ingredients, certified non-GMO popcorn, and expeller-pressed organic coconut oil.

There's a third cocktail corn that Butter & Scotch called Green Chili Margarita made with real tequila. Yum! I'll have to keep an eye out for that so that I can try it as well.