Popcorn Balls....A Love Story

I had to cringe a bit when I saw that it has been over a month since I last blogged. I did have intentions of blogging sooner, but time as always gets away from me. I was going to blog on Halloween and post an empty bag and ask each of you to stop by and give me a treat, and to make it as original as you could in your selection. But a big part of me was afraid that knowing all of you, I would just end up with 83 rocks or a bunch of empty candy wrappers. But I didn't get that blogged, but today's blog is a bit of a leftover from my Halloween.

Halloween was a pretty nice day for most parts, but I was a bit frazzled when there was a knock on my door at 11 a.m. and there stood 7 trick or treaters. Trying to hide my shock I mumbled a few sentences about nice costumes, etc. etc. and when I closed the front door I felt the panic set in. SEVEN trick or treaters before noon. I hadn't planned on a whole lot of trick or treaters. Every year the number of kids going door to door had slowly been downsizing. The last few years the most I ever had was a dozen. I had stuff for about 2 or 3 dozen trick or treaters at most. It had me panicking for a bit that I was going to run out of stuff. It was the first time ever that I had trick or treaters so early in the day and I was torn between running to town to get more treats or try my hand at making something.

Fearing I might miss any more trick or treaters that might feel compelled to go around early as their cohorts had, I opted to make something. Growing up as a child the thing that always stood out for Halloween and the homemade treats was ...popcorn balls. My mom made them, the neighbor kid's moms made them, and nobody seems to make them any more. I know most are afraid to make anything homemade, much less let their kids eat anything homemade, but a bee had gotten into my bonnet and I was in the mood for popcorn balls.

I had to find a recipe, and unable to locate a recipe from my mom on her popcorn balls I did the next best thing and googled. Hmmm...so many choices, I finally opted on a recipe for "grandpa's favorite popcorn balls"...after all grandpa couldn't be wrong could he? I set about popping the popcorn, sifting out the old maids, and stirred and stirred the bubbling concoction for what seemed like forever. The directions called for boiling the mixture to a hard crack stage which is roughly 300 degrees. Finally it got to that point and I poured it over my mound of fluffy white popcorn. I stirred the popcorn and kept mumbling, "hot"..."hot" as a drop or two of the molten mixture would touch a finger. How in the heck was I going to mold this stuff into balls if it was painful just stirring the mixture? The directions said to wait five minutes before forming into balls, but after a minute or two I could tell the popcorn mixture was stiffening up and I had to act fast if it was going to take ball form. Buttering up my hands well I proceeded to gingerly grab hand fulls and mold into the balls, all the while continuing my mantra of "hot"..."hot"..."hot"... I got to the last little bit which was cool enough it no longer wanted to stick well so it just got tossed into a bowl. I sat back proudly and admired my popcorn balls and started counting them. I had to frown a bit when I came up with just a couple over a dozen. That's it my mind cried? Only 14 lousy popcorn balls? I debated on making a second batch, but only for a second. No way in heck was I doing that again. How did our moms do it I wondered? I know they made dozens and dozens of the confections and just making a dozen or so had me waning in my love of popcorn balls.

I set my popcorn balls aside as they were going to be my back up plan. As Halloween evening came to a close, I had just enough of my regular treats for the costumed kids and the pile of popcorn balls leftover. I had to try one, after all what is Halloween without a homemade popcorn ball? As I bit into one of the popcorn balls I made a bit of a frown. Hmmpph! Oh they tasted okay but they weren't REAL popcorn balls, or not the popcorn balls that my mom made. They were crispy, hard, they crunched when you bit into them almost to the point of shattering. They weren't what I was expecting or wanting. Insert pout here.... So I thought, well maybe if I let them set a day or two they will soften up a bit to the point of my popcorn ball remembrances. Fast forward to today, November 4th and they are still as crunchy as the day I made them (sigh).

There is an art to popcorn ball making. Mine were too hard. Popcorn balls are made for you to sink your teeth into them and automatically feel the sugared gooey stuff stick to your two front teeth, and as you chew the popcorn ball yumminess, you pray silently that you don't loose a filling. They need to have a bit of stickiness to them but at the same time not be too sticky. I have had popcorn balls made with marshmallows and they are too soft and chewy. The ones I made were too hard... mom's were just right.

I don't know, maybe if my popcorn balls had turned out I still wouldn't have been satisfied. We remember things differently as kids. I think the excitement we all felt while young added a flavor to those popcorn balls that are sadly lacking today. I won't give up on the popcorn ball making though, it will just be awhile before I try it again. Maybe next year.....or not.