(I couldn’t resist the pun.) My family loves popcorn, and not the microwave variety, so I store buckets of it. Popcorn is a good source of carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and manganese. Popcorn is great for food storage because it can be prepared and enjoyed in a variety of ways including being ground into a flour. To make the flour, place popped popcorn into a blender and blend until it resembles flour. A medium texture takes about 20 seconds, but continue blending about 40 – 50 seconds for fine ground. During World War II, when wheat was in short supply, people combined popcorn flour (25%) and wheat flour (75%) to use in their recipes. Blended grains are nutritious and create a nice combination of flavors. Here is a fun recipe using popcorn flour from www.easyfunschool.com . (I’ve included conversion information so you can use your food storage items.):
GRANOLA MUFFINS
1/2 c. medium-ground popcorn flour
1/2 c. granola
1 1/4 c. unsifted all-purpose flour
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 c. milk (3 T. powdered dry milk + 1 c. water)
1 egg, beaten
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. finely chopped apple (or reconstituted dried apples)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray or line with paper cups. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Blend lemon juice, milk, egg and melted butter. Then stir in chopped apples. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and stir until well moistened. Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full. Bake for 22-25 minutes.
For a bunch of popcorn recipe ideas I never would have considered, check out this fun site. Also, I posted one of my favorite family recipes for Honey Popcorn here.