quote: Monte L Fullmer

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I'm the only one that plays with the recipe. I don't show this to anyone - the ratios and standard procedures are used when I train employees on working the kettle.

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Monte, my concern with the comment was that, by posting it on a public forum, (a) you have shown it to someone; and (b) your intention seemed to be to encourage others to mess around with their popcorn recipes. These threads show up in Google searches, and the thought of some newbie stumbling onto this and following your "advice."
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 07-23-2014, 12:49 PM:
 
There's money to be made in marketing popcorn agressivly as a Health Food. Start by using less salt. We loudly proclaim "Popcorn, the Health-Food Snack. We use a blend of only the purest coconut and safflower seed oils* plus, we use 2/3rds less salt." With the asterisk below a picture of a tub of popcorn with the popcorn spilling all over the table, we explain, "*Coconut Oil, unlike the fat from meat and cheese, contains only Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) which are fatty acids known to have a therapeutic effect brain cells and other organs, while safflower seed oil contains linolenic and linoleic acid which is known to lower cholesterol. And as everyone now knows, salt has a direct, negative effect on blood pressure -- the less of it, the better. Be Healthy! Eat Popcorn!"

They can add more salt to taste -- we have salt shakers on the counter and on each shake we have a sticker that says, "Use sparringly for better health." It has increased sales by about 10% and costs us nothing except the cost of the signs.

Of course we ALWAYS used coconut oil and add a tablespoon of safflower oil to the cooker. And it sure isn't difficult to NOT shake tons of salt on the popcorn before it's dispensed. The salt shakers are there so if they want to kill themselves, it's on them.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 07-23-2014, 05:36 PM:
 
What do you use for salt shakers? I currently have some plastic ones that I purchased at a dollar store several years ago. Sometime they get stolen, sometimes they get broken, and now I would like to get some more salt shakers but I can't find plastic ones anywhere that I've looked for them so far.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-23-2014, 06:34 PM:
 
We've used glass shakers since day one. Occasionally someone will swipe one and carry it into the auditorium. When that happens, if I get lucky I'll hear a "clunk" during the show when the culprit accidentally drops it. I then watch for a bunch of heads to tip floorwards, which tells me where to look for the salt shaker after the show.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-23-2014, 10:22 PM:
 
But, "oh wait" : You get those anal ones worrying about gluten in their popcorn.

Sorry, corn is gluten free.

True though, popcorn is high in fibre by itself.

It's the coconut oil that the culprit...and why the use of canola oils.

Enough of stolen shakers: out comes the salt packets.

-Monte
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-23-2014, 11:58 PM:
 
I don't give two craps about "healthy" options here -- we use good old coconut oil and make it the good old fashioned way. We've tried things like fruit snacks and granola whatevers and other things and they always wind up expiring before they sell.

People who insist on something healthy during a movie are probably going to sneak it in anyway because they don't just want "a" healthy snack, they want "THE" exact healthy snack they have their mind on, and out of the gazillion options we probably don't carry it.

I had a guy once ask me, "Do you use that really bad type of oil in your popcorn?" I said, "Well, yes we do." He said, "SWEET! I'll take a large please." So that about sums up my feeling about popcorn right there.

Those salt packets would cost more than the occasional lost shaker, plus people will take 30 of them when they only need a couple, and the rest would wind up on the floor.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-24-2014, 12:58 AM:
 
True, who wants that canola oil that makes popcorn taste funny, that makes kettle cleaning such a chore since that stuff burns so easily.

If you're going to make good popcorn, go all the way.

One plex I used to work at, we had those commercial tin salt shakers when the handles on them. We had a condiment stand were folks get their straws, napkins, peppers for their nachos and salt for the popcorn along with the butter flavoring topping.

We went to a hardware store and bought lengths of that decorative chain, made a loop on one end to attach to the handle of the shaker and the other end was bolted to the stand.

This was quite the fix until the company wanted to switch to packets - which was fine with us since we didn't have to fill the shaker, just fill the bowl with packets.
 

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Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 07-24-2014, 08:22 AM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

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I had a guy once ask me, "Do you use that really bad type of oil in your popcorn?" I said, "Well, yes we do." He said, "SWEET! I'll take a large please." So that about sums up my feeling about popcorn right there.

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quote: Monte L Fullmer

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It's the coconut oil that the culprit

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quote:

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Coconut oil is one of the few foods that can be classified as a “superfood.”

Its unique combination of fatty acids can have profound positive effects on health.

This includes fat loss, better brain function and various other amazing benefits.

Here are the top 10 health benefits of coconut oil that have been experimentally confirmed in human studies.

1. Coconut Oil Contains a Unique Combination of Fatty Acids With Powerful Medicinal Properties
Coconut oil has been demonized in the past because it contains saturated fat. In fact, coconut oil is one of the richest sources of saturated fat known to man, with almost 90% of the fatty acids in it being saturated (1).

However, new data is showing that saturated fats are harmless. Many massive studies that include hundreds of thousands of people prove that the whole “artery-clogging” idea was a myth (2).

Additionally, coconut oil doesn’t contain your average run-of-the-mill saturated fats like you would find in cheese or steak.

No, they contain so-called Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) – which are fatty acids of a medium length.

Most of the fatty acids in the diet are long-chain fatty acids, but the medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil are metabolized differently.

They go straight to the liver from the digestive tract, where they are used as a quick source energy or turned into so-called ketone bodies, which can have therapeutic effects on brain disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer’s.

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quote:

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By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: May 1, 1994

The scariest thing at the movies isn't Jason or Freddy Krueger. It isn't even Mickey Rourke in a dramatic role. It's popcorn.

In a report released last week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a national consumer group that specializes in food and nutrition issues, announced that the popcorn sold in the typical movie theater absolutely drips with unsaturated fat, the kind that raises blood cholesterol and clogs arteries.

The culprit is not the popcorn itself but the superfatty coconut oil that most theaters use to pop it. That and the butter -- hydrogenated soybean oil in most cases -- that's drizzled on top. A medium-size buttered popcorn, the report said, contains more fat than a breakfast of bacon and eggs, a Big Mac and fries and a steak dinner combined. The report was published in the center's Nutrition Action Healthletter.

"Theater popcorn ought to be the Snow White of snack foods, but it's been turned into Godzilla by being popped in highly saturated coconut oil," said Michael Jacobson, the center's executive director, lobbing this carefully composed sound bite at a press conference.

The bad news in the report was delivered with an unmistakable "this will curl your hair" delight. Invoking the deadly Big Mac measure of comparison, it announced that a large unbuttered popcorn had the saturated fat equivalent of six Big Macs. With butter, that's eight Big Macs. The report did not say what happens to moviegoers who like to eat Big Macs along with their buttered popcorn.

Lest readers think that relief can be found elsewhere at the concession stand, the center also published charts of the fat and sugar content of the most popular candies. The findings are grim: 34 grams of "sat fat" in a box of Goobers, which is even worse than the 29 grams in a small buttered popcorn popped in coconut oil. The recommended daily maximum of saturated fat is 20 grams.

The methodology for the popcorn part of the survey was simple. The center bought popcorn at 12 theaters representing six chains in San Francisco, Chicago and Washington and then sent the samples to a laboratory. Then it compiled a chart showing the grams of fat in the sizes generally sold in movie theaters, setting up categories for popcorn popped in canola shortening (bad, but not as bad as coconut), coconut oil (very bad) and coconut oil with butter topping (buy a burial plot now).

At the Popcorn Institute, a trade group that represents popcorn suppliers, they're putting on a brave face. "We don't think people are going to run screaming from the building because popcorn is sold," said Deirdre T. Flynn, a spokeswoman for the institute. "If you eat it as a little indulgence now and then, it's not going to kill you."

Ms. Flynn has a point. The average American sees five movies a year. Even if a medium popcorn is a fat festival in a box, is it reckless endangerment to indulge five times a year? "It all adds up," said Jayne Hurley, who wrote the report. "A small unbuttered popcorn is an entire day's worth of artery-clogging fat."

Although the center often seems like the kind of outfit that would publish a scorching report on cakes and ale, Ms. Hurley said she does not want to deny America its small pleasures. Popcorn prepared the low-fat way, either in corn oil or air popped, is great. "This is a simple thing to fix," she said. "All it requires is an oil change."

Easier said than done. Popcorn is in our fat-laden blood. The Popcorn Institute won't go so far as to say that its product was served at the first Thanksgiving, but it comes darned close. "There was a corn that was kind of puffed," said Ms. Flynn.

Popcorn is not just another snack -- it's a national icon. Last year Americans consumed an average of about 65 quarts each.

And now we find out that one of our most traditional foods, served at one of our great institutions, the movie theater, is a secret assassin. More Than a Snack

This is a cruel blow. Who wants a superhealthy box of air-popped popcorn, sans salt? It's like snacking on virtue.

Perhaps some alternative approaches deserve exploration. Theaters could alert an usher trained in CPR whenever a customer orders a large buttered tub. They could also offer, at a modest surcharge, on-the-spot life insurance, like that sold by airport vending machines. Or customers could qualify for extra butter by working out aerobically for 20 minutes on a Nordictrack in the lobby.

Some of the hipper movie houses have dropped popcorn from the menu altogether, offering espresso and fruit juices at concession stands that fairly glow with good health. This may be the wave of the future, but the American public might want to think twice before signing on. When Steven Seagal starts stacking the bodies like cordwood, a primal urge strikes. The right hand begins moving, and what it's groping toward is a waxed cardboard cup brimful with little salted white puffs that drip with butter.

That's entertainment.

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quote: Frank Cox

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I wonder if you would get better results by making the popcorn first, then dying it afterward.

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