My family and I have had many hot-air poppers through the years. They've all had one problem: They ejected lots of unpopped kernels. We'd even gotten used to feeding them back through the machine avoid wasting most of them. After doing this again the other night, I thought, "Enough. We're well into the 21st century. Certainly someone has, by now, created a popper that doesn't spit out as much corn as it pops." Hundreds of user reviews later (hey, we take this stuff seriously), we decided to order a Presto PopLite. Would it live up to the hype?: "In test after test, the Presto PopLite hot air popper out popped other leading brands, popping up to 30% faster with virtually no unpopped kernals..." We were willing to overlook the misspelling of "kernels", but it still seemed like a lot to live up to. From the moment we opened the box, we had the impression it was a quality product. It's more sturdily made than our other poppers. Sure, it's plastic, but there's no feeling of cheapness. This is a solid, substantial appliance. Carefully following the instructions, we washed this hood and combination scoop/butter-melter in warm, soapy water and allowed them to dry. We wiped down the base unit with a damp cloth. (Despite companies's cleanliness efforts, anything that's been through a factory can be dusty.) I then added popcorn up to the fill line (using a single, leveled-off scoop), put everything in place, and plugged 'er in. And I'm here to tell you, as one popcorn-maker to another: This is the popper to get. It's impossible to make a popper of this style that ejects NO unpopped kernels. But with this one, rather than 30 or 40, you may get 3 or 4. Impressive! As far as I can tell, it's thanks to two aspects of its design: • Rather than directing the hot air into the chamber from the sides, it comes directly from the bottom, blowing the kernels up rather than around at all angles. So rather than shooting out of the popper, they fall right back in. (It also creates a "fountain of kernels" effect that's so fun, Presto could've cited it as a feature.) • The hood's clever shape slows (but doesn't block) the popped corn's exit just enough to keep the unpopped kernels contained. The corn came out big and fluffy. The PopLight is substantially quieter than our previous poppers, too. It's a class act all around, and only a tad more dough than poppers that don't come close to its build or performance. If you do get this swell popper—and I hope you do—you may find these useful: • The popper's motor is powerful enough to cause it to move slowly across smooth surfaces (like our quartz countertop). We solved this by placing a 6" square of anti-skid webbing under it, the kind made for keeping rugs in place. (You should have one in your kitchen drawer anyway; they're awesome for opening stubborn jars.) • The instructions warn against overfilling, but don't underfill either. Using the recommended amount helps keep the corn in place till it starts popping. And no matter which popper you use—if you DO get more ejects than you'd like, try placing a breadboard under the unit's front feet (being sure it's still stable, with no chance it'll tip over.) This encourages airborne kernels to fall farther back in the machine.
