taste test: the best popcorn

My name is Lori and I am addicted to popcorn.

I seriously love the stuff. It’s the go-to snack for me. I prefer to pop my own – old school – on the stove, with a very little oil. But then I add melted butter and salt. ooh…

And no microwave popcorn for me. It tastes fake. And I’ve learned that once the popcorn begins to pop, some of the chemicals in the packaging material actually break down or destroy the benefits of popcorn. Chemicals = yuck.

My only problem with my homemade version is the butter and salt part. Popcorn on it’s own is a good, healthy snack.

Here are some of popcorn’s benefits:

– Aids in digestion. Since popcorn is a natural whole grain, it contains all of the fiber from the bran, not to mention the minerals, B complex vitamins, and vitamin E. 

– Lowers cholesterol. Whole grains contain the type of fiber which strip excess cholesterol from the walls of blood vessels and arteries, reducing your overall cholesterol levels, and lowering your chances of dangerous cardiovascular conditions.

– Lowers blood sugar. When the body has a lot of fiber, it manages and regulates the release of blood sugar and insulin levels.

– Fights cancer. The hull of popcorn contains large amounts of polyphenols, one of the more powerful types of antioxidants that you can put in your body. In fact, research has shown that popcorn has more antioxidants than a daily dose of fruits and vegetables! yes, please!

– Anti-aging. All those antioxidants do more than fight off cancer – they have also been closely linked to age-related symptoms like wrinkles, age spots, macular degeneration and blindness, muscle weakness, cognitive decline, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and hair loss. wow.

– Weight loss. A cup of (air)popped popcorn contains only 30 calories, which is approximately 5 times less than the same amount of greasy potato chips {oil-popped is only 55 per cup}. Plus the fiber content in popcorn makes you feel full, and decreases the release of the hunger hormone, ghrelin. 

Ok. So, all this sounds great, right? popcorn = good. And even though my homemade popcorn is a good option, it could be better (healthier). So I’ve been trying some of the so-called healthier bagged popcorns. The problem is that I get product overload when I go to the grocery store. Foods claim to be healthier but is that true? And what really makes them healthier? Are there brands that just taste so much better and are still considered healthy? I have tried so many popcorn brands that I couldn’t even remember which ones I liked or which ones I did like but weren’t really that much healthier. See, overload.

So I found a very willing assistant – my 9 year old daughter – who inherited my popcorn gene – and we made our own *official* taste test and wanted to share our results with you because, well, it’s popcorn!

We made a night of it. We found as many bags of popcorn that we could, set up our test samples, rented a good movie and crunched away. We did cleanse our palettes with peanut m&m’s. I think that was a good choice, right?

We stuck with brands of popcorn that only included the following ingredients: popcorn, canola, sunflower or safflower oil, sugar (in some), and salt. And we broke our criteria down into a few different categories so you can figure what works best for you. Are you looking for low calories? Low carb? Low sodium? Or just great taste? Our taste score was based on a five star category. Five stars = very, very yummy. We’re very, very official.

Here are our findings:

Click here to go to my freebies page and print the “official” results. To get my freebies, you must be a subscriber to my blog. If you’re not yet a subscriber to my blog, it’s easy to do, there’s no commitment and you get access to lots of free stuff. Enter your email address in the box on the right (above the SUBSCRIBE button). Click the SUBSCRIBE button then follow the instructions fully. Be sure to confirm your subscription – and then you’ll have access to all my free stuff! If you’re already a subscriber, you should have received an email with a password to access these fun freebies already.

Go ahead, print it out and use it the next time you go shopping for a yummy snack. And we left few blank spaces so you can fill in other brands to compare too. Enter the information and then see for yourself. Which one did you like the best??

So maybe our taste test wasn’t all that official – but it was fun and it really did help us figure which brands we liked and which brands we didn’t. It also helped us decide what we can eat when we want to splurge on our snack choice and what popcorn brands really weren’t worth the sacrifice. And I was very happy to find a reasonably healthy snack option for my cravings.

Have a great weekend. Will it include a movie & popcorn night? Don’t forget the m&m’s. And send along your comments – I’d love to hear about anything popcorn!