i have the same popper, just got it last year from Bed Bath And Beyond. like you my old one fell apart. i get popcorn kernels from Uncle Bob's Popcorn in Tucson AZ

https://www.maytagdairyfarms.com/product-category/homegrown-popcorn/
This is a fairly new product...the first year they invited the public to come and pick a bag full...
Good stuff....and if you come to iowa you can see the fields where it's grown

i think i need to go and pop some popcorn for a snack

I only buy from Amish Country popcorn. Tried a few varieties over the years, but now buy Baby White exclusively.

https://amishcountrypopcorn.com/2lb-baby-white-popcorn/

@ dcarch- me too :-)

and... not what I was asking specifically and why I was clear about the popper...

Stop tail-gating a thread. I could give hoot about a microwave....

I buy yellow (only yellow) popcorn in the 12# bag from Fleet Farm when it is on sale for $7.99. We eat a lot of popcorn. Gets popped in a 4 qt. T-Fal chicken fryer that cost $2 at a rummage sale on a $2K 36" Wolf rangetop w/ a griddle--snagged at less than half of retail because a customer finked out on the order--and in only the finest imported "organic, virgin, unrefined, cold-pressed coconut oil." From Aldi. Hoping Wolfie & the coconut oil bails me from being a Total Redneck. :-)

Oh, yeh, forgot to mention that the cut price WaterPik from Amazon PrimeDay makes quick work of the hulls that don't manage to count as 'dietary fiber.' ;-)))

Well, hold on a minute. You explained in detail your acquisition of several of these poppers. I think that allows us to infer that you suggested that they are the best quality popper available with moderate to serious effort. Now it is possible that dc and colleen were only suggesting that they are too lazy to make good popcorn and I suppose that might be taking your thread off topic (never happens here); but it is a cooking forum and it is as easy to assume that they were suggesting that the microwave does as good a job. In that case you should give a hoot about a microwave.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I was thinking the topic can also talk about the various microwave corn poppers. I am not happy with the one I am using.

However, This may be on or off topic, I am growing a dwarf corn to make my own corn for popping.

Carry on.

dcarch

Speaking of corn, I am nearly finished reading 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. The story behind what it took to domesticate corn (maize) is just absolutely fascinating. Actually the entire book is fascinating but I don't want to wander off topic.

I also have that popper and I buy popcorn from our local farmers markets when I can find it. A couple of local small stores also have "Made In Michigan" sections and I sometimes get popcorn of various colors there, I'm not loyal to one type, I buy what I can find, but I like a type called "Japanese hulless" . If I can't find any local stuff, I also revert to the Amish Country popcorn. Because I can't always find local popcorn, I think we're going to grow an acre or so this year and let The Princess sell it at the local farmer's markets, see how that goes.

I like just butter and salt on my popcorn, but I've been known to make caramel corn on occasion. I also use popcorn to top fresh tomato soup instead of crackers.

Annie

Well, sleevendog, I too make popcorn in the microwave BUT I too am tired of having, "hulls are like razor blades", so this topic is of interest to me too. However, I like mine to also be Organic and non-GMO. Anyone?

I have been buying from Amish Country since my youngest had braces and we learned about their "hulless" varieties. It seemed a matter of survival at the time, but the braces are long gone and we have stuck with it. I still tend to get the varieties with lesser hulls. They sell the whirley pop if you ever need a new one -- as well as a microwave bowl I got for my son when he went off to college since that would be the only way he could make popcorn then.

Amish Country is non-GMO. They don't advertise as organic but I you could inquire.

CA Kate, all of Amish Country's popcorn is non-GMO. They offer a number of varieties that are hulless.

https://amishcountrypopcorn.com/popcorn/hulless-popcorn/

CindyMac: Thank you for the link. So many varieties; which do you prefer?

Baby White. Ladyfinger is good too, but I now buy Baby White exclusively.

I buy three 2 pound bags at a time using the Fill the Envelope shipping option.

https://amishcountrypopcorn.com/bargain-shipping/flat-rate-envelope/

I'm sampling the Amish. Just tried the MidnightBlue last night. Very good! The hulless is a tiny variety so less 'volume' being smaller kernels. Very nutty and tender. The BlackJewel was a disappointment. Nice bright white and good flavor but many 'old maids'. My local brand in the jar pops all kernels and quickly but has the razor hulls.

The bad reviews on any hulless is most likely how poorly they pop using other methods especially air poppers. They don't have the loft, more compact and dense, to be force blown out of the popper.

They are not really 'hulless'. The pericarp, the outer shell of the seed, is less thick being a smaller seed variety. And why it is a smaller popped kernel. The endosperm/the starch, Is smaller. The starch is the food for the embryo/germ. Soaked it will sprout and form a plant. Old seed will have a lower moisture content and less likely to pop. Heat from a good popper, once it hits about 180 will force the starch to explode. Old seed, low moisture content, no poppy.

The aluminum popper will not work on induction. I suppose the stainless will work.

Some reviews complained about the hulless in the microwave.

Go ahead and talk about a good microwave popper but be specific. Just don't want anyone to waste their money if the kernel does not fit the method.

I think we have tried all, certainly nearly all, of the Amish Country varieties over the years. We started with the ladyfinger and baby white and yellow since we needed "hulless" for braces but the boys didn't like the tiny kernels, so once braces were off we tried them all. We may change one from time to time, but we buy medium white and yellow, midnight blue and the red the most. If you want to avoid heavy hulls, do not get the mushroom. Cool looking and wanted to try it for flavored popcorn, but after eating hulless varieties for so long, that one drove me crazy.

I guess I need to buy some now. Tonight I dropped a whole glass quart jar of popcorn making quite a mess.

BTW, if you have a problem with "old maids" (unpopped kernels), your popcorn may have dried out in storage. The moisture in the kernels explodes to create yummy popcorn. If you think this might be a problem, put your popcorn in an airtight container, add a few drops of water, and shake it around. Don't try to pop it until it is all absorbed. After a few days, it will be all absorbed, and you may find the percentage of fluffy popped kernels improves a lot. I live in the desert and I usually do this.

Not exactly on topic but hopefully kinda-enough. I’ve eyed that whirly popper on and off for a couple of years because it looks cool, but then I always come back to wondering what it does that an occasional quick shake of a regular pot doesn’t do.

No shaking a heavy pan. : )

You can twirl the handle with little or no effort, pops fast. Slight resistance towards the final seeds popping. It spins a paddle on the bottom surface of the pot and keeps the seeds moving and the popped seed from making contact so no burning.

Takes about one minute from the first popped seed. (never timed it being so fast and seems insignificant)....would take longer to turn on my phone.

Been years since I used a regular kitchen pan but I remember always getting many un-popped kernels and needing to constantly shake the pan or it would burn.

Nothing life changing about the gadget. Worth it if popcorn is 2-3 times a week.

I loved my Whirly-pop, but can't find one that works on induction. I second the tip about the water added for improved kernel popping. Our woodstove dry house made for very dry popcorn.

I have my mom's vintage WearEver 2 1/2 qt. saucepan. My dad used it to pop corn when I was a kid and now I'm doing the same. Never have to shake it.

Coming back to say thank you for this thread!!!

I went searching for a photo of my WearEver pan online and stumbled on an eBay seller offering replacement handles. Of my 3 pans this one needed a new handle the most ... and it's now on the way.

Cool, nice to have family pots pans passed on. Shocking you don't need to shake it. I would much prefer that. We always had to shake the pan in my youth...my older sister caught the pan on fire, on a coil stove, making popcorn, then panicked, took it off the stove and dropped it on the floor flaming. I quickly put it out with baking soda.

Yes, I always used an old RevereWare copper bottomed skillet with a lid, but I had to shake constantly or it would scorch. My kids liked Jiffy Pop, because it was so cool when it expanded!

This thread made me get out the WhirlyPop and Elery made some popcorn:

His had the Sriracha Garlic shaken on and I considered the Kettle Corn flavor but eventually opted for just butter and salt, the old classic and still my favorite. Now I'm thinking of making some caramel corn...

FOAS, the WhirlyPop is easy on my carpal tunnel, no shaking of pans as sleevendog mentioned. I timed the popcorn tonight, a couple seconds over two minutes from the time I turned the gas burner on under the pan until it was all popped, but I did have to wash the pan and melt the butter.

Annie

Not much shaking with the T-fal chicken fryer that I use. I give it two or three shakes, total, with every batch just because. I remember the popcorn popping pan of my youth and how it had to be shaken furiously so old habits die hard.

Those old Wear-ever pans like Cindy's are real quality-- thick aluminum; my old T-fal aluminum chicken fryer--no where near the quality of vintage WearEver--does have a fairly thick bottom also.

One thing about stovetop popcorn that I've learned---this is going to depend on your stove--is that I get a better popcorn if I cut back on the heat a bit. I get a better pop--bigger kernels and fewer old maids--by popping it over a medium-ish heat.

I like all the Amish brands so far. Especially the medium white hulless. Perfect timing for the Oscars. DH wants to make a BagnaCauda ...warmed olive oil, anchovies, roasted garlic, rosemary salt, (barf)....I'm making the classic, butter and sea salt. And a herbed compound butter and add some tumeric or annatto for color.

^for the smaller hulless kernels they suggest to lower the heat a bit.

My theory about why lower heat seems to help with the pop is that the steam within the kernel builds up a little slower and allows the hull to soften up and expand a bit before it ultimately 'pops'. ??

I got a container of the Maytag Dairy Farms popcorn which Linda referenced in a gift set over the holidays. At first I was a bit disappointed that the gift set wasn't all Maytag blue (golly, but that's good cheese), and then I tried the popcorn. Really, really nice stuff. Best I've popped at home in years.

I have a high powered gas cooktop and have to pop over medium heat

Mabeldingeldine, I remembered seeing that they crank popper Amish Country sells is stainless steel (304 surgical stainless) as opposed to aluminum. I went back and checked -- it says for use on all stoves and I did a search to confirm since I wasn't sure if that was a magnetic stainless -- specifically found that it can be used on induction. That one appears to be made by Lindy. Not the original Whirly Pop, but one you can use on induction -- or any other.

lascatx Oh thank you!!! I've looked unsuccessfully for ages.

Almost completely off topic — when I was 6, Dad planted ten rows of popcorn just for kicks. After it silked, the cows got out and ate it to the ground one night. I cried because I thought the cows were going to explode. Now, for some reason, I think of that every time I get the popper out. I guess I have been scarred by APT — agrarian popcorn trauma.

MizLizzie, I think the cows would appreciate your concern and the fact that it gave them a permanent place in your heart.

Mabeldingeldine -- let us know how that works out for you.

This link ,magnetic cookery, lists four that are induction compatible...

I ordered one of the 4-variety sets from the Amish. I'm looking forward to some really good popcorn.