Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips (lip-smacking)
According to legend (or, the internet) Grandma Edna made Caramel Corn for her family every Christmas, and it would disappear faster than it would appear. She handed her special recipe down to her daughter, Cindy, who now makes it for all her customers to enjoy. And as they say, the rest is history.
Well, we here at Chip Review have another story for you, and it takes place at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. Just a couple of weeks ago we were traveling from Chicago to northern Minnesota, and had a very short layover (if you could even call it that) at the MSP Airport before we had to catch our connecting flight. We had so little time between flights in fact that we were practically running from Terminal A to Terminal F, and since you likely don’t know how far that is, let’s just say that it is a long way! Either way, once we reached our gate, caught our breath, and saw that people were beginning to board, we realized that our tummies were grumblin’. Luckily, one of those typical newspaper-snacks convenience stores was right next to our gate, so we did a quick scan and bought a bag of Grandma Edna’s tasty looking Chicago Mix whoops sorry, we mean Minnesota Blend, and ran to our gate. Fast forward about15 minutes, as we are just about to take off, we decide we couldn’t wait any longer to tear into Grandma Edna’s popcorn; but not before we turn the bag around to take a look at this popcorn’s particulars. 
That is when our jaws dropped! We were in such a rush to get to our plane that we hadn’t paid the slightest bit of attention to the cost, as we swiped our card through the reader. And that is when our eyes saw the price tag to your left!! $8.99! That’s right, eight dollars and ninety-nine cents for this small bag of popcorn?!? That’s runway robbery! And as they say, the rest is history.
We’ve told you before that when cheddar cheese popcorn and sweet caramel popcorn are mixed together, and served anywhere within the state of Illinois, the combo is labeled as ‘Chicago Mix’. There are a few local popcorn ‘houses’ that specialize in this fantastic combination (Garrett’s and Wells Street – we’re talking about you). But, according to Grandma Edna, when she adds a buttery kernel to the classic combo this mix transforms it into Minnesota Blend!
Now we’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, and again, we love a good sweet and salty combo, and in our opinion caramel and cheese are one of those yin-yang flavor combinations that were destined for one another, and for our stomachs! Grandma Edna’s cheese and caramel blend is very lip-smacking. The star of this blend is far and away the caramel kernels. Coated with a deliciously buttery, rich and sweet coating that transforms each kernel into something quite extraordinary, and each handful of the blend simply tastes incomplete if it is missing a caramel corn!! The cheddar cheese popcorn is no slouch either. A liberal dusting of the standard bright orange seasoning clings to each cheese kernel, and brings with it that deliciously salty, funky cheese we all love. In our opinion if Grandma Edna was in charge of this popcorn she would have stopped with the caramel-cheese combo. Perfect as is. Sweet and salty, end of story. Should have left it at Chicago Mix! But nope, this combo is the Minnesota Blend, and a MN Blend includes butter popcorn that is a complete throw away. Seriously, no flavor at all. We actually really wish it wasn’t in there because it would have freed up more room for the tasty kernels!!
Grandma Edna has some delicious caramel and cheese popcorn. BUT! It is NOT WORTH $8.99. No way, no how! In fact, we wouldn’t pay $8.99 for any of our most favorite bags of popcorn unless it was going to disappear forever! Luckily for us, Grandma Edna’s Popcorn is also available online, and this bag would cost us more like $3.99. Now that sounds like a tasty deal!
As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think. Agree or disagree, let us know.
Popcorn discovered at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport
Creative Confectionaire Official Website
Chip Ratings Scale:
(1/4 increments)
© – return to sender
©© – tolerable
©©© – notable
©©©© – lip-smacking
©©©©© – “A” list
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