Please Pass The Popcorn

     I love Popcorn! It's probably my favorite
snack!
     My wife won't eat popcorn. Another
reason why it's my favorite snack! I don't
have to share!
      But popcorn is evolving. And that
could mean trouble!
      Popcorn has been around for a very long
time! They found evidence of popcorn in
Peru dating back to Prehistoric times. I think
they may have served that in one of the old
movie theaters I used to visit when I was a
kid!
    I'm a little more interested in the more
recent history of popcorn.
    I remember buying one of those stove
top containers with a crank on the side.
You put some oil inside. Then popcorn.
You turned the crank while trying
to hold the device as close to the heating
coil as possible and listened as the popping
kernels exploded inside. It was especially
hard on an electric range!
    Jiffy Pop was suppose to make things
easier. It's kernels were sealed inside a
container and covered with a thick layer
of aluminum foil that grew into a rounded
dome as you moved the whole thing over
a stove or fire with a thin metal handle
affixed to the container.
    Unfortunately that handle, as I recall,
tended to conduct heat. Chances are you'd
quit the shaking before half the kernels
had changed into popcorn.
    Microwave popcorn came next. It
made the creation process pretty easy
and the finished product generally pretty
good UNLESS you left the bag in for 10
seconds too long.
    You'd still get popcorn. But, along with
it, you'd also get a burnt corn aroma that
tended to linger for awhile and infiltrate
several rooms of your house.
     Of course whatever method you used
you'd get a combination. Some popcorn
and some Hulls...those little pieces that
can and usually do find any available
crevice in your teeth.
     But now comes "Puffcorn" and other
similar products. This new popcorn-like
product comes in a bag, so you don't have
to do the work, has a taste similar to your
regular popcorn, and has no hulls or
unpopped hard kernels!
      I like it. But here's the problem. My
wife does too!
      Guess if I want more I'll have to
stick with my old friend Orville
Redenbacher!
       Hope you like Ultimate Butter
(or maybe not) and that all your NEWS
is good!