I am a huge fan of eating popcorn – it is one of my favorite snacks. For years I simply bought the microwave popcorn bags from the grocery store and made them a couple of nights a week. One day I read a study about the chemicals they use in those bags to make it come out so tasty. Suffice to say, no more microwave popcorn for me. After that I began researching machines that would make popcorn. I figured my only option would be one of the counter top electric poppers, until I stumbled across the Presto PowerPop on Amazon. It had great reviews and the price was right so I decided to give it a try.

How does it work?

Unlike traditional popcorn machines the PowerPop makes the popcorn in the microwave. The PowerPop is a 3 quart plastic bowl, with a plastic cover and a black plastic base which it sits on. It is made of a lightweight plastic, which is dishwasher safe. I would probably only use it on the top rack of the dishwasher though, as it is not that heavy of a plastic. The magic of the PowerPop is the “concentrator” which is a cardboard disc that sits at the bottom of the bowl. You can re-use the discs a couple of times before throwing it away and using a new one. The discs are cheap, about .50 cents each.

To make popcorn you simply put 1/3 of a cup of popcorn kernels (or less) in the bowl, up to 2 tablespoons butter or oil and a sprinkle of salt. The butter/oil and salt are all optional and you can always use less. I personally like to use the full 2 tablespoons of butter and a few dashes of salt. You then put the cover on and put the bowl in the microwave for 5 minutes. Like traditional bagged microwave popcorn you will want to wait nearby and stop the microwave when the popcorn stops popping. In reality it takes between 3.5 and 4.5 minutes to pop the full 1/3 cup of kernels.

Why is this awesome?

The PowerPop works like magic. I have now used it four times and I have never burned the popcorn and there are no unpopped kernels left in the bowl! I am no chef and have frequently over or undercooked bagged microwave popcorn. Something about the concentrators and design of this bowl lead to perfectly popped popcorn each time.

I also like that you can pop the popcorn with the butter and salt together. The butter melts onto the kernels as they are popping so it is evenly distributed around the bowl. I can remember using the counter-top poppers as a kid and you had to melt your butter separately and pour it on top which would drench some areas. None of the popcorn comes out drenched with this method. You also control how healthy or unhealthy your popcorn turns out. You could pop the popcorn with no butter or salt if you liked plain popcorn or you could experiment with other toppings.

In addition to being healthier than microwave bagged popcorn it is also less expensive. Using just a third of a cup of kernels fills the entire 3 quart bowl with popped popcorn to the point the lid starts to lift off. For the price of a three pack of microwave popcorn you can buy enough kernels for 11-12 bowls of popcorn.

I would highly recommend this popcorn maker to others. It is inexpensive and easy to use. The plastic material seems a bit cheap, but for $16 I would not have an issue with buying a replacement PowerPop in a year or two if it cracked.

Also posted to Epinions.