The best popcorn machine is probably different for everyone, but a home popcorn machine is something that many people are adding to their entertainment rooms.  There is nothing better than watching a movie and snacking on some popcorn.  This is why the movie industry is so popular, but when it costs $50 for tickets and popcorn for two people it is hard to justify spending that amount of money in these economic times.  Many people are turning to their own home and building entertainment rooms so they do not have to leave to enjoy the same experience.

Popcorn machines are an important part of this experience.  Not only the popcorn popper itself, but the way it is made is very important.  You must have the right blend of oil, flavoring and seasoning in order for your popcorn to be like authentic theater popcorn.  I for one find anything less is a poor comparison.  Home entertainment rooms are not the only place suited for a popcorn machine.

Parties are perfect times to have a great snack on hand and popcorn definitely falls into this category.  There are many places that offer popcorn machine rental and you can have a nice popcorn popper on hand for your event.  Everyone loves popcorn (or they should if they knew what was good for them) and having some on hand would be a big hit.  I don’t know any entertainment place that you can go and visit that does not offer popcorn.  Theme parks, movies, zoos, and bars all offer popcorn from nice big commercial popcorn machines.

Of course the home popcorn machine does not have to be a huge commercial one.  In fact there are many different sizes and styles to suit any-one’s needs.  You can get an antique popcorn machine, or at least one that looks antique, to give you that nostalgic feeling every time you walk in the room.  There are popcorn machine carts that actually have working wheels so you are able to put the machine anywhere you like in the room or home.  You can even use it for outdoor use for your BBQ’s, just wheel it out there!

Popcorn machine supplies will be very important to have on hand if you have a machine.  You will need a scoop, some popcorn bags or popcorn boxes to contain this yummy snack, seasoning, salt, oils and even cleaner to clean your machine when you are done using it.  It will take a special degreaser to get all that oily goodness off the glass.

Remember that a popcorn machine isn’t just for the movie theater anymore.  You can have authentic movie theater popcorn at home if you just follow some simple suggestions contained in this website.  Add a new popcorn machine to your home today!

Let's talk about my least favorite of the popcorn poppers, but by and far the most healthiest of popcorn machine options, the air popcorn popper.  Air popcorn poppers are designed to pop your popcorn by forced air high heat alone without the help of any oils.  Obviously this is the healthier of the two choices, but also the least tasty!  Leaving that point aside for now (but it is hard to ignore), let us look at the benefits of hot air popcorn poppers.

So what makes an air popcorn popper so popular amongst dieters?  The fact that popcorn, cooked without the oil, is a healthy low calorie high fiber snack.  The dieters ultimate dream (besides chocolate and ice cream suddenly becoming healthy!).  There are of course different brands of air popcorn poppers and they all have their pros and cons.  Having tested out a few, against my better judgement, I do have some insight to pass along and I would love to do that now.  Maybe after reading this you can make your own decision about whether hot air popcorn poppers are for you.

If you do not use a popcorn machine to air pop your popcorn, it is important to note that you will want to eat it right away as the popcorn does have a tendency to get soggy.  Nobody wants soggy popcorn!  Popcorn pops best at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Yes you can air pop your popcorn yourself, but it is much more difficult and easy to burn the popcorn this way so I would recommend getting your self a hot air popcorn popper.  Hot air popcorn poppers tend to pop every last kernel without burning so this is a definite plus.

Some air poppers have a butter warmer attached so while you are popping the corn you can melt your butter to drizzle over the finished product if you so choose.  In my opinion this makes the air popped corn a little more palatable but also less healthy.  Remember that butter is pure fat, not so good for the diet!

Of course that are many seasonings that you can add to your air popped popcorn and a lot of those have negligible calories so are good for your diet, but remember to check the sodium because artificial seasonings are usually HIGH in sodium, not so good for your blood pressure.  Of course many of us will need just about as much butter, salt and seasoning one can throw at a bowl of popcorn just to eat it if it has been popped in an air popcorn popper.  The secret to good popcorn truly is popping it in oil, but listening to that sort of advice might just clog your arteries so you have to make a decision here...air popcorn poppers or oil!

Going to the movies is a favorite past time for a lot of people, including me!  I love all types of movies and I particularly love the whole experience.  The smell, the sights, the sounds and the flavor are all part of the joy of movie going.  Of course these days I don’t get to go as often because money is tight so I joined Netflix and sit at home to watch some motion pictures, the talkies!  The one things I miss the most though is the movie theater popcorn.  Even though every time I bought it I silently wept at having to turn over $5 or $6 on a bag of popcorn, I couldn’t help myself.  I love that stuff!  Now that I am pinching pennies and watching most of my movies at home I have been searching for a way to recreate that theater popcorn taste out of my own popcorn machine with not much success.

Until now…Hang on to your hats because you are about to learn the secret to theater popcorn at home.  You don’t need to break the bank on a theater popcorn popper, NO!  The secret to real theater popcorn is a combination of a few simple tricks and products.  None that will break the bank and all will certainly save you money over the expensive popcorn at the movies.

First you need a popcorn popper that will rotate the popcorn kernels evenly.  A Whirly Popper does just the trick although you are the one doing the rotating, it is not automatic.  The other option you will want your popper to have is ventilators at the top.  This allows for your popcorn to stay crunchy and not all soggy by allowing the moisture that builds up to escape.  Very important!

The next part of the secret is the oil you use in your popcorn machine.  Theater popcorn uses coconut oil.  Yep that’s right, good ole’ coconut oil.  This oil is more expensive then the vegetable oil you have probably been using, but it is the number one trick to use if you want real movie theater popcorn.

The last and most important thing, beside the coconut oil, is to add flavoring.  That’s right, those people at the theater add flavoring to their popcorn.  Now be careful because there are a ton of different flavorings that claim to be the one that tastes just like movie popcorn, but unless it is call Flavacol then they are not telling the truth!  Flavacol is the one that is actually sold to movie theaters so it makes sense that this is the one to use.  You can usually find it at places like Gordon Foods and it will last you FOREVER.  It is pretty cheap too so that is cool.

Believe it or not, but popcorn machines have been around for approximately 4,000 years.  Obviously they have evolved (unlike most of us) considerably since then.  Today the popcorn machine uses electricity, oil or air to heat and pop batches of kernels.  Alternatively you can even make popcorn in the microwave.

We can thank the Native Americans of the southwest for the first ever popcorn machine.  They discovered that a certain type of corn would pop when it was heated to a high enough temperature and although their "popcorn maker" was basically just a bunch of fine sand they would heat in the fire and then add the kernels to it, it was technically the beginning for the modern day popcorn popper.  Eventually many cultures picked up on the concept of popcorn and devised many different ways to pop the kernels, some even dipping the whole cob in boiling animal fat.  YUK!

By the 1600's popcorn had become a common household snack.  With its increased popularity, the race was on to see who would be the one to come up with an easier way to make it.  Being the metal workers of the day, blacksmiths were the first people to come up with a concept that moved the revolution of popcorn machines closer to what we know today.  The popcorn popper they designed was a metal cone that was threaded to a metal spit that would rotate over a fire to prevent the kernels from burning.

The world's first mobile popcorn machine cart was created Charles Cretor after the Chicago Columbian Exposition.  He attached his an old peanut roasting machine that he altered to cook popcorn to wheels and that was the first ever popcorn cart!  Eventually someone else beat Charles to the punch of selling the popcorn machine cart, with the first prices ranging between $400 and $1300.  Today some of the most popular popcorn machines with a cart are sold by Nostalgia Popcorn.  They look and remind one of the circus with their old fashioned popcorn machines.

Today the popcorn machine is much more convenient and easy to use.  The popcorn cart is not the cart of yesteryear, but still gives you a sense of bygone days.  In fact, using a popcorn machine with cart will allow you to have a vessel for making large quantities of popcorn at a time and a ease of use so you can move the machine where it is needed most!  There are many popcorn poppers today that are not attached to a cart, but still large and for home use which is very hand for those of us who are in love with popcorn!

Regardless of your preference for popcorn machines, you can definitely find one to suit your own needs, but consider a popcorn machine cart for your next family or business function.  They are fun and make a yummy snack that everyone loves!

So you have your awesome new popcorn machine, but now what?  Well now you need the supplies to go with it!  There is no sense spending good money on a movie theater popcorn machine and not have the supplies to go along with it.  Here is a list of some of the things that you will need to make your popcorn experience all it should be:

• Gourmet popcorn (yellow or white)
• Popcorn Boxes or Popcorn Buckets (I mean come on, it wouldn’t be like the movie theater without them!  Of course if you prefer a popcorn bowl then that is cool too!)
• Popcorn Seasoning
• Popcorn Butter (and not just the regular stick butter from home, you need the special blend they use at the movie theater!)
• Oil (now here is a little secret-what gives movie popcorn that special flavor that you can’t seem to recreate at home is coconut oil!)
• Popcorn scooper (a perforated one will allow for a lot of the kernels that didn’t pop to fall out and not end up in your bag)
• Salt (because is it really popcorn without the salt?  I know you are trying to watch your blood pressure, but you HAVE to have salt to bring out the butter taste!)
• De-Greaser (for cleaning the inside of the popcorn machine)

Supplies for your popcorn machine are just as important as the popcorn maker itself.  If you don’t skimp on this part then you will soon have the whole neighborhood over to watch movies and eat your popcorn.

Now, there are many different oils and seasonings for popcorn and there really isn’t one that is better than the other.  It is all a matter of taste, but if you really want that movie theater popcorn taste then you will need to use the coconut oil to pop your kernels in.  This is their secret, but now you all know so go out there and get some.  A lot of the supply companies will sell it so it is not hard to find.  Finding these supplies is much like finding the best coffee maker accessories, not very hard at all.  Just do a search on the Internet for popcorn machine supplies!

There are so many different types of popcorn seasoning that it makes this writer wonder who out there actually eats some of this stuff!  French onion, cheddar, cinnamon and sugar, garlic, Parmesan cheese (YUM!), etc etc and so forth.  Whatever your preference, you will be sure to find it in popcorn seasonings.  Myself I prefer just butter and salt thank you very much!

Popcorn supplies can begin to range on the pricey side so you want to make sure you do your research before buying anything.  Most things you can find a decent price and of course there are some things I suppose you could do without, but it is so much more fun to have all the bells and whistles.   Regardless, enjoy your new popcorn machine and LET THEM EAT POPCORN!