Some holidays just don’t get the publicity they deserve. I mean, how would you feel if you were Arbor Day and spent months and months hearing about how great and funny and talented Halloween is? It would certainly wilt your leaves, that’s for sure.
One unsung hero on the holiday calendar is National Popcorn Day, which pretty much everyone forgot to commemorate on Jan. 19. To give this celebration a little extra zing and honor everyone’s favorite movie theater snack, I turned to Pinterest. I found a pin of “100 of the best popcorn recipes” and promptly selected three that looked particularly promising.
Rosemary Parmesan popcorn
The popcorn recipes were split into savory and sweet categories, and though I was far more inclined to sample the sweet options, I decided to give a savory recipe a whirl. This rosemary Parmesan option seemed fairly tame, and though I could find most of the ingredients in the dining hall, I knew looking for rosemary would be a total waste of time. Instead, I headed to Whole Foods and made a shocking new discovery. In the past, I have purchased an entire jar of a specific ingredient only to use a very small amount of said ingredient. However, what I learned is that Whole Foods has a phenomenal aisle of self-serve spices and herbs. You can put however much you need in a plastic bag, and then you only buy the amount you want. You avoid wasting a ton of product and a ton of money this way.
It’s so awesome, I know. Your whole worldview has shifted because of this cataclysmic discovery, right?
OK, back to popcorn.
So this recipe was pretty simple. Pop the popcorn, and toss with olive oil, Parmesan cheese, rosemary, salt and pepper. Mix it all up, and you’ve got a savory snack. In the end, it actually tasted pretty delicious, and I didn’t feel guilty for eating it because it has rosemary, which sounds fancy, so it must be good for you.
Pumpkin spice popcorn
The only reason I picked this recipe is because back in the dark ages before I knew about the magic of the Whole Foods herb aisle, I purchased an entire jar of pumpkin pie spice in order to make my own pumpkin spice latte. Needless to say, once the leaves stopped being crispy and fall turned to winter, my desire to ingest pumpkin-flavored items was seriously curbed, so I still had a ton of pumpkin pie spice leftover.
That being said, I tossed some popped popcorn with the pumpkin pie spice and called it a day. It was not my best work, but one taste tester, in my very official three-person study, noted that the popcorn reminded him of late fall, before the holidays roll around. So, I guess if you’re into popcorn that reminds you of any date between Nov. 9 and Nov. 17, you could give this one a go.
Oreo peanut butter popcorn
Hallie Parker and Annie James would have totally loved this popcorn. “The Parent Trap” twins who weren’t actually twins (Did you know LiLo played both of them? Weird, right?) knew the magic of peanut butter and Oreos, and this amazing combination certainly translated well to popcorn.
To begin this recipe, I melted together some white chocolate and peanut butter and then added Oreos. It took the majority of my willpower not to stop and eat this gooey deliciousness, but I refrained. I added in the popcorn and stirred.
It was glorious. Two out of three taste testers in my random taste test said this was their favorite. This popcorn was about as sweet as the time Hallie and Annie tricked their parents into meeting up again after all those years apart. It was a decadent popcorn experiment that I will have to revisit at some point.
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