Pop Art Popcorn

Pop Art makes one of my favorite snacks: popcorn, in a slew of interesting flavors.  Their tag line is "Popcorn is the canvas that we paint with bold flavors", and they mean it: there is not a single boring flavor available, no simple butter, salt, or even kettle corn.  Instead savory options come from cuisines around the globe, like thai coconut curry, tandoori yogurt, and nori sesame.  Less adventurous savory choices are rosemary truffle or white cheddar jalapeno.  They dance the sweet and savory divide with options like honey caramel & feta or chipotle caramel & cheddar.  Seasonal options include gingerbread caramel.  Bold concepts, for sure.

The popcorn is individually bagged, good for portion control for those of us who have, uh, popcorn problems.  Sadly, portion control was not needed, as I didn't like any of these.

White Pepper Parmesan.

"White Pepper is the dried ripened fruit of the Piper nigrum. We import it from Indonesia and take these white berries and grind them into a fine powder. This powder has a sharp penetrating aroma and a spicy, biting flavor. The rich and nutty taste of Parmesan cheese is a mild addiction of ours. We cover our salads, pastas and vegetables with this delicious cheese. It made mouth watering sense to use it in our popcorn as well. The symphonic blend of pepper spice and creamy Parmesan make this popcorn a fan favorite to all those that try it."

This certainly sounded like something that should deliver some reasonable flavor, from both the white pepper and the parmesan.  However ... the flavor was barely noticeable.  It was very plain popcorn, with a slight, slight cheesy-ness.

White Cheddar Jalepeño.

"For those that like a little spice in their life our White Cheddar Jalapeño Popcorn will satisfy the craving of both the addict for heat and the lover of mild spice.  The hickory flavor of the jalapeño with the smooth creaminess of the white cheddar is the first taste in your mouth.  As you chew and swallow, the spice burn starts to build and pretty soon you will find yourself stuffing handfuls of this addictive deliciousness into your mouth.  This zesty south of the border creation goes great with a cold cerveza or fresh squeezed lemonade. " 

This one at least had flavor.  I didn't taste the white cheddar really, but the jalapeño was certainly there.  I didn't like it, at all.

It was spicy, but just not in a good way.  I don't know how else to describe it, but I just really didn't like the flavor.  I tried several handfuls trying to understand it better, but just never cared for it.

Thai Coconut Curry.

"We often find ourselves dreaming about the beaches of Thailand.  We want to spend months there lying around soaking up the beautiful atmosphere and flavors.  When we realize we can’t do that right now, we head to our favorite Thai restaurant and order platters of Spicy noodles, Tom Kha soups and panang curry.  Our Thai Coconut Curry Popcorn will bring you back to your favorite Thai restaurant or if you are lucky enough to have been,  your favorite beach in Thailand.  This exotic blend of spices like turmeric, cumin coriander, paprika, cardomom and cinnamon, infused with a smooth and creamy touch of coconut milk, creates a popcorn loaded with flavor and a bright orange curry color.  We cut back on the cayenne (the heat) in this curry blend to make this a flavorful savory deliciousness with a hint of coconut sweetness.  Recommended for those that dream of Thai flavors and beaches."

This one I really, really did not like.  Curry on popcorn just did not work for me.  I like to think that I'm open to all sorts of popcorn flavors, and I was excited by this as a savory option, but, yeah, no.  I also didn't taste any coconut.  This one wasn't even fascinating enough to encourage a second bite.