To be totally prepared for guests this holiday season and to endure what sometimes are “stay-home” days during the winter months (plus the proverbial on-sale price advantage) the lovely Gretchen decided to “stock-up” on a particular brand of microwave popcorn. The question was, “Did it meet the Big Dan Standards?”

Those standards include the expiration date and where it’s produced.

First, I think everybody checks the date on most foods,”Best by (date),” “Sell by (date),” “what I’ll eat when I’ve had too many adult beverages (date),” and the “gee, if I just remove that bad looking part I can still eat it (date).”

But the second most important piece of information is “Where is it made?”

Friends of this column will know I love to buy local, I also buy Ohio as often I can and don’t mind paying a premium to do so. However, there are some cities, locals, states, regions and countries that just do it better. Kona coffee, Bordeaux wine, Kentucky bourbon, that state up north’s cherries, for example.

Although Marion, Ohio is the home of the annual Popcorn Festival and the famous Popcorn Museum, and the Wyandot Snack Company (yum, yum), I have always conceded that the State of Indiana holds the title for best popcorn. At least six localities (two in Indiana) claim to be the “Popcorn Capital of the World:” Ridgway, Illinois; Valparaiso, Indiana; Van Buren, Indiana; Schaller, Iowa; North Loup, Nebraska; and of course, Marion, Ohio. Major popcorn producing states are of course Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, that state up north, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio.

One of the first stories we did on our TV show was with a popcorn producer from Spencerville, who was growing for Orville Redenbacher. Redenbacher products are now made by ConAgra.

Sadly, ConAgra Foods laid off 170 workers when it closed two Ohio facilities that produce microwave popcorn. A popcorn manufacturing facility in Marion, Ohio, closed in October 2014, and a popcorn processing facility in Morral, Ohio, closed in June 2015. Unfortunately microwave popcorn sales have fallen in recent years as ready-to-eat popcorn sales have taken off in the snack industry.

Now, getting back to our stock-pile of microwave popcorn — I was please to see both the date and the origin met with my ridged standards. And when popped and served I was amazed at the quality and the taste. So much so I had to call the manufacturer and ask about the product. Cousin Willie’s is the brand name produced by the Ramsey Popcorn Company in rural Ramsey, Indiana. They have growers throughout the Midwest and much to my delight several in Ohio. Yeah Me!

Did you know?

• We have over 155 farms in Ohio that raise popcorn on over 25,000 acres, and they

produce nearly 90 million pounds of product annually.

• Popcorn as a breakfast cereal was consumed by Americans in the 1800s and generally

consisted of popcorn with milk and a sweetener.

*History indicates that French explorers enjoyed a dinner prepared by the Iroquois that

included popcorn soup and popcorn beer.

(NOTE TO SELF: Convince one of those newly formed micro-breweries here in Ohio to produce popcorn beer) Hey, we have pumpkin beer why not popcorn beer? All the flavor with no buttery hands, no picking kernels from your teeth and no waiting on the microwave!)

(NOTE TO SELF: Convince one of those popcorn companies to produce beer popcorn)

That’s something I would surely stock-pile!