Popcornopolis--The Prada of Popcorn

Since I had a list of Anchorage activities for you today and most of you don't live in Anchorage (poor souls) here's something for you in a wider geographical range.

I haven't ever explained how I do product reviews, but if someone writes me with a product they want me to review I'm rather particular. I don't like writing posts that blast a product out of the water--seems a rather cheap shot. So if I can tell that I won't like something I'll turn them down. I'm fine pointing out a product's shortcomings or drawbacks but I'm only going to promote stuff I think has legitimate value--it's only fair to people reading to get honest feedback.

So. . . a couple weeks ago I got an email asking me if I'd like to try some samples of gourmet popcorn. I guess I'm a complete hick because I pictured vaguely in the back of my mind a box with packages of wrapped, unpopped, microwave-type popcorn but I was busy that day and said "sure" without much thought then promptly forgot about it.

Until the Fedex guy rang my bell. I love the Fedex guy.

He handed me a HUGE box from Popcornopolis, which the kids ripped open with wild abandon, to find GOURMET POPCORN. Yes, it deserves caps because this wasn't your everyday popcorn it was a giant tin filled with eight kinds of honest-to-goodness fancy-schmancey popcorn. The Prada of popcorn.

Almond-caramel, white chocolate and caramel, cheddar cheese, kettle corn, dark chocolate and caramel, zebra (white and dark chocolate together), cinnamon toast--it was some serious popcorn. There was even a bow and a nice note saying: Michelle, I hope you like the popcorn. Jean-Pierre.

Funny thing was, I left it on the counter while I prepared dinner. Andrew came home and wandered in to find our kitchen counter overflowing with the beautifully wrapped basket of sweet treats and the note directed personally to his wife signed by Jean-Pierre. I loved it--it's good to keep the husband on his toes, you know?

"What's this?" he wanted to know, suspicious that maybe the blogging thing had officially gotten out of control and that strange French men sending his wife gift baskets was an unexpected downside. I explained where it had come from and suddenly he was definitely okay with being the guinea pig for popcorn experimentation.

Anyway, the story is growing long but I'll just say that we were going out that night with friends and brought out the popcorn for after-dinner treats and sampling and I can report without reservation that all six of us thought the stuff was amazing. As in, "If I eat all this popcorn at one sitting and it kills me then I'm fully prepared to go out in such a glorious finish."

You wouldn't think there was that much popcorn in the basket but we ended up leaving a couple bags with our friends because we couldn't finish it all and I feared my utter lack of self-control when it came to that tasty stuff (but not the white chocolate-caramel kind--oh no, that stuff was good and I was keeping that for myself--I sigh just thinking of it). The next day I even had the thought that I should maybe take a bag out to my grandfather whom I hadn't seen in a couple weeks.

When I gave him the bag he got completely nostalgic and mushy, talking about how much he loves popcorn, especially caramel popcorn, because when he was a boy back in Washington they grew popcorn on his family farm during the Depression. He talked about eating popcorn all the time and suddenly we were waltzing down memory lane--all over a bag of popcorn.

Who knows what this stuff is capable of. Maybe they should consider a new slogan.

Popcornopolis: bringing families together, establishing world peace and aligning the planets.

So take my honest opinion for what it's worth. I will say that Popcornopolis is just a little expensive--the tub I received runs nearly $50--but you get a lot of popcorn. I thought the kettle corn was good but not remarkable (I've never been much of a fan of plain old kettle corn though). The cheddar was good compared to typical cheddar varieties but again, it's not naturally my favorite kind. My favorites were the cinnamon toast and chocolate varieties which were wonderful--all I need is a bathtub full of that stuff and life would be complete.

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