Comments on: Movie Theatre Popcorn Secret Ingredient?

By: Butterinthemiddleandontop

Butterinthemiddleandontop — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:37:50 +0000

P.P.S. Get away from Orville Redenbacher kernels and oil. They claim to be the best, but if you tastes Cousin Willie's vs. Orville, you will swear you were eating rocks before. I have tried to make Orville with Coconut Oil and they are still hard pebbles. Fresh popcorn is key and I don't know if Orville dries their corn too long or uses smaller kernels, but whatever it is, it's not good. Trust me!!! I am a lifetime lover of popcorn. My tongue should be popcorn taste certified!

The only info I don't know is how to get the chedder cheese flavor coating that is sold at Garret's in Chicago or Not Just Popcorn in Indiana. If anyone has any info, let me know. Thanks

By: Butterinthemiddleandontop

Butterinthemiddleandontop — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:24:02 +0000

Let me get you all the secrets:

There is a popcorn brand called Cousin Willie's- located in Indiana. A lot of popcorn shops use their corn because of the incredibly fluffy kernels.
Popcorn shops only pop in coconut oil. You can order this off the internet or get it at some stores. It's orange in color and adds a unique flavor to the kernels.
There is something called Ballpark Salt (look on the internet for it). It is yellowish in color. You add this salt to the coconut oil when popping your kernels, and each one will turn out whitish yellow like at the movie theatre.

The butter is the only factor that I believe cannot be bought online or in stores. The butter at theatres is a blend of butter flavored oils that is completely processed and not real butter, but tastes delicious. When you pop using the above 3 measures and then add regular butter, you should be 95% satisfied tastes wise that if movie theatres failed to exist anymore, you would be ok at home.

P.S. The best microwave brand is Pop-Secret Homestyle. Real bits of salt, and tastes like real butter. Soooo good.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:10:49 +0000

Me being a health nut, I almost threw up when I read this. I always thought something tasted fishy in that popcorn :(

By: CDouglas

CDouglas — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:03:41 +0000

A lot of movie theaters use Weaver Gold popcorn. Red coconut oil (coconut oil with beta carotene added for color) seems to be the preferred popping oil. Flavacol is added with the popcorn to the oil when it is melted. Clarified butter and popcorn salt (both Morton’s and Diamond Crystal make this powdered salt) are used to finish the batch at home. Movie theaters use butter-flavored topping like Supur-Kist II instead of clarified butter. This is essentially soybean oil with butter flavoring.

By: Jebsmom86

Jebsmom86 — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:33:13 +0000

When I go to the theatres in our area, they pop the corn in their theatre-style machines and they add the butter or butter flavor topping to the tub when you buy it. They either salt it after popped, before you buy it, or while popping; haven’t noticed. I bought my husband a theatre-style machine with a warmer, ensuring that he never takes me on a date again cuz the only way I can get him to go out is to go to a theatre where he loves to eat the popcorn. Sorry, I got off track there a minute, so the machine is great but I don’t like the popcorn and oil products that they sent. Too salty and fake butter aftertaste. I appreciate the advice here and I’m going to try everything and will come back and submit my opinion.

By: John

John — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:43:50 +0000

I've been trying to make movie theater popcorn for a long time now, but haven't quite gotten the right formula. I have flavacol, orville seeds, coconut oil, and a whirlypop popper. It usually tastes too salty and not buttery enough. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it just doesn't come out like the movie theaters has. I have used different toppings but none really seem to add anything to the popcorn. Has anyone successfully gotten movie theater quality popcorn?

What products do you use, and amount of ingredients do you use? Help!

By: Henry

Henry — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:03:31 +0000

I have found butter flavor Flavocol and peanut oil make the best popcorn… bar none. I have a Gold Medal popcorn machine. I found the cococut oil (though reccomended) gave the popcorn an odd taste. Peanut oil takes the heat and imparts a fantastic flavor. Just be careful of people with peanut alergies.

By: John

John — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:11:07 +0000

if you want to do the caramel popcorn thing. you need to get what they call mushroom corn for that. regular popcorn will just crumble into little pieces but the mushroom corn is a lot tougher and won’t break. the problem is that if you get tired of the caramel popcorn and want some plain old salted popcorn … the mushroom corn is a lot tougher and not as enjoyable without the caramel. hope this helps!

By: John

John — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:06:10 +0000

If you are really wanting to pop theater quality popcorn at home it is a fairly simple process. first get a real popcorn popper not a microwave or hot air machine. a real popper will have a kettle with a stirring arm built into it and the cabinet will have a heater in it. I use the Premium America brand sold by Great Western Products. everything you need is in one package with this stuff. Warm up the kettle for around 5 minutes and then dump the oil into it. let the oil heat up for 3 to 5 minutes more and then dump the corn and salt into the kettle. the popcorn pops up light, fluffy and crisp with a yellow color to it. i don’t add anything else to it myself but my wife likes to add snowcaps to hers. you can buy the Premium America popcorn through a bunch of places online and in some rental stores but i found it is cheaper to just call the 800 number on their website and have it shipped to the house. the site is www.gwproducts.com the 800 number is on the contact page.

By: Martinize

Martinize — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:09:03 +0000

No, Anonymous: a 'genius' would have shared the answer with the rest of us.

Coconut oil can indeed be found at Kroger. The yellow-orange brand I buy, specifically for popcorn, was nowhere near the popcorn, but in the oil section. And Orville Redenbacher's Buttery Popcorn Topping is a good approximation of what the movie theatres use. It's sometimes cheapest at Walmart.