What Makes Chicago-Style Popcorn So Unique?

Chicago is one of America's great food cities. With deep immigrant roots, the Windy City is known for its renowned signature foods — the Chicago-style hot dog, deep-dish pizza (something Anthony Bourdain called an "abomination"), and Italian beef sandwiches. Another food darling is Chicago-style popcorn — a combination of cheddar cheese and caramel corn.

Together, the mix is a perfect blend of a salty and sweet snack, magnificently crunchy, and totally satisfying. Today, you can find caramel and cheese popcorn mixes produced by several brands throughout the country, but it was created in the Illinois metropolis. Garrett Popcorn started slinging the snack in Chicago in 1949, with its CaramelCrisp flavor being its first and signature style. 

Cheddar cheese corn followed, and by the 1970s, it wasn't Garrett blending the two together — customers were mixing caramel and cheese corn themselves. The request became so popular that the company began selling bags of mixed caramel and cheese popcorn, otherwise known as "Chicago Mix," in 1977. The brand ultimately went global, with legions of fans everywhere. When we ranked popcorn tins, Garrett Popcorn came out at the very top.

Those in the know would head to Garrett Popcorn throughout the next decade for bags of Chicago Mix to satisfy their sweet and salty cravings. But in 1992, a company called Candyland out of Minnesota patented the title for its own popcorn mix, which included caramel and cheese popcorn, plus regular butter popcorn. Garrett continued to sell its own "Chicago Mix" blend, along with several other popcorn companies, but in 2014, Candyland sued these businesses over the rights to the name.

Garrett Popcorn apparently took the notion in stride, changing the name of its iconic cheese-caramel blend to "Garrett Mix." Many customers simply refer to it as "The Mix." In any event, fans of the famous popcorn combo would likely claim that it's not about the title — it's about the popcorn itself. 

Part of Garrett's appeal is that the shop makes its signature snack onsite every day from specially grown corn that is produced just for the company. The caramel corn itself takes 24 minutes to make a batch from start to finish, so long lines of customers are not an unusual sight. It's mixed in copper kettles, tastes like buttery brown sugar, and the coating dries into a thin candy-like shell around each popped kernel for extra texture. The cheese popcorn is made using real cheddar cheese in that classic neon orange color. Mixing the two flavors is such a delicious concept that we consider the blend to be a classic Chicago food you should try before you die.