With my new eating habits in mind, I tried to find good, healthy snack foods to snack on when we’re watching Tivo or a movie off our HTPC.
I used to love popcorn at the movies, but I had little love for microwavable pocorn and eventually stopped it popcorn altogether.
About a month or so ago I stumbled upon a Morning Discussion thread over at Shacknews where they were discussing the best home popcorn makers and the folks talking were unanimous in their praise for the Whirly Pop.
I looked it up on Amazon, saw that it was both dirt cheap and fun looking, and placed my order. Since it was delivered, I’ve used the Whirly Pop a couple times a week and haven’t looked back.
Basically, the Whirly Pop is a very thin aluminum pot with a removable lid that has a crank handle and a propeller-like stirrer that dangles off the inside of the lid.
You put the pot portion on the stove, add a tiny amount of oil (far less than you think it should take), put in the popcorn, snap on the lid and turn on the heat. Once the heat is on you start slowly turning the crank handle which, in turn, starts stirring the popcorn kernels and keeps them from burning.
Popping a whole batch normally takes about three minutes and you have to keep cranking the whole time, but the payoff is some really, really tasty popcorn.
Cleanup is a cinch, too, as all you really need to do is wipe it out with a paper towel and you’re good to go.
It’s a cheap, nifty toy that works exactly as advertised and it doesn’t get any better than that.
