This popcorn left me a little confused, and also made me think a little about what caramel corn actually is. The great insight I got from this caramel corn came from the flavour description “crunchy caramel”. When you think about caramel you don’t often think about crunch, instead soft and smooth tends to be the words that go through your head. The name of this treat reminded me that texture of the coating is important, and they totally nailed the wonderful caramel corn crunch.

The texture of this caramel corn was truly the highlight of the entire snack. Not only was the caramel nice and crunchy, but the popcorn was perfectly crunchy as well. Crunchy popcorn can be a challenge as when popcorn goes stale that crunch is often the first thing to go. Since crunchy was in the name, it was nice that they got it so right. Flavour wise however I was a little less impressed. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t measure up to the great crunch.

The problem with the flavour was two fold. Firstly it was a little more sweet and less caramel. That distinct burnt sugar flavour wasn’t as strong as I’d like in a caramel snack. The weirdest part however the aftertaste, it was almost bitter. I noticed that the ingredients say they used unsalted butter, and I think that might be the problem. A little more salt and a little stronger caramel flavour would make this an epic popcorn both in taste and texture.

The other weird thing about this popcorn is that it claims to be an “American Recipe”. While I appreciate the intent, I’d love to try a caramel corn using a Myanmar recipe instead (since that’s where this popcorn is made). There are so many great flavours in this country, including unique sugars and spices, so why not make something that’s truly local in flavour.