Non-sticky honey popcorn

October 14, 2015 6:17 AM

A few years ago I was in Thailand and bought a bag of popcorn from a vendor. It was sweeter than I expected, and when I asked what was on it I was told it was just honey. It was light, and not at all sticky, even though the weather was insanely hot and humid. How can I recreate this at home?

I don't remember if the texture was at all different from regular popcorn, but it wasn't heavy or crackly like cracker jack. The color was just-barely not white - in the clear plastic bag it just looked like plain popcorn. It wasn't very sweet, less like kettle corn and more like popcorn with some noticeable added sweetness.

I tried watering down the honey and tossing it together, but the results came out soggy. Straight honey doesn't spread around and is too sweet. What am I missing? Any thoughts?

posted by Mchelly to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

Melted butter or olive oil plus a bit of honey as your medium for popping may be worth a shot. The butter/olive oil won't make it soggy the way water does.
posted by slateyness at 6:19 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Coconut oil for popping (honey could burn) and thinning the honey, though you might need to heat it up first. (The reason it's not soggy and makes the best popcorn is that it's solid below 75 degrees or so.)
posted by supercres at 6:23 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Did it actually taste like honey or just slightly sweet. It could be that "honey" is a word that explains the coating and that foreigners easily understand vs simple sugar syrup bought in a big container from a supply house. Not saying that they make it that way, it's just that sometimes expediency rules. Now, I'm wondering what they brush on the grilled corn that makes it taste sweet.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:25 AM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

I make this all the time. Two tablespoons of butter, two tablespoons of honey. Melt them together and pour over the popcorn. I usually add salt too, to make it sweet and salty at the same time.

Edited to add, here's a recipe which is exactly how I do it.
posted by the webmistress at 6:27 AM on October 14, 2015 [22 favorites]

My guess is that your vendor was adding a liquid oil rather than butter, but I'm pretty darned sure it was one of the two. There's a chance that they used a different dairy product, but anything other than oil is going to really reduce the amount of time that the mixture can stay at room temperature.

Anyway, popcorn is one of those things that can be done in a million different ways. Except never use water, that never does anything good that I've seen.

I agree that actually popping it in honey (or a honey/oil combo) probably won't work, at least not at home. Typically people pop the corn in as low-impact (flavor wise) as possible, and then coat it afterwards. Think air popping.
posted by SMPA at 6:51 AM on October 14, 2015

They may have used honey powder, which I've seen at my local Asian grocery store.
posted by cabbagesnkings at 6:56 AM on October 14, 2015 [3 favorites]

As far as putting the mixture on the popcorn goes, the absolute best method is to put the popped corn into a large bowl and then pour the buttery honey over it, cover the bowl, and go to town shaking it for a minute. Every bit will get coating this way. If you make a lot of popcorn it is soooo worth it to invest in a large tupperware type of plastic bowl with a lid that seals well. We make popcorn at least twice a week here and the bowl is one of the most used items in our kitchen. Making popcorn is serious business.
posted by the webmistress at 6:58 AM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Yep, butter, like webmistress said.

Also, if you can borrow and extra set of hands (my son does this part with me), it helps to have one person tossing the popcorn in a large bowl--or even a large brown bag--while the other applies a slow drizzle of the honey butter. No soggy patches, because even the liquid that drops to the bottom of the bowl is instantly being swooped up.

Edit on preview to say the webmistress is ON IT.
posted by whoiam at 7:02 AM on October 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

seconding twinbrook - it's very possible that he mistranslated whatever syrup he was using into 'honey'
posted by sid at 7:35 AM on October 14, 2015

Not sure it would work but maybe do it like caramel corn. Stir the thinned honey over popcorn in a roasting pan and bake for 15 minutes at 350ish. Take out, stir and bake again for another 15.

Let us know what ends up working!
posted by MandaSayGrr at 7:56 AM on October 14, 2015 [2 favorites]

Honey powder?
posted by porpoise at 10:01 AM on October 14, 2015

Likely they used a giant kettle to make this and add the coating - I don't think you can get that perfect result without a giant kettle.

The "honey powder" referenced above likely is not pure honey. Lots of honey from grocery stores labeled as such is not pure honey because like olive oil and fish, there are lots of shenanigans and mis-labeling in the industry. Food grade stabilizers might be involved in whatever product was used...

But back to technique. There's a way to spin and coat the just popped still hot kernels, and that is like 90% of your game. The other 10% is the mystery sweetener used. Honey from bees has a distinctive edge, that's why I'm thinking whatever used was not straight honey.

What a fun food mystery! I hope you are able to re-create this effect and flavor!!
posted by jbenben at 11:55 AM on October 14, 2015

Seeing that it was in Thailand, is it possible that they used coconut sugar to sweeten it? If so, the reason it didn't go soggy is that honey has a lot of fructose, which is hygroscopic - it readily absorbs water from the atmosphere. Coconut sugar, like brown sugar, is mostly sucrose.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:56 AM on October 18, 2015