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Pop Corn Balls

A sweet treat made by coating popped corn with a molasses-sugar-butter mixture and forming into balls.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Pop Corn Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine molasses, sugar, vinegar, and butter in a large pot.

  2. Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches a soft ball stage.

Coat and shape

  1. Remove from heat and pour over the popped corn in a large bowl.

  2. Stir well to coat the popcorn evenly.

  3. Allow to cool slightly, then shape into balls with your hands.

  4. Let the balls cool completely before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + corntop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds deep sweetness and a sticky body that binds the popcorn together.
Sugar
Sweetens the mixture and, when cooked, sets firm as it cools.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that helps keep the cooked syrup from crystallizing.
Butter
Adds fat for smooth texture and a rich flavor to the coating.
Popped corn
Forms the bulk of the balls and holds the syrup coating.

The step that matters

Cook to the soft ball stage. Syrup cooked too little stays runny and the balls won't hold their shape; cooked too far it turns hard and brittle. Reaching the soft ball stage gives a chewy set as it cools.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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