Sweet Popcorn Showdown

In the confluence of the Galaxy’s Edge opening and the start of the Epcot Food & Wine Festival last week, I tried three versions of sweetened popcorn. The Maple Popcorn from the cart at the front of the Epcot’s Canada pavilion ($6.00), the caramel-apple popcorn at the new Appleseed Orchard Cider Bar inside the Canada pavilion ($10.00), and the sweet and spicy Outpost Mix popcorn at Kat Saka’s Kettle in Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios ($6.49).

If you enjoy sweet popcorn, these are all worth a try, but there are some issues to consider.

First, the Appleseed Orchard popcorn at Epcot is only available in the novelty apple container. The container is cute, and might make a nice container for a gift for a teacher. However, the prominent logo makes it relatively useless for anything other than handing the popcorn to you in the festival pavilion. It’s also small-ish, which means the you get a small-ish popcorn serving size. The mix contains about one third standard caramel corn and two thirds kettle corn dyed green and blended with a subtle Jolly Rancher apple flavor. The mix is pleasant, but the high price (ten dollars, really?!) and small portion means I wouldn’t get this one again.

Outside in Canada, the popcorn cart serves a maple-glazed variety. I was worried this would feel like eating pancakes with the wrong texture, but maple taste is subtle. If you like kettle corn and think it would be good with a hint of Northern forest, this is a treat.

The Galaxy’s Edge popcorn is not far from the Appleseed Orchard popcorn, but instead of a sour apple candy taste, the purple kernels have a grapey taste. I don’t love grape candy, so this didn’t wow me, but it didn’t stop me from eating it either. The blend of sweet and slightly hot tastes worked.

My biggest problem with both the maple and Galaxy’s Edge popcorns were that they become too sticky. I consumed those outdoors in 90+ degree, 100% humidity weather. The crunch of the popcorn suffered from the moisture in the air. By contrast, I tried the apple popcorn inside the lovely air-conditioned Canada pavilion, so it had exactly the right mouthfeel. Wait until the temperature comes down in October and these will be worth a try.