The great thing about popcorn is that even people who say they do not like popcorn, will eventually have some, particularly if they are watching a movie with friends. The other great thing is that, provided you do not add too much salt, popcorn is also a very healthy and nutritious snack that most children love and it delivers just enough flavor to be interesting, and also enough energy to keep you going through an entire movie marathon. So we decided that we needed to put our 2 cents in the debate about the best popcorn kernels since they are what make the difference between a good bag of popcorn and a bad one. Given that most popcorn kernels prices do not vary all that much, we did not really pay that much attention to the price, although we did exclude some products that had ridiculously high asking prices while providing to substance to warrant that price. What we did pay attention to was the flavor of the corn and also at the quantity of kernels that remained un-popped, or, worse still, that only popped halfway through. So what follows is a list of our top 5 choices as the best popcorn kernels, but we also came up with a couple of ideas explaining why we chose one bag of popcorn kernels over the others.
Preview
Name
Rating
Price
More Details
Snappy White Popcorn, 4 Pounds
4.3 / 5
$
Click Here!
Bob's Red Mill White Corn Popcorn, 27-Ounce
4.5 / 5
$
Click Here!
Amish Country Popcorn 3 Bags 1 Pound each, Purple, orange, Red
4.6 / 5
$
Click Here!
Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Kernel Jug, 5 LB 12 oz
4.5 / 5
$
Click Here!
Snappy Yellow Popcorn, 4 Pounds
4.4 / 5
$
Click Here!
1. Snappy White Popcorn
Click here for more details
Our number one choice is the Snappy White Popcorn kernels. We chose them for several reasons, one of the most important ones being the fact that they have been grown and sold in Iowa from 1940, making this an all American business that we would like to support. We also appreciated the fact that they did not give in to the temptation of moving to higher yield GMO crops, and their kernels are still non-GMO. Besides all of these technical considerations, though, we choose them because the popcorn we were able to make came out nice a puffy, with a crisp yet delicious interior. We used several methods of making the popcorn from a re-sealable bag in the microwave, to a pan on the stove, to a popcorn machine. They all worked brilliantly and we have made a point out of trying to come up with a list of the best popcorn making machines because the machine did provide the best salt and butter coverage of all the methods we used. A final though on the Snappy White Popcorn would be that they come in a very nice jar that you can reseal and use the remaining kernels at a later date.
2. Bob’s Red Mill White Corn Popcorn
Click here for more details
Our second choice for the best popcorn kernels on the market is the Bob’s Red Mill White Corn Popcorn. We have chosen it because it solves the problem of left over kernels in a brilliant way. They ship you the 5 pounds for the price, but they are packed in 4 individual, 27 ounces bags. So you can open 1, or 2 or 3 and still have virtually unopened bags saved for a later date. The only thing is that you do not have the same control over the quantity you may cook at any given time. The kernels themselves are great and the resulting popcorn is generally free of unopened kernels. They taste great with salt and with salt and butter, as we restricted our choices of flavors so we could do a fair comparison test. The one small difference we noted was that these kernels did not seem to pop as well in the microwave as they did in the popcorn machine or on the stove.
3. Amish Country Popcorn
Click here for more details
If you are looking for old fashion, home grown popcorn, you cannot go wrong if you choose Amish Country popcorn. We were very excited to try these popcorn kernels and we were not disappointed. They come in a variety of colors, although the resulting popcorn is still mostly white, but they do look very interesting, and the colors are only due to the various strands of corn that have always existed but are only used now in traditional corn growing settings. The one thing we did not like was the fact that about 10% of all kernels did not seem to pop or did not pop completely; however, the taste of the ones that did pop seemed to us to be a lot stronger, more earthy and flavorful.
4. Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Kernel Jug
Click here for more details
We reserved the last 2 spots on our list of the best popcorn kernels for the traditional, yellow corn kernels that most people associate with corn. In our experience they do not make for such great popcorn because they retain a somewhat tougher core. Still the Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Kernel Jug are some of the best we have tried, at least when it comes to this color range, and they come in a very nice jar with a handle that will allow you to easily pour the kernels in whatever tool you are using to pop them. There is also the fact that you can easily reseal the jar that drew us to this particular product.
5. Snappy Yellow Popcorn
Click here for more details
The last popcorn kernels we have chosen for our list come from the same producer as our number one choice, Snappy. This time we have chosen the yellow kernels, and the fact that we have left them for last should really tell you just how much worse we think the yellow corn to be. They are still produced in Iowa since 1940 so you are not only enjoying a healthy snack, but are also backing up a very old, historic business. The one thing that can be said about yellow kernels is that they have a little bit more fiber than white ones, so they are a little bit healthier. Still, we should not forget the proposition that we started this article with, which is that popcorn is a fun food so you should really go with whichever choice seems the best for you. All of the products we have featured here deserve to be called the best popcorn kernels so whichever one you choose will be the right one.
