GOOD quality caramel corn is mysteriously hard to find.
Especially if it’s caramel corn without nuts….
It just seems like caramel corn is in the back seat while butter popcorn is always driving.
What gives?
I’ve been needing a caramel popcorn fix for a while now. I was lucky enough to receive a Costco sized caramel corn tub a few Christmas’ back…big enough that I could have camped in once empty…but it tasted completely artificial and the popcorns were just kinda small, weak and broken up into pieces the further down the tub you went.
It went to the trash, but I bet you’d need a spoon to scoop up the popcorn at the bottom.
So, WHERE’S THE GOOD STUFF???
Being the Treat Buyer that I am, I noticed this top reviewed caramel corn offering on Amazon from Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn.
It looked good…
- No nuts
- No GMO modified nastyness
- No preservatives
- Kosher
- Whole Grain
- Made in ‘Merica!
Almost healthy right!? Sorta..kinda.
I went for it and waited for Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn to be delivered via Amazon’s 2-day Prime shipping.
How would the popcorn travel from Amazon HQ to my place without being broken up into a million pieces?
Has this popcorn been sitting in a warehouse on a shelf for the last 10 months?
Not sure, we’ll find out.
Jody’s Popcorn is shipped in the white and red striped container you can see below. It’s a big size and has a stay fresh seal that also acts as a tamper protector around the outside.
Here’s what you’ll find when you first open a tub of Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn – Recipe 53 Caramel.
As SOON as I broke the stay fresh / tamper seal I could smell the rich caramel
Essentially it was a sea of golden brown caramel popcorn.
I wasn’t expecting the popcorn to be completely drenched in caramel. It made other caramel corns seem tame to be honest. Super full kernels of corn that very rarely had a part on them that wasn’t covered in rich roasty caramel yum.
The caramel popcorn even has more noticeable weight to it. Good stuff :).
This is what proper caramel corn is supposed to look like!
So how did it taste?
Amazing!
There are three parts to enjoying this caramel corn.
First, the satisfying crunch, next the discovery of the caramelly-buttery flavor and then after you’re done the richness and sweet cream caramel lingers and lingers.
It never turns overly sweet, has an unnatural taste or leaves an oiliness in your mouth. It’s very rich, warm and wholesome.
Caramel corn needs to have an almost caramelly roasty not-quite burntness to it.
Sort of like how espresso coffee can have a toffee-caramelly roasty almost burntness to it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not burnt…..but it’s perfectly roasted and taken off the heat at the peak of it’s flavor.
If you’ve ever made caramel or toffee, you’ll know how precise and perfect you have to be with timings and temperatures or else it’ll either not hold together or be ruined..
I can tell it took them 53 tries to get this recipe perfected. It’s good from start to finish.
Now this popcorn isn’t 100% hull-less, so you do get the odd bit stuck in your tooth, but hey, it’s popcorn! It doesn’t really happen much and the popcorn it’s self (minus the caramel) is very good.
Update: The popcorn stays full and completely popped from the top to the bottom. There were a few hard bits at the bottom that was to be expected…but I was pleased with the popcorn quality. It’s rather quite good and it didn’t look like any shortcuts were taken in respect to quality Vs quantity. Bravo!
One thing I have to point out, that I noticed and maybe one of the few critiques I have of Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn – Recipe 53 Caramel are the bits of popcorn dust/chaff that I immediately locked in on when I peeled back the lid to the tub.
The bits are probably from the popcorn being tossed around in it’s tub (and then in an Amazon van), but it wasn’t very appetizing to see when I first opened it. I felt like it knocked the gourmet-ness down a bit and was a shame considering how awesome the popcorn is.
They could remedy this issue by including a foil cover of some sort to keep the popcorn in place maybe?
I’d actually wonder if they should look into different packaging all together?
It doesn’t seem like the plastic tub does justice to the well made tasty gourmet popcorn inside. Even if they used the classic popcorn tin method, it would be a significant upgrade I think. They’d have to figure out how to keep it fresh.
The plastic tub Jody’s Popcorn is currently using really puts a damper on the gourmet-ness and gift giving potential of this caramel corn.
The plastic tub doesn’t seem to match with the high quality contents inside and I’d think twice about gifting this to my dad or brother because the first impressions are a bit…cheap.
Which is so sad because it’s really tasty!
If you order directly from the Jody’s website instead of Amazon, you can choose to have the caramel popcorn delivered in a tin that’s waaaay better for gifting:
It’s more than double the price of a tub, though. You can see that and more on the Jody’s website here.
Conclusion
Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn – Recipe 53 Caramel tastes great. The popcorn has an even coating of rich warm caramel and the buttery creamy flavor keeps you going back for more.
It’s priced at just shy of twenty bucks and the tub contains 2.34lbs of popcorn. I think this is a reasonable price for the quality and quantity you receive, especially via Amazon’s 2 day free shipping. I’m confident that I would not be able to replicate this by visiting my local grocery store popcorn isle.
My reservation is with the packaging and I think Jody’s is being let down with their current plastic tub. I just wouldn’t associate gourmet with plastic tubs. The bright orange construction orange stripes on the tub are a bit garish too.
The good news is that Jody’s have done the hard bit – making an awesome tasting caramel popcorn. Maybe a revamp of the container and color scheme would be good, though.
You can purchase the same caramel corn in a metal tin that is much much better for gifting – but you’ll pay double.
Bottom line: Buy it if you’re a caramel popcorn fan, but perhaps add at least add a bow and some fancy decorations if you plan on giving the tub as a gift
BUY: You can check out more information on Jody’s Gourmet Popcorn and order your own caramel corn on their Amazon page here.
