The Best Popcorn in Bags You Can Buy at the Grocery Store
Putting corn on the stove is a snap, but sometimes you just want to grab a bag of fluffy kernels and hit the road. There seems to be an endless array of bags to choose from, so Cook’s Illustrated took it upon themselves to find the crispest and most delicious bag ever.
To focus on the quality of its corn, CI has tested major oil-and-salt varieties. (This makes sense because Smartfood white cheddar cheese would only win out on cheese powder. I would actually eat wood pellets if they had Smartfood white cheddar powder on them.) After rounds of rigorous testing, CI determined that two main factors determine how successful the bag was: salt and form.
Moderately salty brands that contained “about 110 milligrams per 1 ounce serving” performed better, while testers found that the less salty packets were “muted” and the more salty samples lacked the “nuanced toasted corn flavor.”
Surprisingly, the direction in which the kernels popped had a large impact on pleasure, with kernels that popped unilaterally (expanded mostly in one direction) were preferred for their “denser and crunchy texture.” Pieces that expanded in two or more directions were considered “softer” and less satisfying. (Is anyone else doing symmetry operations on the nuclei in the photo above, or is it just me?)
In the end, the winner was Cape Cod Sea Salt Popcorn, which had over 50% unilaterally expanded kernels and the right amount of salt. So if you’re in a rush for crunchy, trite flavor and don’t have time to make your own, take your bag from the store and much further.
Popcorn Tasting Bags | Illustrated chef