Domu asked me to review something from their range of kitchenware and cooking equipment. I selected to review their popcorn maker. My eldest daughter loves popcorn and would invariably buy a bag when we called into the sweetshop on the way home from school. This was quickly becoming an expensive habit and with expensive presents requested for Christmas we came to an agreement that there would be no more visits to the sweet shop after school until after Christmas so we could save some money to put towards the presents that they had requested. It is a lot cheaper to buy a 500g bag of popping corn and make your own than to buy the ready popped variety. Each day before school pick-up I was popping corn in a pan with a spoonful of oil. This can get messy if you happen to start another job and forget your pan of popping corn.
I hadn’t considered the option of a popcorn maker. In fact, I hadn’t realised that you could get one for the home. I have to say, I am very impressed. The popcorn maker is reasonably priced at £22.99 and is well worth the purchase price if you eat a lot of popcorn.
The popcorn maker is very easy to use and requires no oil. The corn is popped by hot air circulation and it takes about a minute to pop a bowlful of popcorn. It is quite noisy when operating but no noisier than a food processor.
The popcorn is much fluffier than when popped in an oiled pan and there is less waste. I tend to find quite a few unpopped corns in a pan and the most I have found in a full bowl of popcorn made by this machine is ten unpopped corns. There is less washing up too, particularly when you don’t have burned pans to wash up.
You can add whatever flavour you fancy to the popped corn. The favourite in this house is butter melted with golden syrup and a grind of sea salt.
The popcorn maker comes with a 500g packet of popping corn and four cardboard popcorn boxes. It has recipes on the side of the box too, including one for popcorn with bacon and maple syrup. That might be one we will be trying over the Christmas holidays if we get the chance to put our feet up to watch one of the Christmas films.
The only problem with having a popcorn maker in the kitchen is that it nearly kills you to buy popcorn at the cinema when you go to watch Paddington.
Domu sent me the VonShef popcorn maker for free for the purposes of review. All opinions are my own and honest.
That’s interesting Kath – I use the pan method but it’s very inconsistent. Don’t mention the cost of popcorn at the cinema……
You need one of these in your life Maggie. We should perhaps not mention the price of anything at the cinema. It is an expensive trip out.
I still haven’t got over watching this machine make popcorn, and the results are great too
I have a feeling Mr OC, that we will be testing the machine a lot more over Christmas.
Love to see Paddington but definitely without the popcorn. Not my thing at all. enjoy the movie
It was brilliant, laughed all the way through. Paddington is adorable and reminded us of our collie puppy, Rascal, who is very adorable. Have a wonderful Christmas Caroline. x
We LOVE popcorn in our household, too. My sister, who lives in Arizona (the state where hotter is better) shared how she enjoys putting jalapeño peppers on top of her popcorn along with the salt and butter. We gave it a go and enjoy it immensely and also found that hot sauce makes a nice alternative when jalapeños are absent from the cupboard.
That sounds like one Mr OC would enjoy. He loves his chillies. Thanks Beth and Happy Christmas to you and yours. x
We eat popcorn all the time, and we’ve had an air popper for quite a while now. I am in the United States, Los Angeles, California, to be exact, and these air poppers first appeared here in the eighties. They really are a great way to make popcorn, and you are so right about less waste. This one sounds like a great unit. It is a pleasure to meet you and to visit your site. I happened to see a comment you left for Nancy at Good Food Matters, and i thought I would pay you a visit. I hope you are having a terrific holiday season!
Hi Adri, How lovely to meet you. I am glad you popped by. (ha, no pun intended there!).
We use the simmering plate on our AGA for popcorn – you place a piece of baco-glide onto the simmering plate, add a tablespoon of popping corn into the middle, close the lid and listen for the pops. when the popping sounds like its nearly finished, lift the lid and carefully pick up the baco-glide, slide the popcorn off into a bowl. We usually toss ours in melted butter and a little caster sugar.
Wow Gail, I have never thought to use the simmering plate for that. I must give it a try.