I have a stove-top Whirley-Pop popcorn popper. Last night I used it for the first time in at least two years: I remembered to buy fresh kernels, but did not think to buy fresh oil. The results did not impress either me or my SO (but the dog seemed to like it). So I added oil to my shopping list, and then remembered that I often spend a lot of time in the oil aisle wondering which kind to get. I usually wind up with good ol’ vegetable oil.
Is there a “best” kind of oil to use? One that’s the healthiest? One that’s the most flavorful? What kind do you use?
Don’t use canola or other cheap, semi-refined “vegetable” oils for this. Use something with a high smoke point like peanut oil, refined extra light (not virgin) olive oil, or avocado oil. I use a small amount of peanut oil and get it just to the point of beginning to lightly smoke before tossing in the kernels. Also, it just takes a bit of a trick to master the right temperature to make the popped kernels well puffed and crisp, instead of underpuffed or too fluffy, so at least to begin with start with just a few kernels as a test, and keep them moving.
The best kind for popcorn is coconut oil. I used to work in a movie theater, we actually popped our own popcorn, and it was consistently voted best by a local paper. We used coconut oil.
Sure, but the Wesson “Vegetable Oil” or cheaper (non-Wesson) varieties of canola oil is only partially refined, and (in my experience) begins smoking somewhere around 400°F or less.
Olive oil (light but not virgin!) might be worth a go. Never would have thought of that for popcorn.
I’m not a big fan of the movie theatre taste, so coconut oil is out.
I did look at the Whirley-Pop booklet last night to see what it said about oil, but I stopped reading after the basic instructions – which say “pretty much any oil will do.” I guess it mentions peanut oil later. Seems like that would be kind of fatty? I really don’t know anything about oils.
Are any of the oils mentioned so far healthier than the others? Or is oil inherently not healthy?
True, and the calorie content of oils is (for all practical purposes) the same per mass, and practically the same per volume. Some oils are better for you than others, though; hydrogenated or natural trans fats are not desirable, and monounsaturated fats (most nut oils including refined olive oil and peanut oil) are generally considered to be better for you than polyunsaturated fats; both are (generally) considered to be better for you than most saturated fats. Saturated fats are generally ill-suited for light frying, anyway, as they tend to solidify and unless highly purified have a number of low smoke point constituents.
Back to popcorn oil, you want something with a high smoke point and low viscosity, i.e. a light processed seed oil or nut oil.
Extra light, refined, non-virgin olive oil should work fine. Virgin or extra virgin oil will smoke or catch fire due to the low smoke point constituants in it. Most nut oils and peanut oil are highly refined by default, so that is what I recommend.
I’ve been using virgin unrefined coconut oil, and it’s been wonderful. I haven’t noticed any issues with a low smoke point, and best of all, it doesn’t polymerize in the bottom of the pan. There is a slight coconut aroma, which is great with a little salt on the popcorn. It doesn’t taste anything like movie popcorn (the flavor is in the additives), so don’t worry about that. It’s solid at room temperature, so I just scoop a bit out with a spoon, then heat it up in the pan.
Although a tiny amount of virgin olive oil can be in conjunction with one that has a high smoke point. Never had a problem and the result is so yummy by itself that I don’t add butter.
I’m a fan of using corn oil to pop the popcorn. Not traditional (though it has to be a smoke point issue), but I think it enhances the corny goodness of the popped corn.
I use the same process every time, but get raves about my corn-oil popped corn, where I don’t get such effort from folks commenting on it when I use peanut/standard-vegetable oil.
