Deb's Caramel Corn

Deb's Caramel Corn

I love my job.  One of the best parts of my job is the people I get to work with AND our common passion for food.  I keep saying that if any kid wants to poison the entire teaching staff at his school, all he has to do is put some tainted cookies or cake on the teachers' lounge table.  Put it on the table and they will eat.  Fortunately, I don't know of any kid trying that yet.
One of the things we do pretty regularly is have potlucks for one reason or another.  At one of our last food-bringing days, Deb brought this fabulous caramel corn.  It was a little chewy, and just perfectly shiny and well-coated with caramel.  Mmmm...  My other caramel corn recipe always ends up sort of dry and crispy, but I like this slightly chewy version.  It reminds me of fresh caramel corn you might get on a boardwalk or the mall.  I WILL be making this again.  Thanks for the recipe, Deb, and for all the food talk over lunch.

Deb's Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

• 6-7 quarts air popped popcorn
• 2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.  Make sure you have the popcorn popped and in a large bowl or deep roasting pan before starting the caramel.  I also like to make sure I've picked out any unpopped kernels.  Bad for teeth, you know.
In a heavy medium saucepan, bring the butter, sugar, salt, and corn syrup to a boil over medium to medium high heat.  Keep stirring pretty much continually.  Deb said to boil for 5 minutes or to 245 degrees Fahrenheit.  Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.  It will fluff up at this point.
Pour caramel over popcorn and stir to evenly distribute caramel.  Spread onto some combination of roasting pan and/or cookie sheets.  Bake at 225 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.
Remove from oven and keep stirring until caramel corn is no longer sticky.  Then stir occasionally until it's relatively cool.  Allow to cool completely and store in airtight containers.