A Sure Sign Of Summer: Kettle Corn For Breakfast

/ Ally Bean
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Tiny blue vase, handmade, purchased from potter at festival, filled with a daisy + rosemary from our garden, sitting on the kitchen counter… and taking up much less space than the bag of kettle corn, also purchased at festival.

I know for sure that it’s summertime because I’m eating kettle corn for breakfast.

[Don’t judge.]

Last weekend we went to the first festival of the season where we purchased a bag of kettle corn.

Said bag, which is too large to fit on the pantry shelf, is now sitting on the kitchen counter near the new vase featured in the photo.

[We bought the “small” bag of kettle corn, btw.] 

From what I can tell, all festivals around here are required by law to have at least one kettle corn booth wherein they make the stuff fresh before your very eyes.

Then the kettle corn makers are required to give you a free sample of it right when you’re tired from walking around the festival, but not hungry because you just ate something filling at the previous food booth.

[I’m a sucker for a pulled pork sandwich with a speciality BBQ sauce.]

So, you decide to buy a bag of the kettle corn to take home with you because you know you like it.  And because this is a festival that helps some small town OR civic organization OR large church make money that they use to help the needy.

[The cynic in me says the festival might be helping itself first before the needy, but whatevs.]

And that, my gentle readers, is how I know it is summer.  I’ve got popcorn kernel residue stuck in my teeth before 8:00 a.m. and I’ve helped the needy.  😉

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HOW DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE THAT IT’S SUMMERTIME WHERE YOU LIVE?

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60 thoughts on “A Sure Sign Of Summer: Kettle Corn For Breakfast”

  1. When I was a kid, it wasn’t officially summer until the first Bomb Pop (that’s the red, white, and blue Popsicle that was sort of shaped like a rocket) had been consumed. We usually found our way to the corner store the first Monday after school let out, picking those frosty, sweet treats from the floor freezer by the door. Now a-days, I don’t have any traditions that mark the start of summer. Hmmm. Going to have to change that.

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    • Dana, I remember those Bomb Pops. I never really liked them because they always melted before I could finish one. However, I can see how as a kid that could be… [wait for it]… the bomb! 😉

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  2. Your inner seasonal clock would be all kinds of screwed up if you moved to FL, Ally . . .

    Our festivals run from November to May . . .
    Kettle corn samples are distributed at every one . . .
    People live with sugary residue in their teeth after each . . .

    And “nobody knows where my Rosemary goes . . .”

    But it sounds like you’ve done your good deed for the day. So go you!

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    • nrhatch, you’re right: FL would confuse me to no end. Our festivals run from June through October– and each one has a variety of food available that always includes kettle corn. I buy one bag a year truth be known, then I’m over it. Had forgotten about that song…

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  3. Summertime here is when the porch furniture goes out. And when all the hanging floral baskets and Boston ferns start appearing.

    For me, however, I know it’s not really Summertime until the very first lightning bug (firefly) appears. Then I know Summertime has settled in For Real.

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    • nance, fireflies are an excellent indication that summer is here. Ours show up later in June, but kettle corn is mine for the purchase earlier than the fireflies so I think of it first. But lightning bugs are a close second. Definitely.

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  4. That’s my girl! Now you’re eating like I do! Isn’t kettle corn the best?! We have a store in downtown Columbia that specializes in all kinds of popcorn–even lime chile. So we can get our fix any time of year. I can eat popcorn any time of day…love it! BTW, this store also sells all kinds of candy! My kind of store!

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    • Beth, that store sounds like your idea of heaven! I’m not much for popcorn exactly, but this freshly-made kettle corn is the best. And I tell you, with a mug of hot coffee it makes the tastiest + filling breakfast, food pyramid be damned. 🙂

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  5. The opening of farmer’s markets downtown and my already dying lawn. We’ve had such hot weather already, way to soon for our area, and the lawn is looking like it’s August. I’ve heard the ice cream man in his little scooter a few times already. That completely defines summer for me.

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    • Deb, those are good signs of summer. Our farmer’s market is open, but I haven’t figured out where it moved to this year. There’s construction going on in downtown, so each year it’s a “Where’s Waldo?” adventure to find it.

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  6. We (I) don’t have an official start of summer, and isn’t kettle corn made by popping corn kernels and corn is a vegetable so you’re having vegetables for breakfast. Nothing wrong there 🙂 happy summer!

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    • Janet, I don’t know how kettle corn is made, but it sure tastes good! Technically it’s the festivals that put me in a summer frame of mind, but I always walk away with a bag of kettle corn so I prefer to think of it as the beginning of summer.

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  7. I don’t think I’ve had kettle corn. I’ve had its cousin, caramel corn (the main ingredient in Cracker Jack), but never kettle corn. Anyway, it’s perfect for breakfast. Hey, I remember Sugar Pops (now Golden Pops, I think), which were puffed corn coated with sugar. We ate those all the time. Kettle corn sounds almost similar. Close enough for me. Enjoy your breakfast!

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    • John, kettle corn is similar to Sugar Pops, only more like popcorn than cereal. Sugar Pops were more perfectly round. I’m not a big fan of popcorn in general, but kettle corn tastes good to me for breakfast, so why not? Living wild! 😉

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  8. Corn on the cob! The first comes from someplace unpronounceable below the equator. Then slowly it moves up to Florida, Georgia, Virginia, then local! We had the first batch (not all that great but we ate it anyway) and are counting the days until it’s local!

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    • Kate, we don’t see much of corn on the cob until mid-July so I think of it more as a mid-summer treat. But you’re right, it does scream summer whenever you can get some and you seem to have a way to get it early. Yum.

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  9. I know it’s summer when the three brothers from next door, ages 9, 6, and 4, come a knockin’ on my back door for Popsicles!! Of course I keep the freezer stock full of ’em. How could I possibly say no to such adorable faces? Plus, I figure the more I feed them Popsicles, the less likely they are to TP my house once they get to that ornery stage!! It’s a plan. Hope it works.

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  11. I’ve set down my Frosted Flakes to tell you that kettle corn is vile, but of course, I too am eating sweetened corn product, so to each her own 🙂
    I LURVE pulled pork sammiches. It may well be the only meat I eat an entire serving of 😛

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    • joey, Frosted Flakes taste too sweet to me, so I avoid them. But kettle corn with that sweet + salty flavor thing going on, I like. I’m with you about the pulled pork sandwiches. Most meat things I can take or leave, but a pulled pork sandwich is yum.

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  12. When I was little, it was summer … well, yeah, okay, it was summer when school was out BUT BESIDES THAT, it was summer when the ice cream trucks came around. Where I live now, it’s summer when the farmers’ market opens. First one with ripe tomatoes by the 4th of July wins!

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    • marianallen, I remember those ice cream trucks and how special they seemed. We used to get 7-Up Popsicles which I loved. I adore ripe local tomatoes, have a plant growing in a pot on our deck. I need to get more into the farmers’ market circuit this year. A goal for my summer.

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  13. And before the ice cream trucks — does anyone remember the milk man? He would give you an ice cube or two and you’d put it on your finger like a ring? Oh man, we thought that was the bomb!! And then of course he was replaced with the ice cream truck and then Screwballs were the bomb for me because you got a piece of gum at the bottom. Hard as ice but sweetness nonetheless!!

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    • I remember the milkman, but we didn’t get our milk delivered so no ice cubes as rings. Missed out on that entirely. Bummer. The ice cream truck we had, but I don’t know about Screwballs at all. Never heard of them! I tell you, your city was lightyears ahead of my little town.

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  16. Charming way to start your morning! I especially like the connections. I don’t like kettle corn, and the only time I had popcorn in the morning, it upset my stomach, so I stay away from it. 🙂

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    • Margaret, I’m not a big fan of most popcorn, but this kettle corn, made in front of me, is tasty. Of course, I’ll buy one bag, eat it for a while, then be over it for the rest of the summer. Strange, huh?

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  17. When I go to hang my arm out the window in my car and I burn all of the skin off the bottom of my forearm… I know summer has arrived. And coincidentally, it arrived today as I was coming back from lunch…

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  18. Mmm . . . strawberries. That means summer to me. On top of ice cream, of course. Then blueberries, raspberries and more ice cream. All consumed while sitting on the porch. And your kettle corn sounds darn tasty too, Ally.

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  19. It seems funny to be having festivals now – far too hot here. Fall and spring are crammed with events, but time to hide indoors…the heat and smells from festival food just the thought makes me queasy
    (The things we will buy and eat for charity or school kids!)

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    • philmouse, around here it is FESTIVAL TIME. I enjoy going to some of them, buying something from a local artisan or baker or farmer. I don’t know if I need kettle corn, but you know… helping a cause, I am. 😉

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  20. It’s probably sacrilege, but I really don’t like kettle corn. And I am someone who keeps a stash of popcorn in her desk and I am pretty sure I don’t actually need to consume vegetables other than corn. I think it’s something about it being neither popcorn nor caramel corn – it’s like it got halfway to caramel corn and stopped. And I really just want caramel corn, so it is always disappointing.

    As for summer signs, there are lots, but not one specific one I look to. Perhaps I should just consider summer to have started when the first person I know says something like, “I’m not doing anything tomorrow, because it’s too hot.” This being Wisconsin, that usually happens on the first day it hits 80.

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    • Sarah, I’m not much for popcorn, but kettle corn I like, although you’re right it’s weak caramel corn. I can understand why it bugs you. I consider 80º comfortable, but I’m Ohio born and bred. Now if you were to talk about 95º with humidity to match, I’d lay low, too. But at 80º summer is getting into full swing around here– and I’m munching on kettle corn.

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    • Chez Shea, kettle corn is something I became aware of about 5 years ago, at a festival, of course. I love the little vase, too. It looks perfect sitting by the kitchen sink, adding a bit of charm to my world as I wash dishes.

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  23. Yes, it’s summer here. It’s so humid, I can’t breathe and what bit o’ my thighs are sticking to my pleather-y chair. I have a floss stick handy, btw, if you still need to get that corn kernel out of your teeth. ~Tara

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    • Tara, you’re sure right about flossing after eating kettle corn. It’s in league with the dentist I think– determined to make me floss daily. Our humidity isn’t here quite yet, but it’ll show up eventually. Summer is what summer is, eh?

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  25. Just learning about summers in Colorado since we moved here 7 months ago. The first sign for us was the long awaited leafing out of the Aspen Trees. The snow on the mountains has been replaced with lush plants and green trees. The hot sticky humid nights in Texas have been replaced by cold refreshing nights in Colorado. I thought I was escaping the sun but it is even more intense here. The difference is that there are cool breezes to counteract the burning sun. It is necessary to put something over your legs when you ride in the car because the sun burns your legs. Worth it for the change in atmosphere! I dreaded summer because I was so enjoying winter here but looks like I will be happy year round! Thanks for the topic!

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    • Patricia, I’ve never been to Colorado. It sounds delightful and pretty. We get hot and humid here during the summer like TX does, so I can understand why you left that nonsense. Our sunshine can be clear, on some days, but nothing like what you’re talking about. How fun for you to be experiencing a new area– and finding that you like it!

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  26. I tell it is summer when the air conditioning turns on, I can hear splashing in all the pools around us, all the blinds in the houses are down, everyone is holed up inside (except those that are in the pool) and the streets are empty mid-day.

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  27. I too am a sucker for a pulled pork sandwich with a specialty BBQ sauce.

    But how I know it’s summer is when I have to move myself and the cat into the bedroom 24-7, because it’s the only room with air conditioning, and I have to do any cooking that involves heat wearing just my underwear.

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    • Alice those are 2 good indications of summertime. I grew up in a house without whole house AC, but my bedroom had a window air conditioner unit. Mom and I lived the same way as you during the summer. Cooking in your skivvies is fun when you’re a kid!

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