Our son turns three next month. One of his favorite snacks happens to be popcorn and we have been going through a lot of organic microwave popcorn. That product is fairly expensive and while it tastes okay coming right out of the bag, it quickly becomes stale and chewy. So I toyed with making popcorn on the stove-top using a large pan. It came out pretty good, and I might even have been satisfied with making it that way had I used more oil. Instead I used the bear minimum and I think it was still too dry. Also, the kernels did not seem to pop up quite as large and fluffy as I had wanted. The last thing I wanted was another large pot to store. However, I figured I would give this product a "whirl" because of all the glowing reviews and because of the item's description, particularly, "Easy Clean Up: Just wipe with a paper towel and store for later use." (more on that later). Last night the popper arrived, fully assembled with the lid attached. It was actually a little difficult to remove the lid and now I find it is a little difficult reattaching the lid. The metal clips really don't seem like they are a long-term solution to the problem. I think it would improve the design ten fold if they threaded the top of the pot and let the vented lid screw on while still allowing a "trap door" to flip open. I am sure it would add expense but would also make the product last longer and be easier to use. I am a big fan of coconut oil. I am a big fan of popcorn. So I added 1 tablespoon of coconut oil , waited for it to liquify in the pot, added 1/4 cup of popcorn and began turning the handle over medium heat on our gas stove. A few minutes later the popping stopped. I used two oven mitts to lift the pot, open the lid and dump the popcorn into a large bowl. I took the salt grinder and gave 7 or so twists to it, and mixed it up a bit.... and the verdict is... Oh my goodness, this was delicious. It needed no butter because the coconut oil was moist enough (and not too coconutty). My wife, who refused to allow me to buy this popper (because I tend to buy a lot of stuff) took one bite, nodded her head and said, "All right!" I also purchased some "nutritional yeast flakes" because I heard so many people saying that it makes a good flavoring to add to popcorn. I made sure to buy the type that is fortified with Vitamin B12 because I am a vegetarian, as is our son (he is a vegetarian in the sense that he refuses to eat almost all foods with meat just being on the list along with pasta, rice, oatmeal, blah blah blah). So I wiped out the bits of popcorn and made a second batch the same way. Only this time, I transferred the popcorn from a bowl to a 1/2 gallon mason jar and dumped some nutritional yeast flakes in it. Then I shook the jar up to distribute the flakes and put the lid on to see how the popcorn would be the following day. Our son asked for popcorn, then went to the kitchen and took the jar off the counter (note to self: Move Jar out of reach because it is heavy glass!) and brought it to his mom, who gave him a piece to try. (Mistakenly, IMHO, telling him she wanted him to try something -- a mistake because that is a surefire way to get him to say "no thanks", or "NO!" depending on his mood). He said, "mmmm" and then proceeded to eat a whole bowl of it. This is not a ringing endorsement for the popcorn however, as he will eat ANY popcorn, even stale microwave popcorn with no additives -- pure cardboard and inedible by adult human standards. I just thought I 'd add the nutritional yeast angle here because if you have not tried it, but like the "smart food" cheddar popcorn type additions to your food, give this stuff a try. It really is delicious and makes for a nice change of pace. Plus, if you happen to be short of B12 in your diet, this is a tasty way of getting it. So why the four stars? Because "Easy Clean Up: Just wipe with a paper towel and store for later use" as described here on Amazon, is changed to "Wash your popper after every use with warm soapy water to remove foods and oils. Thoroughly dry every part." WTF? I was hoping that the oil would sort of "season" the pan and need not be washed out after every use, followed by a thorough drying. Jeez, man, you sell a product and bill it as basically maintenance free, and then tell me you were full of crap? That is not cool. Not in my book. Am I returning the popper? You'll have to pry it out of my dead kung-fu grip, as the popcorn it makes is da bomb. Bomb! Bomb! Bomba da bomb da bomb. So who gets the movie reference? :) **UPDATE** Okay, I've had the popper for eight years now. And it gets a lot of use. The clips work fine, the lid goes on easy. I have no idea what my problem was 8 years ago, but I love this popper. I never wash it, but the housekeeper does once in a while if I leave it on the stove. I just wipe it out with a paper towel and carry on.
