Tasty Microwave Popcorn Popper - A Product Review

One of the gripes I have with microwave popcorn is that even with the fat-free or light versions, it's more calories and popcorn than I want to eat by myself and I don't always have someone to share it with. While shopping at Walmart the other day (she cringes because she hates Walmart but needed a fast place to get a lot of things,) I happened on this very cool snack-size microwave popcorn popper. It was only $8 and change so I decided to spring for it on the chance that it might work.

The popper has a maximum capacity of 1.5 quarts. The directions say to fill the silicone floppy lid to the line with kernels, then dump them into the popper, but I only wanted a 60-calorie snack. I had regular Orville Redenbacher popcorn kernels in the cupboard and the nutrition info for it says that 3 Tbl of unpopped kernels is 120 calories. So I took 1-1/2 Tbl of kernels, put them in the popper, put the lid on and stuck it in the microwave. No oil, no butter, nothing but popcorn. I set the microwave on the popcorn setting (our microwave is 1100 watts) and watched and listened. It took almost 2 minutes for it to slow to the recommended 2 second between pops. It would take longer with a smaller microwave. The popcorn was delicious. I did end up with a little more than a 1/2 tsp of unpopped kernels which would reduce the calorie count some, but I attribute this to the fact that this jar of popcorn has been in the cupboard for awhile. The lid has little holes in it so that if you're splurging and want buttered popcorn you just put the butter in the lid and it melts as it pops, dripping perfectly into the popped corn.


The features that I like the most about the popper:

• It's perfectly sized for a snack and I can control the amount depending on how many calories I have in my calorie budget that day
• You can use plain, organic kernels so you don't end up eating a bunch of chemicals that are in normal microwave popcorn or even bagged popcorn
• It's easy to clean
• It has silicone around the glass, on the handle, and the lid so it's easy to handle getting in and out of the microwave

In short, it's a 5-star score!