Too Much Popcorn

I wasn’t looking for a hobby. Somehow, this one found me.

Over 20 years ago, a friend wanted to try making kettle corn. We followed the standard instructions to do it on the stovetop - pot with a lid, oil, salt, kernels, sugar. It turned out pretty good despite being a little harrowing to cook on her partially functional apartment stove. Pretty good could be better though. You know what makes things better? Butter. Just ask any restaurant how they do it. That brought another difficulty though - butter is much more likely to burn at the tempratures popcorn need to pop. Popcorn needs 356°F to 390°F (180° C to 200° C) while butter’s smoke point (when it starts to burn) is 300°F - 350°F (150°C to 175°C). Pan and oil are suggested to heat to 400°F and 460°F (204° C to 238° C).

After 18 months and about 300 lbs of popcorn