P is for Pink Popcorn

My mother and her older brother were partially raised by their two aunts when my grandparents made the decision to move out to the country to the family farm when my mother was seven and my uncle was entering high school. These aunts were my grandfather's sisters, and neither of them ever married. They were like grandparents to me and my brother, as my grandfather died when I was only a few weeks old, and my grandmother died when I was seven.

My great aunt Edith, or Ecie as she was called by the family, was the one who cooked and cleaned and gardened. She fixed things that were broken (or at least tried to). When she was in her early 70s, she crawled under their car (I believe it was a 1955 Ford Fairlane) and wired the muffler up when it started dragging down the highway.

Great Aunt Daisy, on the other hand, spent her life being spoiled. She was the youngest in her family, and they always doted on her. For example, when she was around 12, she had a pet chicken that her parents allowed to roost on the back of a dining room chair at night, newspapers on the floor beneath it. That's spoiled.

Daisy didn't cook. Or clean. Or garden. Or fix things. But she COULD make candy. She made taffy and fudge and molasses popcorn balls, and she made something the family called Pink Popcorn. Her recipes said things like "cook until it looks done," so no one has ever been able to replicate anything she made.

Until now. Found this:

http://domesticdreamboat.com/pink-popcorn/

The pinner was reminiscing about a Canadian product from when she was young called Lucky Elephant Pink Popcorn. Her description of the popcorn sounded like Daisy's pink popcorn, and the picture certainly LOOKED like what Daisy made. 

Only one way to find out.

Bringing milk, sugar, salt and corn syrup
to soft ball

Stirring the syrup into air popped popcorn.
Make sure you fish out any old maids, or
you'll be sorry later.

I went easier on the pink than the pinner.

I haven't had Daisy's pink popcorn since the early 1980s, but this sure tasted like it, other than I don't remember it having a vanilla flavor to it. I took some to my parents, and they thought I got it about as close as possible, and they were okay with the vanilla.

The real test is going to be my brother, and when he tries it, then I'll have to add an addendum to this post.

Until then, undoubtedly a Pinterest win! Thank you, people of Canada for having a product called Lucky Elephant Pink Popcorn without even KNOWING my great aunt Daisy. And thank you Domestic Dreamboat for pinning a recipe for it, allowing me to enjoy a favorite treat from childhood.