In addition to movie-watching (or movie award show-watching), gourmet popcorn goes well with cocktails, wine and beer.

Don’t like cheese or rosemary? Head to Popcorn.org, the website of the The Popcorn Board, for scores of flavored popcorn recipes.

The recipes yield four quarts of flavored popcorn: 16 one-cup servings (or for our family, four one-quart servings).

We made these recipes with imported Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese because we love the superior flavor; but you can use domestic Parmesan.

You’ll get better flavor if you grate it freshly, rather than buy pre-grated (and please, nothing from a can!).

Here’s the difference between the imported and domestic versions.

Brighten up cheese popcorn with some rosemary. Photo courtesy Popcorn.org.

Ingredients For 4 Quarts

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the popcorn in a large serving bowl.

2. MIX the butter, olive oil and rosemary together in a small bowl; microwave 20 seconds to melt butter. Stir the butter mixture and pour over the popcorn; toss. Sprinkle the cheese, garlic salt and pepper over the popcorn.

3. TOSS again and serve.

Ingredients For 16 One-Cup Servings

 
Preparation

1. PLACE popcorn in a large serving bowl. Sprinkle popcorn with hot sauce, Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.

2. TOSS and serve immediately.

It’s a pleasant surprise: home-popped popcorn is one of the healthiest snacks you can enjoy.

It’s full of polyphenols, antioxidants that help to neutralize the free radicals that contribute to aging. In fact, popcorn has one of the highest levels of polyphenols of any plant food.

It’s also a whole grain, packed with fiber. If you use just a little butter or cheese, you’re adding a bit of cholesterol; but it’s just as easy to skip the cheese, use olive oil, and pile on lots of herbs and spices.

Note that prepackaged, store-bought microwave popcorn is less good for you, made with chemicals and synthetics for flavoring and coloring.

So pop it yourself—it’s easy enough! You can also make the following recipe without oil; but the amount we use is neglible. For an interesting twist, experiment with other oils you may have on hand: nut oils, sesame oil, etc.
 

RECIPE #3: EASY MICROWAVE POPCORN

Ingredients For 3 Cups

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the popcorn and oil in a bowl and mix to coat. Add to bag and sprinkle in the salt. Fold the top of the bag over twice to seal in the ingredients.

2. MICROWAVE on full power for 2-1/2 to 3 minutes, listening until you hear pauses of 2-3 seconds between pops and remove the bag from the microwave. (Even though there may be some unpopped kernels, to continue cooking risks burning the popped kernels.)

3. OPEN the bag carefully, releasing the hot steam; then pour into a serving bowl.