(Newser)
– Molly Yeh made a popcorn salad with mayonnaise in a video on the Food Network Facebook page and absolutely no one had any neutral feeling about it. The food blogger called it “one of those classic midwestern dishes you’ll often find in the luck of a church basement pot,” which surprised quite a few people who have attended the boots of basement of the church. As commentator Cassie Marie said, “Am I the only one who’s lived all her life in the Midwest and I’ve never seen a popcorn salad?” Newsweek reports. Perhaps home stay orders and social distancing guidelines have home cooks eager for new ideas. Maybe the long crouton time has passed and American palates are ready for something new. Regardless, some people reacted to the idea of folding popcorn into a mayonnaise-based salad that also features carrots, peas and celery with incomparable positivity.
Penny Hafner commented, “I know it sounds weird, but it’s so delicious. You have to try it once,” for Newsweek. It’s true that putting mayonnaise in food turns it into a salad in the Midwest. And the corn popcorn salad recipes predate Yeh’s video, reports Vice Munchies, who shares details about several, including one from the 1920s that consisted of covering half a banana with mayo and popcorn. In 1994, a North Dakota community cookbook published a corn popcorn salad recipe, and there are other versions, a century old. And then there are even older uses of the ingredient: the U.S. Department of Agriculture website makes a brief but intriguing mention of Iroquois chefs popping corn and putting it in soup. Still, Yeh’s recipe has currently only earned 2.5 stars. (Read more popcorn stories.)