Miss Movie Theater Popcorn? How To Make It At Home

Remember the days of walking into a movie theater and that smell of popcorn hit your nose? Ahhh, what a great aroma! You just had to have that popcorn as you settled into your seat. It did not matter if the movie was a good or bad one. The popcorn made it all good. It seems like that experience was ages ago.

Now, you can bring that movie theater popcorn experience home, making that DVD or streaming movie feel more like that theater experience! And you can make as much as you want (or can eat) with little worry about the cost!

The magic of movie theater popcorn revolves around something called Flavacol, a very orange powder made of salt, artificial flavor and two shades of FD&C Yellow. Flavacol actually has been around since 1960s and apparently, nearly all movie theaters worldwide use it. Are you sold yet? Okay, Flavacol is as bad for you as salt, yet it is vegan and gluten-free, as well as halal and kosher certified. Are you sold now?

Flavacol comes in 1960s era quart-sized milk cartons. A quick search on some large local on-line company’s website we all know,offered the first quart for a reasonable price of less than $10. But wait, there’s more? You can get a twin pack for less per unit, or a four-pack or even – yes – a dozen quarts, reducing the per quart price even more.

The recipe is coming shortly, but let’s discuss the popping medium first.  Movie theaters use soybean oil as the medium to blend with Flavacol before adding those popcorn kernels. Now you are into real movie theater popcorn science! Science also brought us vaccines. Isn’t science great??

And now the recipe:

Ingredients include 1 teaspoon Flavacol, 3 tablespoons of soybean oil, 1/3 cup of popcorn kernals. If you wish to make more popcorn, increase the ingredient amounts evenly. You can also add a butter flavored topping oil, adjusting to suit your taste.

To prepare:

Use an appropriate sized pot and blend the Flavacol and soybean oil together in the bottom of the pan.  Add the butter flavored topping oil as well if desired. Place the pan on medium-high heat and add the popcorn kernels. Give the pan a few good shakes to stir the kernels in with the oil slurry. Put the lid on the pan and watch the magic happen!  Remove the pan from the heat once the popping ends and pour into a large bowl. You can add more melted butter if you wish. Enjoy with your movie!

If you want an even greater movie theater popcorn experience, you can get a theater popcorn popper. A USA company called Gold Medal sells popcorn machines starting at just under $500. Just keep in mind they do take up space.

Now you can make movie theater popcorn at home for a more movie theater experience. Perhaps this popcorn recipe will make your at-home pandemic experience more bearable. Are you sold yet?