PLAN No. 351. SELLING POPCORN
While some people, who do not know any better, may smile at the man engaged in so small a business as selling popcorn and peanuts, the persons who do the selling know there is money in it if properly conducted.
A man in an eastern city spent his last few dollars in buying a two-wheeled cart, fitted with a glass case on top, bought a gasoline lamp, a popper and a few pounds of popcorn and started out to make a living.
His profits the first day were $2.25, but that was the smallest day’s business he ever did, for his sales increased rapidly and in two years he was the owner of a large bakery, running several delivery wagons to supply his trade.
His success was partly due to his methods of preparing his popcorn for sale which was as follows:
Popcorn Balls. To 4 quarts of the popcorn, take 1⁄2 cup of molasses and 1⁄4 cup of sugar. Do not add water. Boil the syrup until it will harden in water (not brittle); then add 1⁄4 teaspoon of soda to improve the color. Pour over the corn, mix well, and make into balls. Wet your hands in cold water when molding the balls, so the corn will not stick to them. To make the popcorn bricks, use the same process, but have molds made the size required, but without a bottom. Set the molds on a smooth surface and fill with the prepared corn; then have a block the size of the inside of the mold, and about 1 inch thick; place on top of the corn in mold and hammer down until the top surface of the block is level with the edge of the mold, then lift up the mold, leaving the corn and block on the table. Remove the block from the corn, and your popcorn brick is ready to wrap in wax paper.
Sugared Corn in Bulk. Take 1 cup of best white sugar, three tablespoonfuls of water, and one teaspoonful of butter. Pour all into an iron kettle, and boil until ready to candy; then throw into the mass 3 quarts of freshly popped corn. Stir continually until the sugar is evenly distributed over the corn; then remove from the fire, and stir until it cools a little. You then have each kernel separate, and all nicely coated with sugar. It should be watched closely while on the fire to prevent scorching.