Healthier, Homemade Microwave Popcorn Using a Catamount Corn Popper

My husband and I received the Catamount Corn Popper and a package of seasonings from my Grammy last Christmas.

At first, I was a little perplexed by this contraption, but upon a quick Google, I learned that this was going to be a way for me to enjoy one of my favorite snacks without all the weird chemicals and fattening oils that’s in the microwave bag popcorn. Also, it’s a cheaper way to enjoy popcorn. Before, I would spend about $4.99 on a 6-bag box of Movie Theater Butter Popcorn … now, I spent $3 on a huge bottle of popping corn and it’ll last me 3x as long.

So, I gave it a try for the first time this weekend and was so pleased by the ease of use and the taste of the popcorn. Here’s a photo series of the experience:

1/3 cup of popping corn makes about the same as a regular-sized microwave popcorn bag.

Polish: Sally Hansen’s Man-go Tango!

Pour unseasoned popping corn directly into the glass popper.

It suggests putting a few tablespoons of butter on the top to melt over the kernels while it pops – I used “I can’t believe it’s not butter.” Probably just as bad for you as real butter, or worse, lol, but this is all that I had in the fridge.

Next time, I’ll buy organic kernels and healthier butter.

Three tablespoons of butter. It lightly coated the entire bowl of popcorn. I’d say this was the perfect amount.

Place in microwave. It took mine about 4 minutes to pop … but it says in the instructions only 2:45. Reviewers have said that it takes too long to pop; that the corn burns before theirs is finished popping, and I can see why some have said that. I stopped mine before it finished with all the kernels cause I was afraid mine would burn too. However, it was well worth wasting a few tablespoons of un-popped kernels to have fresh, healthier popcorn.

VIDEO: https://www.dropbox.com/s/srot2gm0gtlkoeu/IMG_9155.MOV

Watch a video of it popping here (or click the screenshot above): https://www.dropbox.com/s/srot2gm0gtlkoeu/IMG_9155.MOV

Michael wanted to season our bowl with Country Butter powder. I didn’t read the instructions first, and used the whole packet at once. Oops. It was nasty, so I tossed it all out and made a fresh batch with just the melted butter. LIGHT, FLUFFY, AMAZING. Didn’t need seasoning at all – nor salt or extra butter. Perfect. You could really tell there was no oil or chemicals used. Yum.