Wings as flavor pockets The “wings” of butterf ly popcorn create pockets of f lavor in each bite of Comet Corn, including varieties such as nutritional yeast-coated Hippie Dust or sea salt-sprinkled Sel-estial popcorn—two of the most popular of the company’s five f lavors. The uneven shape of butterf ly popcorn distinguishes it from the other basic popcorn variety: mushroom. Mushroom popcorn is round and sturdy, making it better suited for making candy-coated snacks such as caramel corn, which is popped, glazed and cooked again. But making dry-f lavored snacks looks different in the Comet Corn Popshop in Santa Rosa, where a crew of five processes about 2,000 pounds of popcorn each month. They start by seasoning and popping the kernels using organic sunflower oil from Arbuckle-based Adams Vegetable Oils. Once the popcorn cools, it’s set on a retrofitted shaker table, where unpopped kernels and excess seasoning are parted from the whole, flavored popcorn. The popcorn is weighed into 4-ounce portions, then bagged and packed for distribution to more than 100 retail outlets throughout Northern California. Popped but not broken Since 2002, Phillips and Soleski have popped and sold fresh Comet Corn at festivals and events throughout Northern California. To expand their retail business, they offered samples in stores and sold their snacks to busy wineries and breweries. But a lot changed in 2020. The pandemic put a halt to events, in-store sampling, and on-site tastings at wineries and breweries. Fortunately, Comet Corn retail and online sales remained strong, the couple said. Then tragedy struck: Last fall, they lost their home near Santa Rosa in the Glass Fire. But they never stopped popping at Comet Corn. “We had to get people their popcorn,” Soleski said. “The business gave us a reason to hang on during a very challenging time. We continued to do what we love.” Soleski summed up their business this way: “Our job is to make people happy—and we a lso happen to make delicious popcorn.” For years, Soleski and Phillips have also continued a happy tradition of setting aside a few bags of Comet Corn for their suppliers, including Pleasant Grove Farms. The farm connection Pleasant Grove Farms has been in operation since the late Tom Sills began growing rice in 1946. Tom’s son, Ed, worked summers on the farm as a young man, and these days he farms
Photos by Lori Eanes
and manages the 3,500-acre, third-generation family farm just north of Sacramento. But it wasn’t always where he pictured himself. “When I was going to college and through high school, I wasn’t sure I wanted to run the farm for my dad,” he remembered. He studied forestry in college and worked in seasonal jobs with the U.S. Forest Service, developing an interest in environmental issues and ecology. In 1976, Sills returned to the farm to give it a shot. “Over the next 10 years or so, I got an idea of what farming was like,” Sills said. He kept an eye on California’s slowly emerging organics market.WhenCalifornia became the first state to attach a legal definition to the term “organic” with the California Organic Food Act of 1979, Sills saw a better future for the farm. In 1985, the Sillses grew their first organic crop of popcorn on 40 acres, and planted nearly three times that the following year. Almost two decades later, the family’s farming methods attracted the proprietors of Comet Corn. “We were so impressed that Ed’s been organic for so long,” Soleski said. “We are really proud to use his product.”
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May/June 2021
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