Jiffy Pop Food Review

Remember those days when you would get a group of friends together, wait for your parents to leave, and then turn on a scary movie?  I used to do that.  The VHS would be on PLAY and the 1996 movie "Scream" would be on your box screen TV.  Drew Barrymore was the leading actress, of course.  You're huddled together with friends, freaking out. "Don't answer the phone, Drew. Don't do it!"  The creeper keeps calling repetitively (stalking her). The killer is coming.  They put on the deep scary music which intensifies the movie.  The stalker asking Drew personal questions when she is home alone -- just like us!  Anyone with any sense would not answer his calls, but Drew Barrymore answers the phone again anyway.  "Don't listen to him...Stop...Don't open the door!" By then everyone is on the verge of screaming and freaking out, hoping Drew Barrymore doesn't die.  Instead of being freaked out, Barrymore is calmly making herself some stove top Jiffy Pop popcorn (no microwave needed).

I'm pulling the tab to open the Jiffy Pop container.  Underneath are the instructions.

In ancient times there was not such a thing as a microwave? Unbelievable.  In the ancient days, they made popcorn on the stove. We heated the popcorn and shook the pan.  Shaking the kernels keeps them from burning or sticking.  When you cook over the stove top, you have to shake popcorn? What?  That's so much effort.  Why not buy microwave popcorn, put the popcorn right side up and press 2 minutes on the microwave? It's faster.  It's buttery and salty, lots of fatty goodness.  Stove top popcorn can take up to 15 minutes to pop, unreal.  That's so slow.  Jiffy Pop must take so long to cook.  Wouldn't it be better to pop popcorn in the microwave.  We have the technology now.  Why don't we use it? I'm going to tell you why not.

Our interest in Jiffy Pop started when we watched "Scream" on Netflix.  Here is a clip from the movie "Scream."
Skip to 1:05 for the first Jiffy Pop intro.

What's your favorite scary movie?

The instructions for the Jiffy Pop did not work. I thought they were more for marketing purposes than for cooking popcorn. The directions say to pop the Jiffy Pop on Medium Low for 2 to 5 minutes.  Let me tell you, it took more like 15 minutes.  It took 5 minutes for the stove to heat up.  When we got the stove to Medium Low, it was so low that it didn't pop the popcorn, it just sizzled for 5 minutes.  We moved the Jiffy Pop in a circular motion over the stove top with no success.  I figured, "The heat is too low. This isn't working," and put the heat up to MEDIUM.  Moments later we hear the desired popping sound.  When the popcorn popped, the tin foil top on the Jiffy Pop started to raise.  When the tin foil raised, we were in awe. That was the fun part.  Once the popping noise stopped, I figured that all of the popcorn that was going to pop had already popped so I took it off the stove top.

Here is a video of what happened.  I was multi-tasking.  I had to video and shake the Jiffy Pop.  The video is completely shaken, but you can still get a good picture of what happens.

Omg.  I tore off the aluminum top.  Wasn't that popcorn beautiful?

It says to open the Jiffy Pop tin foil top with a fork.  That made no sense to me at all. I cut open the Jiffy Pop foil with a knife.  I wasn't happy with the instructions.  It's not for small children to cook because they can burn themselves on the oven (that or I'm just a paranoid parent).  When the popcorn is finished, they could cut or burn themselves opening the top of the Jiffy Pop container.  I would recommend that a an adult do the cooking with Jiffy Pop.  There are some safety issues with Jiffy Pop.

Jiffy Pop Flavor
When comparing regular microwave popcorn verses stove top popcorn, there is no comparison.  Stove top popcorn wins.  Jiffy Pop is crunchier and has more natural flavor.  In my opinion, microwaved popcorn is soft and mushy; it's overly buttered and overly salted to deceive a consumer into thinking that it tastes good.  It doesn't taste good at all.  It's greasy, salty and nasty.  If I wanted butter and salt on my popcorn, I would add it myself.  When I cook popcorn, I don't want an overly salted bowl of mush with artificial flavored butter.  Jiffy Pop has that crunch.  I did taste some salt, but not very much.  Despite the wrapper, I didn't taste any butter flavor.  I have both salt and butter in my kitchen.  I cannot believe how some companies even call artificially flavored butter food.  To me, powdered butter just sounds disgusting.  I have butter in my refrigerator.  If I wanted to butter my popcorn I would.

Jiffy Pop for Camping Trips
Jiffy Pop is great for camping.  Although it cannot be used on a campfire, if a person brings an propane or electric stove top, they can make Jiffy Pop on their camping trip.  It's easy to pack because you don't need to carry an additional pan.  You just place the Jiffy Pop container on the camping stove top.  It works.  I would definitely recommend Jiffy Pop for a fun camping experience. Jiffy Pop was fun to watch pop.  I forgot how much fun this was. I think everyone should try the Jiffy Pop experience.

Keep reading. Until next time.
Love,
Lissa 

My Favorite Dulces

I heard around town that the Mexican candy was really good at El Bolson Mexican Store.  It's a little shop that sells all that you need to make enchiladas, tamales, and taquitos.  They had sections of the store where they sold in house tortillas both corn and flour.  They had the authentic Mexican versions of red sauces.  They had a variety of cheeses both Queso Fresco (a combination of cow and goat milk cheese such as in Spain) and Queso Panela.  The cheese looked absolutely white, fresh round blocks of goodness and delicious.  I'm considering finding a recipe and cooking with some of the cheese.  It has a little shelf for galletas (cookies), but they were cleared out and long gone by the afternoon.  I have a craving for those kinds of cookies. I was a little upset.  They had all kinds of natural beans, the kind that have to be rinsed overnight and pressure cooked, and a whole shelf of authentic Mexican spices. 

It wasn't like the King's Market that has everything.  El Bolson was a small Mexican store with no produce, only things that would store easily and last for months at a time.

As I walk into the Mexican store, heads turn.  I hear them saying something in Spanish about white people.  I feel the need to talk, and so I say, "Hola, como estas?" Hello, how are you?  They say "bien" which means good, and they leave me alone so that I can do my shopping.

I'll be honest with you.  All I want is the candy.  After we have walked through the entire store, we stop at the candy isle.  All the candy looks so good, I think I've died and gone to Mexican Candy Heaven (if there is such a place).

 MY STASH

This one is caramel and milk.  This is a circular piece of cajeta, which is just a fancy name for caramel, and then it's milk.  The outside of it is white edible substance on either side and the center is chewy caramelly goodness.

The back of the package had this corny looking "Super Lion."  Oh boy, what fun.

Duvalin is basically a fancy kind of wrapped frosting.  Frosting can be a candy; it's pretty sweet. The pink ones are pink and white frosting, and the brown ones are the chocolate and white frosting.  They are smooth in texture.  Dip your finger in and eat them, and yes, it is that good.

This is what the back side of Duvalin looks like.  It's delicious.  A funny story, the lady at the cash register tried to tell me $1 for the Duvalin, and I thought that was unusually expensive.  What she was trying to say is that you can get 4 for $1.  The man behind the register knew enough English to say 4 for a $1.  I had Nicole go back and pick up a few more.  Of course some of the Duvalin were ate on the way home.

Vero Mango took me back to my childhood.  We used to eat pico like crack cocaine, and as a child, I was really addicted to pico. Vero Mango is basically a mango lollipop that is covered with a spice tamarind based flavoring.  The tamarind is a little bit spicy and it is also rough in the mouth.  For someone that is not used to unprocessed sugars, this sweet might start off a little unsettling.  Once the layer of tamarind is gone, the center of the lollipop is satisfyingly sweet.

This is the back of Vera Mango.  It is brown from the tamarind powder.  It's shaped a little fruity.  Believe me, this will be a little spicy and rough on the outside and smooth and sweet on the inside.  These are a must have experience.  I strongly recommend them.

This Limonazo is in the form of a powder or a salt.  It's a salty sour candy.  What a person will do is push the safety top open and pour it into the palm of the hand and lick it off (that's the best way).  It's extremely tart.  I could not bring myself to like this.  I don't recommend it at all.  You must really and truly embrace sour to like Limonazo.

This one is Olla Picocha and it is enchilada flavored.  It won all kinds of awards.  It has the very popular tamarind flavor with a whole lot of sweetness. I really do like this one.  Most Mexican cooking is very bland.  I expect anything from Mexico to have a blandness.  This candy defies what is regular.  Olla Picocha is spicy and sweet.  It comes in a little jar, and it lasts a long time.  This is most definitely the Mexican candy to buy.

Olla Picocha comes in a little plastic wrapper.  Once the wrapper is removed, the jar can be opened.  That's how this product is packaged.  I'm impressed with this particular candy.

I think one of the neighbor kids stole one of the candies.  The little chocolate one somehow disappeared.  I was a little bit mad, freakin' kids... I picked up one of the Pulparindo candies and it was the Chamoy flavor.  When I think of chamoy, I think of jalapeno peppers and hot and spicy substances.  This chamoy candy didn't taste like chamoy; it tasted to me like coffee.  I realize that chamoy is Latin American/Caribbean origin so I expect that, but I did not expect coffee flavor.  It was fabulous, my favorite.  The chamoy tasted rich, and I liked it.  I will be buying more of those chamoy candies in the near future.  The last candy was watermelon and it was just nasty, enough said.  The best thing about Mexican candy is that you never know what to expect.  I encourage everyone to try this at least once.  It takes me back to my childhood.  I was then and am now still truly addicted to the Mexican candy.

Waffle LOVE

https://www.facebook.com/wafflelovestgeorge/timeline
http://waffluv.com/stgeorge/

Everyone in Southern Utah is talking about the recent food truck businesses that have been popping up everywhere, especially in particular the breakfast food truck, Waffle LOVE.  I like waffles, don't get me wrong, but I'm not a bread person.  I'm more of a fresh fruits and veggies kind of person.  Everyone in the town has been bragging that this truck is the most amazing and sells the best breakfast waffles.  Generally, since there is one truck, they start off in St. George, which is a larger metropolitan area, and stay there for the breakfast crowd.  Once they've hit all the major businesses and areas in St. George, they make their way to Cedar City, and stay there the remainder of the day.  Cedar has a loyal college crowd, and boy do the college kids ever love waffles?  My goodness. . .  I've never saw people go so crazy over a food truck.  I must check it out.

Yesterday, around lunch time, sure enough the waffle truck was there.  We pulled over to Ace Hardware parking lot where there was a large crowd gathered outside.  There were three or four food trucks selling food.  The line was fairly long.  We got in line and waited a good 10 to 15 minutes.  It better be good if I had to wait.  Well, we ordered the works, the waffle with fruit and cream.  It was $8.50, and then another $1 for any drink (milk, juice, water).  It's a little high for waffles.  I could cook an enormous batch of waffles with fruit and cream at home for much less, but it's an experience.  I'm not sure why people agree to pay that much for waffles unless it's exceptionally good.  I give the guy a $10 for the works and a drink, and he's so brain dead, he gives me $1 back when it was supposed to be fifty cents back.  I'm not sure why he gave me so much change back.  I was not expecting it.  I wasn't going to take his money.  I just put the dollar in for a tip.  Note -- the tip jar was over flowing with dollar bills.

The bone thin college girl in front of us orders a waffle with strawberries, raspberries, and nutella.  When the waffle comes out, I realize it's just a small hand sized waffle.  It looks like one of those re-heated wheat Eggo waffles.  It wasn't Eggo -- he had the batter and was mixing it and turning the waffles. It's more brown in color and more stiff in stature.  Waffles are supposed to have a little bit of crisp, not like a dog biscuit, and not floppy like a noodle, just a harder texture on the outside, softer, but not doughy on the inside.  I'm very particular about the way a waffle is cooked.  It has to be just right.  This guy might not have had a brain cell in his head, but he cooked damn good waffles.  He nailed it.  The waffle was cooked just right.  The fruit was all fresh, nothing canned.  The cream was not spray.  He used the Cool Whip, thick and creamy type.  We ordered milk for a side and it was Organic whole milk (not bad for $1).

 

It was served like this.  There was a light weight small cardboard rectangular shaped plate with this: waffle, Biscotti sauce, fruit, and cream. When I looked at the waffle, it had an interesting component.  I've never in my life ever heard of Biscotti sauce.  I'm not sure where one would acquire this particular kind of liquid.  It's a lot like Mexican Cajeta Sauce, a caramel texture.  It's most likely the same kind of sauce.  It tastes like caramel to me.  So first they set down the waffle.  Next, they cover it in Biscotti sauce (Cajeta Sauce?), and then, they cover it with fruit, in our case fresh strawberries.  Finally they weigh it down with the heavy cream.  
I thought to myself, "Well, that's an odd way to pile on ingredients.  Wouldn't you want to put the cream on first, and then put the berries on top?  Cream is alright, but personally, I'm all about the berries..."  Then I thought about how windy it is here at times, and wouldn't it be a tragedy to lose some of those wonderful berries blown away in the wind?  Then I thought, "Well, if they had a closed top container, they wouldn't lose any berries!"  A closed top container would most likely be Styrofoam.  I think the environmentalists here would have a fit if they saw some non-biodegradable product to be served on.  I guess they are scoring points with the environmentally conscious for serving on biodegradable cardboard surface opposed to Styrofoam.

Overall, I honestly was a little disappointed.  I was mostly disappointed with the price.  I could go home and make my whole family waffles for what Waffle LOVE charges for 1 waffle.  It was just ridiculous.  It's for someone who doesn't like to cook, doesn't have their own kitchen,  wants something fast and easy that tastes amazing, and just wants an exceptionally good waffle.  For me, I'm a family person.  I would invite everyone over for waffles, and get more of a thrill off of having my family around.  I was peeved about the price.  The Corn Dog truck had about the same amount of business, and they were selling corn dogs for under a dollar. I don't care for corn dogs, but I think they were more reasonable price wise.  Again, you get what you pay for.  I think I would rather give the money up and get what I wanted, which is the waffle truck, of course.  The waffle truck cannot be a routine at ten dollars a day times thirty days a month, the waffle truck would be a three hundred dollar a month habit.  No way am I spending three hundred dollars a month on waffles.  The price is discouraging, but the waffles are exceptional.