This past weekend we visited our dear friend Kristian who lives on the west coast of Michigan, where Lake Michigan is (for the past week or two I’ve been hanging out on the east coast which is where Lake Erie is. There are so many lakes around it is hard to keep track sometimes so visiting them all in person has been very helpful…).
First of all, western Michigan is staggeringly gorgeous (see photo above). It features sand dunes to rival Morocco and more cherry products than you can imagine (including a very tasty cherry sangria…yummy). It’s worth checking out, not just for the scenery, but for the best kettle corn money can buy:
Kristian and his cousin started their kettle corn business not long after we all returned from the Peace Corps and it’s taken off like wildfire. They’re using a secret family recipe and the product is the perfect blend of salty-sweet light crunchiness. I just hope they can start shipping to NC soon…
cooking with gaul 
Tell Kristian I said hello. I am beyond jealous yall got to visit him and the amazing Dorothy and Toto’s Gourmet Kettle Corn.
And where the hell did he get his sweatshirt?!
Kristian told us he followed a link from the Peace Corps website to a site where you can purchase stuff through cafepress. Though I think they should have at least given us a tshirt when we COS’d…
so, why is it kettle corn? do they have a big kettle? if so how do they cook it evenly? And do you have to use a particular type of corn?
They do use a large kettle and it’s very similar to popcorn but with special seasoning – a combination of salty and sweet. Cooking it evenly requires lots of hands-on stirring and moving it all about, which apparently sometimes causes hot popcorn to fly up into people’s faces…