Howl'n Good Specialty Popcorn

It is time.

Finally.

Time for me to introduce you to my all time favorite munchie.  You know how much I love my snacks,  and in particular, popcorn.  And this ... this is the best of all.

Let me introduce you to the glory of Howl'n Good Speciality Popcorn.  A popcorn maker, based in Lebanon, NH, my hometown.  In the summer, you can find them at farmer's markets in the area, making hot and fresh kettle corn on site, selling massive bags, with fresh squeezed lemonade to go alongside.  The aroma as they make it fresh permeates the surrounding area.  You cannot NOT go buy a bag.

Or, in my case, but many bags, vacuum seal them, and stash them in your freezer.  Because, as much as I love the smell of the hot, fresh kettle corn, it turns out, I like it much, much better frozen.  It gets crispier, the flavors pop more ... I just adore it.  And, you can store it this way basically forever.

All. The. Popcorn.

At the farmer's markets, Howl'n Good sells only on variety, classic kettle corn, but they also produce a wide range of flavors, from simple to spicy to plenty of sweet offerings.  Some are available in a handful of stores around town (like the Marsh Brothers Deli at the Little Store, which I've reviewed before) and at the holidays, you can order direct.

Update Review, December 2022

When I visited my family for the holidays this year, my mother stocked up on Howl'n popcorn for me.  She wasn't able to get it from them directly, as they didn't do a holiday popup this year, but they do stock it in three places places around town, rather odd assortment: the hospital gift shop, a random hardware store, and a sandwich shop (that is actually incredible Marsh Brothers Deli, which I've reviewed before).  So she went to them to see what flavors she could find.  

They didn't have any sweet flavors besides the kettle corn, and she vaguely remembered me not loving the others, but still got them anyway.  I was still happy to try them again, to see if my opinions had changed at all (they didn't really).  But the kettle corn was glorious as ever.

Garlic Parmesan.

I remembered not really caring for this one before, but I still tried it again.

I again wasn't a fan.  The garlic was quite strong, and although I use garlic in all my cooking and certainly like garlic, I just didn't care for it on my popcorn.  It just had a bit of a harsh, raw taste to me.  *+.  But my mom still enjoyed it, and she's a garlic lover.

Sour Cream & Chive.

Another flavor I had previously not really loved, but still tried again.

I liked it more this time, mainly due to the fact that it seemed much better coated.  Lots of sour cream powder, decent herby nature from chives.  It reminded me a bit of the powdered sour cream and onion powdery coating on Auntie Anne's pretzels.  I still would pick other flavors over this one, but it was pleasant enough.  ***.

Original Review, 2020 - 2021 Tastings

The Christmas of 2020, I was at my parent's house for a prolonged escape from Covid city life, and let's just say ... we went a little crazy ordering all the flavors available.

Classics

For those who prefer the simple classics, Howl'n has a few options for you, such as the "Simply Popcorn", which is just lightly salted, the aforementioned kettle corn, and a Movie Theater (aka buttered) version.

Of these, I've only ever had the kettle, but I've been devouring it for ... years at this point.  The business has even changed hands during my years of fandom, but I remain loyal.  I always stock up on kettle corn when I visit in both the summer and winter, and really, truly, fly back to San Francisco with an extra suitcase full of it, just to throw into my chest freezer.  I know this sounds crazy, but ... I just have never found any kettle corn that even rivals it.

Kettle.

Kettle corn.  The classic.  This is what they sell at the farmer's market, this is what I first fell in love it.  This may look like a very large bag, but, um, if I'm not careful, I can take down one of these in a night.  No question.

There is something magical about this kettle corn.  It strikes that perfect balance of sweet and salty.  Ok, really, it is probably *horrible* for me, as the salt level is over the top, as is the sweetness from the lightly candied pieces, but they play off each other in a way that just makes it downright addicting.  As my mouth gets overwhelmed by salt, I hunt for more sugar coated pieces to balance it out, and then, once I feel it getting too sweet, it is back to the salty ones. On repeat.  Until the bag is gone. 

The kernels are always perfectly popped, the candied pieces are super crispy, and it just adds up to being pure glory.  And addiction.  Total and complete addition.  I am powerless against this.

The best kettle corn, I've ever had.  No question.

*****.

Savory

If sweet and salty kettle corn is not your thing, Howl'n Good makes a number of savory options, ranging from mild to cheesy to fairly spicy.  These you must order specially around the holidays, or find around town.

Chip/Dip Flavored

I made up this category name, but, Howl'n makes an assortment of flavors that are the flavors of, well, usually potato chips and/or dips.  Savory, salty bases, with some kinds of spices. 

We tried a few from this category, but I choose to skip the ranch - always my sister's thing, and one I'm still ... skittish of, because of her extreme love (and over-usage) of ranch, that has just left me, uh, ranch averse?  We tried all the others though, perfect to munch on when you somehow don't want the sweet component, or want to serve alongside your lunch.

Salt and Vinegar.

First up, a very classic potato chip: salt and vinegar.

This one just messed with my head.  Yes, um, it was salt and vinegar.  Common flavor in chips, but, sooo different to have as popcorn, I'm not sure why.  The salt level was high.  The acid level was high.  It was not crazy intense, but certainly not mild.  

I couldn't ever figure out if I liked this one or not.  Mostly it just fascinated me.

***, glad to try it, but I probably wouldn't get it again.

Sour Cream and Chive.

Next up, Sour Cream and Chive, or, you know, slightly grown up sour cream and onion, which, at one point in my life, was a variety of chip I liked.  This popcorn was a ... very, very, very mild flavor.

I could tell it was a savory popcorn, as it did not have the kettle corn underlying it, but the sour cream and chive flavors were very muted.  The little bits of parsley and chives visible made me at least *think* chive, and herbs, but I can't say I tasted it at all.  Same with the sour cream, I could tell there was a powder coating, but, I didn't taste much if any.

The popcorn was well popped, fresh, but, just not much going on here.

**.  I wouldn't get again.

Spicy

While kettle corn is still my goto, sometimes I love a spicy popcorn just to mix it up, and Howl'n has a few in this category.  I tried both.

Sriracha.

First up, the most popular spicy condiment these days: sriracha.

The sriracha one took me by surprise.  No, not because it was crazy hot, but because the base is ... kettle corn.  Yes, sugar (and salt) coated kettle corn.  I was not expecting the sweet element. At all.  I thought this would be just spicy!

Once I realized it was a kettle corn base, I did like it - lightly spicy from the hot sauce, a savory element from garlic powder, and, well, sweet kettle corn.

The savory elements were very lightly applied, so this was a lighter style overall - a hint of everything, not a glazed/heavily coated flavor.

I liked it, found it quite munchable, but it did take an expectation re-set.

***.

Buffalo Bleu Cheese.

Next up, not a light offering.  The buffalo bleu cheese.

This one my mom picked.  I adore buffalo things (not wings, but, well, everything else, as in, the sauce and veggies and dippers!), but am pretty fickle when it comes to bleu cheese, so I was apprehensive about this one.  Still, it looked awesome, incredibly well coated.

The buffalo flavor was good.  I liked that.  But ... yeah, the bleu cheese, for me, just not a winner.  I think the popcorn undernearth it all was classic kettle corn too, and I'm not opposed to sweet and savory, but the sweet + buffalo + bleu cheese was very muddled for me, and I just really wasn't a fan.

Mom polished off the bag with no problem though!

*+, overall not for me.

Cheesy

And then there are days where you want cheesy fingers.  You know what I mean.  Like when you eat a bag of cheese puffs, and then gloriously suck all that powdered remains from your fingers like a child?

For these days, Howl'n has several options, two of which are cheddar: White Cheddar or Windy City Cheddar.  What is the difference?  I wanted to know too, so I e-mailed the owner to ask.  He told me, "The Windy City is an orange cheddar that is made with an extra cup of the cheese."  So, white cheddar is, uh, white cheddar, and Windy City is orange cheddar, and cheesier.  They also make a garlic parmesan, if you prefer a more "grown up" cheese.

Windy City Cheddar.

I opted for the Windy City Cheddar over the white cheddar.

This is classic cheddar popcorn.  The kind that gets your fingers totally coated in orange powder, and you love it.  The kind that you scarf, and then realize how gross you feel.  And the kind that the bag, the tub, whatever vessel it came in, gets depleted way, way, way too fast.  And you may have regrets.  But you love it at the time.

Wait, this doesn't happen to you?  Heh.

I really liked this one, and was glad I picked the Windy City Cheddar instead of the White Cheddar.

Really well coated in cheese, extremely cheesy, and just, well, good.  Very cheesy, very savory. Interestingly, in addition to the cheddar coating, there is some blue cheese in there, which luckily I didn't detect.  And buttermilk and whey, which I'm sure added to the lovely creamy coating.  (And, of course, yellow #x, y, and z!).

****, very good, but, best in moderation.  You've been warned.

Update Review (2021): I read my previous review of this popcorn with a bit of disbelief.  Um, I don't really care for cheddar popcorn/puffs in general.  Why did I like this so much?  I had to try it again.

And ... I again, LOVED it.  Soooooo cheesy, but, I like it.   But warning, this is a heavy popcorn, and it sits that way.  ****.  Again, you've been warned!

White Cheddar.

The next year, in addition to the Windy City Cheddar, I also got the white cheddar, to compare side by side.

It was definitely a more mild option, but still quite cheesy.  It didn't feel quite as heavy, and clearly didn't leave my fingers covered in orange.  The flavor was much like Smartfood, but the kernels were much better popped and fluffier.

I find this one better in terms of not making me feel sick if I eat too much, but also not quite as addicting.  

***+.

Garlic Parmesan.

My mother picked this one.

She's a bit of a garlic lover.  By which I mean, she loves garlic, so of course she picked this one.  I like garlic, but wasn't as excited by it as she was.

For me, it was ... ok.  The garlic flavor wasn't really there at first, but it came through on the finish.  There was some light cheesiness, but parmesan isn't really the type of cheesy I like.  

Fine, but kinda boring for me.

I only enjoyed this when I was really in the mood for 1) mildly savory and 2) cheesy, which, just isn't often.

***, but my mom was glad to finish it off.

Sweet

And then, the sweet popcorns.  Chocolate lovers can pick from chocolate glazed on its own, to mixed with strawberry or caramel.  Caramel lovers can go for caramel glazed, the aforementioned caramel and chocolate mix, or, mixed with apple, aka, Caramel Apple.  During certain times of year they also ofer a red hot cinnamon, but I have yet to get my hands on that.

Many of the sweet varieties use kettle corn as the base, so they are not simply sweet, but sweet and salty.

Chocolate Glazed.

I started with the basic chocolate glazed, not wanting to mix flavors, to really evaluate the chocolate flavor on its own.

It was, well, standard kettle corn, sweet and salty, with a chocolate glaze, with cocoa powder in the mix with the sugar coating.  Somehow in my mind I was picturing a more decadent popcorn, *drizzled* not glazed, but I'm not sure where I got that idea from.

It was fine, but not very chocolately.  When I want chocolate popcorn, I tend to want very, very coated/covered popcorn, like the pieces in Harry & David's signature Moose Munch popcorn.  Or perhaps a mild one like the Dark Chocolate and Himalayan Sea Salt from Lesser Evil, if I'm in the mood for a healthier version.

So this was fine, and it was as advertised, glazed, not coated.

***.

Chocolate Strawberry.

I wanted to try a fruity flavor, and since it wasn't available individually, I had to go for the mix of chocolate and strawberry, always a great pairing.

The chocolate was the same as the unmixed, except that it was not kettle corn base, no salty element.

The strawberry was really, really interesting.  One of the most flavorful and intense varieties of popcorn I tried, incredibly fruity, and it too was not kettle corn, no salt.  Artificial flavor, and red #40, nothing more, but it was intensely fruity (although not necessary "strawberry").   Very candied.  It reminded me of a candied apple, bright red, and overkill on the sugar.  I liked it.  But you really had to be in the mood for candied popcorn.

I wasn't necessarily into the mix, but I liked picking through it, when in the mood for chocolate going for the most intensely chocolate pieces hiding in there, and when in the mood for sweet, the strawberry, and balancing it all out with the lesser coated pieces in-between.

Really a unique flavor, and, when in the mood for a well-coated, sweet and fruity treat, this certainly delivered.

And yes, best frozen!

****, but only when in the mood.

Caramel Glazed.

And finally, the caramel glazed.

Again, *glazed*, not coated, but there were some pieces in here that were very, very glazed.  I adored them.  They were balanced out by the rest, also sweet, but just regular sweet and salty kettle corn.

This certainly isn't stick-your-teeth-together style caramel corn, but rather, just a nice light coating of deep, lovely caramel flavor from both brown sugar and molasses.  

I appreciated this flavor quite a bit, still sweet, sweet decadent, but didn't leave me feeling awful after I inhaled the bag.

****.