The Popcorn Trials

Any friend of the Christopher family knows that we love popcorn. However, no one’s krazier for kernels than the pun lover of the family, my dad, Alex. My dad makes a bowl (or three) of popcorn pretty much every night. Over the years, he has perfected ratio of salt to olive oil to properly dress a batch; I’m still in training. Needless to say, the sound and smell of popping corn are staples in my childhood memories. It was much more hull-some than growing up in a meth lab.

This year my brother and I really exploited my dad’s popcorn passion (I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before!) and made it a popping Christmas. We gave him sixteen varieties of gourmet kernels and the best popcorn maker he’s ever had. It was up to him to determine which kernel was the most a-maize-ing. He established the qualifying criteria and devised a rating system.

Welcome to The Popcorn Trials.

Though The Trials are ongoing, I asked my dad for an insider look at his findings because I’m in the market for a 2011 kernel. Here is the latest batch of results from his lab (aka my parents’ kitchen):

Tags: Amish Popcorn, Dad, gourmet popcorn, popcorn, testing, trials, Wabash Valley Popcorn