Day 19: Popcorn Pops

Friday and Saturday nights mean staying up a little later in our house.  We grab handfuls of popcorn and enjoy the feeling of a less scheduled next day. 

Our next farm kid story involves twin boys with fraggle-rock hair researching information about popcorn while preparing a batch on the stovetop.   

 

In the quest of discovering why mom keeps popcorn kernels in the fridge, the boy with glasses decides to “go look it up” in a book.  While he reads aloud popcorn facts, his brother warms oil in a pan and pops popcorn.  He perhaps places too many kernels in that pan by the end of the story.  POP!

 

“Popcorn pops because the heart of the kernel is moist and pulpy and surrounded by a hard starch shell. When the kernel is heated, the moisture turns to steam and the heart gets bigger until the shell bursts with a ‘pop.’”

 

The author draws cartoon characters and includes their popcorn research findings in conversation boxes.  The page that describes an Indian legend where a demon lives inside each kernel of popcorn shows a jumpy, angry man in different temperature stages.

I remember making popcorn at home as a child with a stovetop hand-crank popper.  I used my index finger to spin the crank on the orange lid, and the crank swirled the kernels inside the pan. 

 

I used my other hand to grip the long red handle, which my mom told me this week was “married” to the popper when the original orange handle fell off one day.  It’s vintage.  It’s charming.  And it makes great popcorn. 

No microwave popcorn for us tonight.  We can make it the real way.   And if one of our hands is reaching for the popcorn bowl, we have room for a good children’s book in the other.

What is your favorite weekend night snack?

Lauren

Lauren

My Library List:
Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2: Perfect Pizza
Day 3: Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8: Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9: BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables
Day 12: Call to Action
Day 13: BOOM
Day 14: Ponies and Cowboys
Day 15: Value to our Trees
Day 16: Tractor Time
Day 17: Wishing for a Washing
Day 18: United Tweets

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.