Rainbow Popcorn

Since Halloween is coming up pretty soon, I thought I'd post a few Halloween-ish recipes.  Most likely they'll be a lot of candy, popcorn, and pumpkins, but isn't that what this season's all about? :)

As a kid, my mom was really good about making sure there was a snack ready for us when we came home from school.  Of course (from what I can remember anyway) they were mainly homemade.  Now that I have a child in school, I appreciate just how hard it is to have a snack ready daily, let alone have it be homemade.  This was one of my favorite after school snacks.  I remember my favorite flavor being lime, or maybe thats just what my mom made, I don't know.

• 10 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 (3 ounce) pkg desired-flavor gelatin
• 3 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp light corn syrup

Remove all un-popped kernels from popped corn.  Place the popcorn in a greased 17"x12"x2" baking pan.  Keep popcorn warm in a 300° oven while making syrup mixture. 

 Butter the bottom and sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan.  In the pan combine butter or margarine, sugar, gelatin, water, and corn syrup.  Cook mixture over medium heat till boiling, stirring constantly.  Clip a candy thermometer to the side fo the pan.  Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly, till the thermometer registers 255° (hard-ball stage).  Pour syrup mixture over popcorn and stir gently to coat popcorn.  

Bake in a 300° oven for 5 minutes.  Stir once and bake for 5 minutes more.  Remove from oven.  Turn popcorn mixture onto a large piece of foil.  Cool completely.  Break popcorn mixture into clusters.  Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.  

Makes 13 (3/4 cup each ) servings

Julie R.

AG, CA