Thursday, September 25, 2008

What, No Prize? Long Beach Caramel Corn

Flavored pop corn is almost always disappointing to me. Cheese corn isn't cheesy enough and kettle corn smells better than it tastes. Caramel corn may be the most disappointing of all. It tends to be sweet and sticky, but with no real caramel taste. In fact, I hadn't really had a caramel corn I liked until I stopped by the Long Beach Sunday Farmer's Market last weekend.

As you know if you are a regular reader, I'm a farmers market junkie. So spoiled by farm-fresh produce am I that I will seek out farmers' markets wherever I am. So when I was visiting Long Beach this past Sunday, I stopped by the market at the Long Beach Marina, just off 2nd Street, right before you hit PCH. It was a goodly sized market. The produce and prepared goods were pretty standard LA farmers' market fare.

As in many markets, there was a kettle corn stand doling out free samples. Without thinking, I sampled some caramel corn. This was not your average caramel corn. The popcorn was dark brown and had the true flavor of caramelized sugar. It was only marginally sticky and didn't get caught in my teeth. I can't finish a box of Cracker Jacks, but I couldn't put this stuff down. The small sized bag was $2.50 and was enough for the whole family to snack on.

The only thing missing was the prize.

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