Wabash poppers with kernels (Nylon Gear, Silver)

I have been looking for the perfect popcorn maker for quite a long time. Being a big fan (who isn’t?) of freshly-popped theater popcorn, I knew I didn’t want some cheap air popper that you have to melt the butter and poor over the popcorn, leaving cold, uneven, soggy,(shudder) pockets of yuck. And trying to get the salt on your popcorn evenly, forget about it. I then was looking and at smaller popcorn carts, (something fun for the grandkids), but a friend who owned one said they were a pain to keep clean. At any rate, I finally ended up with the good, old-fashioned Whirly-pop, and couldn’t be more happy with my purchase. The entire ensemble is a thin aluminum, but seems durable and worked quite well for its purpose. It came with a packet of oil, kernels and flavored salt. I measured the kernels so I would know how much to use next time, and it was exactly one half cup, so that is what I will use for my six quart pot for the perfect fit without overflow. I couldn’t get a good measurement on the butter-flavored coconut oil, as it was a semi solid stick, but I would start with about a little less than a 1/4 of a cup of butter flavored coconut oil, and add about an 1/8 teaspoon of the the flavored salt. Now these are estimates, but it will give you a good place to start. I washed and dried the pot well before use, and then put all of the ingredients in at once on medium and kind of spun the wooden handle a bit to help break up the semi solid coconut oil and mix up the popping corn and flavored salt. The design is simple, put practical. As I spun the handle, it mixed the kernels and oil and flavored salt, but once the pot started getting more full, using the handle was useless for stirring, so I just shook the pot a few times to make sure everything stayed moving. In I would say three minutes, every single kernel was popped, except one partially burst one. Not one burned piece of popcorn. Each was flavored nicely and evenly with butter and salt flavoring. I added several pictures, and I will explain each one. The first one is how full 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels will get you in the 6 quart pot. The next is with the stirring mechanism removed. There are snaps on both sides you just pull up and the lid comes off easy. The third picture was after I had filled two of the 4 included cute popcorn boxes for my grandkids, so this was essentially the bottom of the pot. No burned popcorn, no leftover kernels. (Impressive!!) The fourth is of the actual packet they sent with the pot containing the popcorn, the oil and the salt. I’m thinking you can probably buy the little packs of everything in one from Amazon if it’s more convenient for you. The fifth is a picture of flavacol, the actual salt they use at theaters, and a jar of butter flavored coconut oil. I had purchased both from Amazon and used it just popping my corn in a pot with a lid. (Not fun) lol. Notice the size of the box of flavacol… you can probably use it for other dishes, or share with neighbors, but this one box will last you a loooong time if you only use 1/8 of a teaspoon at a time lol. You can probably buy a smaller box of it, but I really suggest you getting some if you really want that theater experience. You can buy any kind of butter-flavored coconut oil, but this is the one I ended up with from Amazon. All in all, a fantastic easy to clean gizmo that makes fabulous theater-type popcorn in minutes. Enjoy!!

This is one of the best popcorn poppers out there. Great value for delicious popcorn!! Easy to use and easy to clean. Popcorn taste so much better and yields a lot more than a microwave bag. Season to your preference and enjoy!

I felt compelled to write a review after owning this popcorn popper for more than four years and seeing it churn out a perfect batch time after time. The manufacturer deserves praise for this product. It works just as well -- indeed slightly better -- than the day I bought it. I use a half cup of kernels and a little oil, over a gas stovetop burner on high, and it consistently makes a fully-popped batch with zero waste. I have to hunt to find a single unpopped kernel. Nothing is burnt. It's fast, extremely economical, high-performing and durable. I can't ask for anything more. Although it is lightweight aluminum, it has proven perfectly durable, even though I was a bit skeptical of the thinness of the metal and the little stirring arms when I got it. The whole family, including kids, use it. It's been dropped once or twice, too! You don't really need the heat retention of thicker metal like cast iron for popping popcorn, as long as the bottom is hot enough, which I've never had trouble obtaining. I use oil only: olive oil most times, corn oil in a pinch. I followed a reviewer's advice not to wash it with soap and water or put it in the dishwasher. All I do is wipe it out after a batch. As with cast iron, it has developed a light seasoned coating on the bottom, which enhances the non-stick quality of the bottom surface. That's why I say it works slightly better now than it did the first day. Early on I would sometimes get a kernel stuck to the bottom; now that doesn't happen at all. All popped kernels rise to the top and the unpopped fall to the bottom till it's done. And I use cheap generic popcorn most times. The gears and stirring rod still work just fine. You don't have to crank it fast. A lazy one rotation a second always works for me. If you feel a kernel slip under the stirring rod at the bottom (you'll feel a slight drag), just reverse direction and it usually comes out from underneath. I don't know if other people crank it rapidly but perhaps that leads to more wear on the gears? That said, my kids still crank it fast and I've had no problems. The only maintenance I've done on it a couple times is to bend slightly the little metal clips that secure the cover's side flaps to the pot. After many openings and closings, these can get a little loose. It's just like the metal clip that keeps a typical mailbox shut. Just press it inward slightly and it secures tightly, good as new. I don't think I'll ever go back to electric poppers or microwave bag popcorn. Microwave bag popcorn tends to burn or waste a lot, it's relatively expensive, and it's got all kinds of fake flavors I don't enjoy. (If you like those, you can always buy "movie theater" flavored oil at the store.) Popping our own corn, everyone can add whatever amount of butter, salt, etc. they like. I've owned a few electric models, and besides being noisy, they're slower, they've failed after a few years, and while better than microwave bags, electrics still tend to spit unpopped kernels into the bowl. And if you have kids, you might know the drill with electric poppers: if the bowl gets bumped, the butter-melter is removed, the lid knocked accidentally, popcorn goes flying everywhere. Whirley-Pop is tidy. Of course you have to watch younger kids if they're novices using the stove. But compared to an electric popper, I've gotten a far better return on my investment with Whirley-Pop. It's simple, so there's far less to break: no switches to fail, fans to break down, or coils to burn out. Storing it is easier too. There's no parts to keep track of -- it stores as a unit under the cupboard. Again, a boon with kids. The only "pro tip" I've developed is to pour in the oil, then the kernels, crank it once or twice to spread them out and coat them with oil, then give it a little side-to-side shake. The stirring arm tends to push the kernels all to the outside initially. Shake it a little, and you get a nice even layer of kernels on the bottom. Then apply heat. I leave it heating like that, without stirring but giving an occasional little shake, for the first minute or two until the first pop -- all the kernels heat evenly and tend to pop more at one time. What really gets them all going, however, is that there's a cascade when the steam escaping from popping kernels creates more heat energy in the pot. This might be why electric poppers take so long -- they're blowing out all the heat energy they've generated in the bowl converting water to steam, whereas Whirley-Pop confines it as steam for cooking. Just take care to have your hand aside when dumping the batch out, since steam will escape if you dump it immediately, which I tend to do -- either because the gas stove burner grid still retains a lot of heat even when the burner is off or sometimes I'm overzealous in measuring a half-cup and it starts to get jam-packed. But in this case, just dump from the top and keep going, and everything turns out fine. All-in-all, this machine has been fabulous: works flawlessly, extremely economical, easy to maintain, and durable. If ever it breaks, which I don't expect, I'd buy another one immediately.

It was great. Gives kids a nice snack in evening while we watch a CB movie.

When combined with the movie theater type popcorn that includes oil (coconut), salt and corn this makes a great batch of tasty popped corn. It looks and tastes just like the theater and it's a lot fresher than you may get at most movie concessions. A couple of comments here, if doing it without the pre-measured packets, make sure you use enough oil and enough salt. You can measure the free packet that comes with it for reference, try it with full salt first, if you don't like that adjust it later. You can use butter too, but don't cook that in the batch, add it after. The mechanics of this involve turning the crank very slowly, and with a full load it may bog down completely at the end of the pop, take care not to burn. If overloaded and a big bowl is handy, dump a little out quickly and put back on the heat and keep turning. Don't force this too much, the gears are not metal and I'm not sure how they would hold up under stress, my gut tells me they will break. Make sure one side is locked down when pouring out the contents or the corn will get spilled. The crossbar is normally latched, but on one side the two lids, one can be latched to the pot ridge and secured. Cleaning is easy, I suggest hot water a touch of soap early on after popping, I usually just fill the pot and let it soak till I've eaten the popcorn and returned later to finish the clean. I would not use the dishwasher, it may do damage. You might employ a little peanut oil or something edible to the crank gearing to keep it moving freely. Recommended for popcorn lovers who like their corn movie theater good.

Our family loves popcorn. We have been eating microwave popcorn like crazy for some time but all the brands we use taste kind of chemical-ish. We just don't like them that much. Also tried a glass jar that lets you microwave it yourself but never got good popping out of it. Either stuff didn't get popped or stuff got burned. Most likely both. Anyway, microwaves suck. Cooking on the stovetop kind of stinks too because you have to stand there shaking the pot like crazy to keep stuff from sticking and burning. Basically this product replacing pot shaking with turning the little dial. Much easier. You don't really have to watch either, and you never get burned popcorn or kernels that have not popped. It produces a great product. You do have to stand there and turn the knob periodically (or throughout the popping process) but it's worth it for quality popcorn. We tend to add a little lime powder and make "hint of lime" popcorn that's great. Cheap popping corn doesn't work as well as Orville Reddenbockers. We'll try other brands when this runs out. Pretty sure the recipe tells you to use like a quarter of a cup of popcorn and a tablespoon of oil. That's nonsense. I use a half a cup of popping corn and a capfull of oil. There seems to be a lot of flexibility in how much oil you use. I've tried using coconut oil but it's no more delicious. I think just basic canola oil is best. Salt and stuff after everything is popped and out of the pan. Then you basically never have to clean it. We still make microwave popcorn sometimes because it's just eaiser and doesn't disrupt the watching of the movie. But when we want something delicious, we use this. The construction is pretty so-so. Very thin aluminum and the top just clamps on there with clamps that don't seem like they will last. The gear mechanism is plastic, and the little stirrer is just a wire that doesn't seem to stay put. Still, it's worked reliably for me, so who am I to complain?

This has got to be the best popcorn maker on the planet, or anywhere else for that matter. We love popcorn and used to drag out an old frying pan to pop it in, with mixed results. Seemed the only place to get good popcorn was at the theater but we watch all our favorite movies at home. We tried "air" poppers and healthy or not I'd rather eat an old newspaper. We contemplated an electric unit but didn't want yet another large appliance taking up counter or cupboard space and I don't like that some have teflon coating that eventually will flake off. Then came Whirley-Pop. Our first batch was made using the sample theater pack shipped with the unit. It was delicious and yes just like at the movies. For the second batch we used the usual Orville's brand popcorn and oil which produced the best results we have ever had with this brand. If you love popcorn don't waste your money and time on expensive electric poppers. Get a Whirley-Pop. It's easy to use, easy to clean and makes the best popcorn you've ever had. Just follow directions closely and do not use high heat. On our electric range we use #6 on a #1 through #10 knob scale, but I don't recommend going above #7. Begin using the stirring crank immediately and stir until the crank starts to show some resistance but do not force it ( I suspect this is how some people break the gear). By this time the popping will have begun to slow and you can remove the unit from the heat and it will finish with a few more pops. Pour out the popcorn into your favorite bowl and allow it to sit for a couple minutes. Simply wipe out the pan with a paper towel and store it for reuse. I usually wash the lid and crank mechanism using dish soap. Now making popcorn is fast, easy and delicious, I wish I had bought this a long time ago.

We bought this standard WHIRLEY-POP stovetop pocorn popper, model 25008, which is a fairly thin pan made of rolled aluminum, hand-powered by a wooden handle and crank that "whirls" popcorn and oil, boxed along with instructions and a sample of the maker's popcorn, popcorn salt and popcorn oil. Our first outing used the sample provided; per instructions we had seasoned the pan with a little oil and the actual "whirling" took only about three minutes before we had a pan full of popcorn that tasted a great deal like movie-theater popcorn and yielded practically no "old maids." In essence this product looks a little like, and acts very much like, a smaller version of a cinema popcorn maker, right down to the two hinged semicircular lids on top -- one side is unclasped and will pour popped corn out without fiddling with the popper, the other side is pinned down but can be released. The second time out we made a half-order (three quarts, which is still a lot) with half measures of Pop Secret white popping corn and our own canola oil; this we dressed in a little liquid Parkay (blue bottle) and table salt. This took even less time because the quantity was less. Again, there were next to no "old maids" and the popcorn was just as fresh and crisp, but lacked that certain movie-theater taste. (On the other hand, canola oil is better for people than the coconut oil usually used in movie-theater mixtures.) All in all, the Whirley-Pop provided a nearly optimum experience for popping corn, and in a hurry. The best advice I can give is to read the manufacturer's instruction booklet, which comes packed with the unit. We use a gas range and had no trouble achieving medium heat in an instant; note that electric ranges may need a slightly higher setting but aluminum this thin should not be left on a heating electric unit, or a cooling one: it can melt. Really the price of the Whirley-Pop is quite reasonable and the popping time, if anything, is even lower than microwave popcorn, to which we have said goodbye. Pop Secret Popcorn 100% Natural Premium Jumbo Popping Corn (2 Pack) Large 30 oz Bottles

Por fin palomitas buenísimas! Fàcil de hacer y limpiar. La pega es que no funciona en inducción... Por lo demás perfecto!

This is one of those ‘it does what is says on the box’ Used it last night. Great popcorn, rinse in warm soapy water and good as new. Thank you

Produit conforme en apparence, la machine fonctionne correctement et fait du bon pop-corn. En revanche, grosse déception concernant la description : j’avais choisi ce modèle spécifiquement pour son engrenage métallique, mais celui reçu est en plastique. C’est un point important en termes de solidité et de durabilité, et la fiche produit est donc trompeuse sur cet aspect. Je ne souhaite pas faire de retour car l’appareil fonctionne, mais je tenais à signaler cette différence pour les futurs acheteurs. Merci de vérifier et corriger la description si nécessaire.

Il segreto è nel coperchio, che grazie al suo meccanismo permette di non far aderire il mais al fondo della pentola e grazie all' apertura laterale permette di visionare lo stato di scoppio dei pop. Di negativo nonostante la pubblicità filo Usa, il prodotto è un made in china. Altra nota negativa che il pentolame di base è di alluminio. Il coperchio si potrebbe utilizzare su una pentola di acciaio inox, il tutto funziona benissimo producendo pop in 3 minuti. In definitiva lo consiglio per il solo utilissimo coperchio che non è, almeno di alluminio.

Awesome popcorn popper. Makes the most fluffiest popcorn very easy to use.