A Prairie Girl's Guide to Old Fasioned Popcorn Balls

I made these delicious old fashioned popcorn balls for Pioneer Day. I got the recipe from this darling book. 

Popcorn and popcorn balls were a very old fashioned treat, and quite popular on the prairie. As a little girl (and even now as a big girl) I loved reading the Little House on the Prairie books that painted a lovely picture of Almanzo's family snacking on popcorn and apples around the fireplace.

 When I served these on Pioneer Day, my mom was reminded of her grandmother, who kept a bowl of popcorn balls individually wrapped in plastic wrap near the door around Christmas time to give to carollers, neighbors and anyone else who popped by. I think that is a charming idea and plan to do it too. 

I got the popcorn kernels from a local farm. It was given to me as a gift so I'm not sure on the price. 

Before you start, preheat your oven to 200 degrees or to the lowest setting. This is to keep the popcorn warm while you make the syrup. 

The first time I made this I wanted to go as old fashioned as I could and popped the popcorn on the stove. To do this, I put two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pot, spread 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels evenly over the bottom of the pot, covered with a lid, and heated to medium high. When it started to pop I turned the heat to high. I gave the pot a good shake here and there to make sure all the kernels had a chance to pop. When the popping slowed to one pop at a time I removed the lid and poured the popcorn into a large pan and place in your oven to warm. 

This time, however, I justed used a popcorn machine. :) It was a lot faster! 

Place the popcorn into a large pan and pop it in the oven! 

Now for the syrup. 

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup water 

Put it all in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir. When the mixture starts to boil, stop stirring and let it cook. 

If you have a candy thermometer handy, let it cook until it reaches 200 degrees F. 

If you do not have one, no worries! We can do it the old fashioned way! Get a cup of cold water. Preferably one that you can see clearly into. Every few minutes or so, scoop a spoonful of the syrup into the cold water. If it mixes with the water and just makes it misty, it is not ready yet. Dump it and fill with clean water. If it turns harder and stringy looking, that settles on the bottom of the cup, it's time to have a ball! I have a gas stove and mine was ready in about 8 minutes. 

The cup shown above was not ready. 

The gooey stuff on the spoon above is ready! It's hard to get a picture because the syrup is almost clear. 

Remove the syrup from heat and pull popcorn out of the oven. 

I moved the popcorn to the biggest mixing bowl I had. I also suggest picking out any unpopped kernels at this point! 

Pour the syrup over the popcorn and stir until the popcorn is evenly covered. 

You may have to wait a minute until it's cool enough to touch. When it is, butter your hands up and grab a handful of the gooey popcorn and gently press into a ball. Keep more butter nearby for your hands because you will need to butter up more than once. 

Place on wax paper or parchment paper to cool. Enjoy!