If you’ve never tried heirloom popcorn, you may be surprised that each variety has a unique flavor—some are nutty, others are sweet…so they say. I’ve tried many varieties but unless you eat them without fat or salt (no, but thank you), you can barely catch a whiff of the flavor that makes them prized above the standard popcorn. Except for: blue popcorn (as in naturally blue, not dyed blue popcorn).
Blue corn was originally developed by the Hopi and remains an essential part of their diet today while also remaining a staple of New Mexican cuisine. Pictured above, these popcorn kernels are marked by a distinctive hue of midnight blue. Once popped, that gorgeous hue fades to an off-white, gray tone but the flavor is sweet and hearty. While yellow popcorn tastes more like the oil you popped it in, the blue popcorn tastes like what it is: popped corn. I barely used any salt, yet I couldn’t stop eating it.
As always, quality comes at a price: a 2 pound bag of yellow popcorn cost $2.20 while a 1 pound bag of blue popcorn cost $4.50. But let’s think about how much popcorn a 1 pound bag will make. One bag of microwave popcorn contains (at most) 3T/2oz. of popcorn with a price tag of $1.00 per bag—essentially, you’re paying $0.70 more per bag for the privilege of not using an open flame. Thankfully, you will have a difficult time finding microwaveable blue popcorn so you will have to pop it yourself: Heat a pan with oil, add the popcorn kernels, cover the pan and shake it back and forth until the corn has popped. That’s it. Once you’ve popped corn on the stove, you’ll realize another startling truth: the microwave is barely more convenient. I’ve never burned popcorn on the stovetop although I’ve come perilously close to starting many fires while popping corn in the microwave.
Popping Corn: The Recipe
A ½ cup of corn kernels will yield about 4 cups of popcorn. If you need a larger batch of popcorn, I’d recommend popping multiple batches to reduce the odds of burnt or unpopped kernels.
Choose a wide-bottomed pan, much larger than you think you will need. Preheat 4T of oil on medium high heat. Choose an oil with a high smoke point—peanut, safflower, olive, coconut, or sunflower—but do not use butter as it will burn long before the first kernel has thought about popping. Add ½ cup of kernels to the hot oil, lower the heat to medium, and put a lid on the pan. Once the kernels start popping, shake the pan back and forth to keep them from scorching. Once the popping slows to 5 seconds apart, turn off the heat. Do not remove the lid right away or your impatience will be rewarded with a blast of steam or, worse yet, hot corn that is about to pop. (Never underestimate the power of a corn kernel under heat and pressure.) Season the popcorn to your liking, although with this popcorn, you won’t want to add too much.
If you can’t find heirloom popcorn locally, you can order it from one of these mail-order sources:
Buttery. Salted. Caramel. 
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