Popcorn Pros - Locals analyze America’s favorite snack

By TONY RAAP
TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD
Popcorn: A nostalgic, buttery snack often associated with Saturday matinees. It’s a food that dates back centuries and is as uniquely American as apple pie. But over the years, the delectable treat that you grew up eating has taken on several different looks: caramel apple, cinnamon flavored, even fat free. This has ruffled the kernels of many popcorn purists who believe that popcorn should taste like, well, popcorn. So Today’s News-Herald decided to have a taste test to find out which brand is the best store-bought popcorn. Six local connoisseurs recently sat down to try 11 kinds of popcorn in an unscientific sampling. The panel was made up of four adults and two teenagers. The gender breakdown was 4-to-2 in favor of the males. All of the popcorn was microwavable. It was served in nondescript bowls so the judges wouldn’t know which brands they were tasting. All judges were given a bottle of water to cleanse their palates between samplings. They rated the popcorn’s flavor, texture, aroma and appearance on a scale of one to five, with five being the best. This is what they found: • The more buttery, the better. Act II Butter Lovers and Act I xtreme Butter finished first and second, respectively. Judge Kody Skates saved his highest praises for Butter Lovers, giving it a near-perfect score. “This tastes like ircus popcorn like you get at the circus. This is memory popcorn. Appearance: fantastic. Unbelievable taste,” he said. • If you’ve ever wondered what caramel apple opcorn tastes like, you probably don’t want to know. Healthy pop caramel apple finished dead last with an overall score of 1.67, the only popcorn to receive a sub-2 ating. “It tastes like bad apple cider,” Skates said. Judge Joe Dewey wasn’t fond of it either, saying “It tastes like Apple Jacks.” “That’s bad popcorn,” judge Tyler allis said. • The flavored popcorns — caramel apple, Orville Redenbacher’s Cinnabon and Act II Buttery Cinnamon — finished mixed. Although caramel apple did poorly, Orville Redenbacher’s Cinnabon finished third with an overall score of 3.8. Act II Buttery Cinnamon finished near the bottom with a score of 2.6. “It’s too sweet,” Fallis said of Cinnabon. “I don’t think I could eat a whole bowl of this,” judge Malou Steele said. “If I wanted a cinnamon roll, I’d buy a cinnamon roll,” Skates said.
You may contact the reporter at raap@havasunews.com.

OVERALL SCORES

Act II Butter Lovers’ 4.17
Act II Extreme Butter 3.93
Orville Redenbacher’s Cinnabon 3.8
Jolly Time Healthy Pop Butter 3.18
Jolly Time Crispy and White 3.01
Jolly Time Kettle Mania 2.93
Jolly Time Healthy Pop Kettle Corn 2.8
O. Redenbacher’s Natural
Buttery Garlic 2.74
Act II Buttery Cinnamon 2.6
Act II 94 percent fat free butter 2.43
Healthy pop caramel apple 1.67