Snacks, popcorn, air-popped

Air-popped popcorn is made by heating kernels without added oil, so they puff into large, crisp, hollow flakes with a mild, toasty corn flavor rather than the richer taste of oil-popped or microwave versions. Its neutral base takes on seasoning easily, whether tossed with melted butter and salt, nutritional yeast, chili powder and lime, or a light spray of oil and grated Parmesan. Because each cup weighs only about 8 g, a large bowl provides a lot of volume and crunch for relatively little food by weight, which is part of why it's a common snack for movie nights and casual eating, and why recipes often call for several quarts at once.

Store air-popped popcorn in an airtight container at room temperature, since it goes stale and loses its crispness quickly once exposed to air. Per 100 g, it has 387 calories, 12.9 g of protein, and 14.5 g of fiber, which is 52% of the Daily Value for fiber, an unusually high figure for a snack food; it also supplies 34% DV of magnesium and 18% DV of iron per 100 g. Because a cup weighs only about 8 g, an actual bowlful delivers a small fraction of these per-100 g figures, so the bulk and crunch come from air rather than from a heavy calorie load.