Jiffy Pop

I don't want to talk about it.

It was really fun back in the day. Do they still make it?

Sure but it often burnt. The point was the taste and saltiness. It was easier to make popcorn in a heavy sauce pan. The hot air poppers weren't bad either.

Yup, it was a treat my mom would buy for us on rare occasions. Never tasted quite as good as I expected, but the whole affair was too much fun!

We had it occasionally but popcorn in a heavy pan was better. You can buy Jiffy-Pop on Amazon. $34 for a case of 24. That's suspiciously cheap.

I now only eat Orville Redenbacher premium self popping on the stove top.

God, you just know Orville's dork son Gary is hung like a yak.

Jiffy Pop Jiffy Pop the magic treat! As much fun to make as it is to eat!

We would have it every once in a while. But would have the hot oil kind every Saturday night before The Love Boat.

When my mother wasn't looking, we would salt the popcorn really heavily. My mother always wondered why an hour later we were complaining that we were thirsty. She thought it was a sign that we had diabetes.

R10 when my dad would pop corn he'd make enough to fill my mom's stewpot with it. He'd take the saltshaker, turn it upside down and then just move it around the corn as it rained down. There'd be so much salt it would be crusted at the bottom of the stewpot. And he used Crisco to pop it with.

I loved the Wacky Package sticker of Jiffy Pop

Memreeeeess........

Yes! My parents didn't deny us inexpensive treats unlike our friends parents who acted as if they were running a prison. It was fun to make but you must do it over MEDIUM heat or it will burn. I loved watching the foil balloon fill up, what a fucking brilliant marketing idea!

R9. Ahhh, the olden days when The Love Boat was appointment viewing.

The foil pan is really not a good vessel to pop corn in. Others have noted that Jiffy Pop is easily scorched, and the thin foil pan is why, of course. It was fun to do as a kid.

My mother would buy it for us if we had a baby sitter coming over. You could never stop 1/4 of the popcorn from burning and that affected the taste of the rest of the popcorn, but it was fun.

Jiffy Pop was shitty. That little thin pan always produced burnt pop corn. Not only that, it was expensive.

And don't forget the amount of waste it produces. Get a hot air popper. MUCH better in every way.

My brother asked for this and my mother took him straight out to get tested for what today is termed autism. He had it big time.

Didn't they make a microwave version too (without metal, of course)?

You beat me to it R1

Thanks, OP. I hadn't thought of Jiffy Pop for years and it brings back warm, fuzzy memories of watching tv with my parents and my big sister :)

I still buy it to make on the camp stove after hurricanes knock out the power for a week. It comes out MUCH better when made over a gas burner instead of an electric one.

My mom used to make it when we took our 2-week trips to Florida and stayed in a hotel room with one of those funky sink-refrigerator-2-burner-stove combo units.

one had a blue label. and the other red. i'm not remembering the difference. or if there was one. but it was always a big disappointment. and a lesson in failure. the dome effect never looked like the magical thing it did on the commercials. it always burnt most of the popcorn. therefore it didn't taste good at all. and then i'd used my "ok. we'll do this something special" coupon for the weekend or upcoming week in total. with nothing but black kernels to show for it. then after a few months, the commercials would lure me in once again. we'd be at the grocery. i'd feel reckless. and the whole pit of 3rd grade despair would repeat itself all over again. usually setting off the smoke alarm.

If you follow the directions and SHAKE CONTINUOUSLY, it pops up perfectly and is delicious! You just have to be careful not to scratch your burner, and open the foil as soon as the popping almost stops or your delicate, fluffy kernels will quickly become soggy. I've seen it at the grocery store fairly recently--give it a try and report back, everyone!

The blue was white corn, the red one yellow r24.

GOD DAMN YOU PEOPLE DOING CASEY BECKER JOKES BEFORE ME!

;-)

No, my mother was too frugal. We popped it in a heavy pan on the stove or later we had an air popper. I don’t feel deprived on that count. Now I am a frugal parent and we make it on the stovetop. I make it a game and open the lid and the kids try to catch the escapee kernels that fly out. Then we drench it in hot (real!) butter and kosher salt.

R26, Actually, the red label was butter-flavored and the blue label was plain.

I've started using one of those microwave plastic popcorn popping bowls (they're under $10 at Target.) They work pretty well, and you can serve in the same bowl you popped in.

The blue label version was called "Natural" flavor, rather than plain, and is no longer made, nor is the microwave version. The butter-flavored version is the only one currently sold.

This was the microwave version. I don't think it was around for too long.

It was fun when my mom made it for me. I used to scream with excitement and fear.

[quote]I used to scream with...fear.

Why? Did your mother bend the handle into the shape of coat hanger and mimic Joan Crawford?

This thread prompted me to surf eBay to look at vintage electric popcorn poppers. I have a real movie theater type machine now and it makes fabulous popcorn, but I do indeed have fine memories of these crappy, sticky, oily old tabletop electric poppers!

r35 I had one similar to that in college. We didn't have anywhere to cook in the dorms (and this was in the pre-microwave era), so this was the only way to make popcorn.

This is what I grew up with....

R15, I was thinking the same--followed by "Fantasy Island", which wasn't as good, but Ricardo Montalban and Tattoo made up for the lame and sometimes racy (for the 70's) stories. This teen loved Saturday nights!

r36

So it was right after they invented fire?

As a kid, I didn't care how many times it burned, I always wanted it. Of course, I fell for the Slinky tv ads, too.

Now that I'm older, I know to put it on top of a flame tamer, or a griddle, to keep it from burning before it fully pops.

As a kid, I was so excited to have Jiffy Pop that I took a pin and poked more holes into the foil so that it would cook “faster.”

The entire pan of popcorn burned to a charred crisp.

[quote]It comes out MUCH better when made over a gas burner instead of an electric one.

That's what I was going to post. Good observation.

We had a hot-air popper but I once convinced my parents to try Jiffy Pop. We brought it home and turned on the stove (electric). After 15 minutes or so, I am still shaking that damn pan over the stove and not one kernel popped.

We opened up the package and the whole clump of butter and kernels was moldy. The whole fucking clump. Green fuzzy mold.

Mom reached for the popper. Dad brought it outside to the trash. Never bought it again.

r37: OMG! My grandmother had THAT EXACT popper! I remember getting shocked from it once, but used to think it was cool because the popper compartment came off.

Never had it once that it didnt burn.

Air popped popcorn tastes like shit, as does microwave popcorn. There is nothing like hot popcorn cooked in vegetable oil, drizzled in butter with a sprinkle of salt.

No the sound @R34 I was a young MARY

I remember Jiffy Pop as a youngster and bought some a while back as the microwave popcorn is way too salty/greasy. The recent Jiffy Pop was O.K. but I wondered about making popcorn on the stove instead of microwave or using an air popper. I discovered the stove top Whirly Popper and now make truly wonderful popcorn. It's a 4 qt. aluminum pot with crank handle the rotates a wisk like rod along the bottom to stir the popcorn & oil as it heats/pops. I use peanut oil and that Icky Rickenbacker gourmet popcorn and salt to taste when popping is done. The Whirly pop costs about $20.00 and is a bargain. Maybe some of the girls in this tread have tried it!

In the late 70's Jiffy Pop was so very fun to make but was easy to overcook and tasted like that yellow popcorn you can buy in plastic bags in stores, even when you did get it right. It was the kind of thing you did a few times and then lost interest in.

We had an air-pop popcorn maker in the early 80's with that dumb little "butter drip" thing. It always came out so bland it was a huge disappointment but we seemed to make it this way for yeeeears since we had the device. Probably the healthiest way to eat popcorn.

Microwave popcorn seemed like a revelation in the later 80's, I ate it for years and years and years. Bad chemicals and all, I'd tear the paper and lick the inside. Yum! I still might be eating it, but...

A few years ago I "discovered" making popcorn the old fashioned way in a pan with oil and lots of salt. HOLY SHIT. So that's what popcorn is supposed to taste like? It's a fine art, and you have to do it a lot before you get the technique just right, even then it always comes out a little different. But the enjoyment of eating homemade popcorn overrides all other methods. I've never looked back. Mmmmm...

The first one we had was very similar to the one R35 posted. Then we got the air popped "Popcorn Pumper" and the popcorn tasted like Styrofoam. Then we got a metal bucket, old-fashioned style one with a handle that you would place on the stove and need to keep turning as it popped, but this was at least with oil. Once microwave popcorn came onto the scene, I gave up.

I grew up with one day f these. Best corn popper ever, and great mid mod design.

Going slightly off topic, I am one of those people who firmly believes there is something wrong with anyone who claims to not like popcorn.

[quote] There is nothing like hot popcorn cooked in vegetable oil, drizzled in butter with a sprinkle of salt.

Wrong. Coconut oil.!

r51, how does that work? it says no shaking and no stirring. How does the popcorn keep from burning?

Yes. It tastes absolutely terrible, but it’s still a fun memory.

I think it’s because only the the small surface area at the bottom is in contact with direct heat. As the corn pops, it lifts away from from the bottom. As I recall, there were sometimes a few dark pieces left at the bottom if you didn’t take it off the stove in time.

R53 Wrong! Corn oil!

Wrong! Bacon grease!

Thanks a lot, you fat cunts. Now I want popcorn popped on the stove in oil.

The distributors of JP had to have known it was a bad product when they put it out but they must've known that marketing would save the day.

I dream of......

I had a Jiffy Pop explode on my face burning me with scalding hot oil and butter. It disfigured half of my face and I had to have multiple surgeries to fix it. It literally burned half of my face off.

As I remember it Jiffy Pop was all we had back (as far as ready to make popcorn) in the 50's and 60's if you wanted fresh popped popcorn at home. I don't remember when those counter top popcorn poppers came out. I loved doing the Jiffy Pop. It was fun to watch it swell up. But if you weren't careful you'd burn that shit up.

R62

We cooked our popcorn in a pressure cooker. It made great popcorn. I don't remember what oil we used, but Mom was famous for buying Crisco in the gallon can, so I imagine we used Crisco. Best popcorn. I remember my middle brother and I begged to get a jiffy pop. It took forever shaking and shaking to get it to start. Walla, burnt popcorn. Never got one again. Mom's pressure cooker was better. About six months ago, our Safeway had microwavable Jiffy Pop 3 pack for $1. I bought about 6 packs. It was really good! It must of been clearance, as they no longer carry the microwavable Jiffy Pop. I do like Pop Secrets brand, as most kernels appear to pop.

R62=TimoTHEE Shalimar or whatever the fuck her name is.

[quote]Walla

The fumes obviously caused brain damage.

To follow up on r56, one of Alton Brown's "hacks" is to pop corn in a metal bowl with a foil cover to take advantage of the sloped sides.

[quote] Instead of popping popcorn in a pot, pop it in a metal bowl so the popped kernels rise to the top and don't burn. The idea here is that the popped kernels will move their way up the sides of the bowl and be less likely to burn. The problem with a regular pot is that the popped kernels remain on the bottom of the pot (which is super hot) and sometimes burn.

So could corn be popped in a wok?

Sure it could.

Jiffy Pop was fun. We did it right. I don't remember ever having burnt popcorn from it. But when we wanted a larger quantity of popcorn my sister would make the popcorn in a big pot with a little oil. Then the air poppers came in and we started using that. So much easier. And we added melted butter afterwards.