Health News
Snack It Up: National Popcorn Day
As one of my all-time favorite snacks, I was just slightly excited to find out that popcorn will be celebrated this month on January 19, deemed National Popcorn Day by foodies across the country. And according to the stats, Americans consume 17 million quarts of popcorn annually -- whoa, that's a lot -- meaning that clearly we don't need an a day dedicated to popcorn in order to enjoy its deliciousness.
However, now that I have a legit excuse to indulge in new kinds of kernels, it got me thinking about where to get it in the city. While I normally pop my own (or buy some packages of Trader Joe's 110-calorie bags of Kettle Corn, there are, of course, experts who do popcorn better than anyone in NYC.
For best-of popcorn in New York City, a few establishments I came across in my search are Garrett Popcorn Shops at 1 Penn Plaza (around Herald Square and other locations throughout the borough), The Hampton Popcorn Company located on the Upper East Side or street vendor Kettle Corn NYC after a day of ice skating at The Pond at Bryant Park.
Be wary of your popcorn consumption, though -- not all of the popped stuff is created equal. One cup of air-popped has about 31 calories, while the same amount of oil-popped has about 64 calories. Not bad, but when you get into the designer popcorn, kettle corn has about 120 calories per cup, and movie theater butter popcorn has anywhere upwards of 170 calories per cup. When in doubt, indulge in a cup of your favorite kind, and supplement the rest of your snack with a cup of air-popped. If you're watching sodium levels, also be careful not to dump the entire shaker onto your snack to add flavor -- if you're looking for something sweet, add a small amount of cinnamon sugar to your popcorn. If you're in need of a savory snack, try a bit of garlic powder or garlic salt.
Credit: www.seriouseats.com
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