When I was a little girl, my Auntie H had a friend who made the best carmel corn. When I was old enough (boiling sugar is not for the wee folk), I was allowed to copy the recipe. That original copy is still the one I use. (I was in a total panic when I misplaced the recipe last year.)
This recipe makes an insane amount of carmel corn, but it can be halved.
Carmel Corn
2 cups popping corn
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup of butter (or 2 sticks)
1 tsp of salt
1/2 cup karo syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
(You will need a sunny day and two large roasting pans or four 9x13" pans to bake the carmel corn in.)
Pop the popcorn. Keep in mind that this is a lot of popcorn, and you will need to be able to fit it all in the oven. Arrange popcorn in heatproof pans.
Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.
Combine the brown sugar, butter, salt, and karo syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Removed from stove and stir in baking soda until dissolved. Be very careful! The syrup will foam up and is very, very hot.
Pour sugar syrup over popped corn, and stir. Bake carmel corn at 250 degrees for one hour, stirring the corn every fifteen minutes. (At first the carmel will clump, and not cover all of the popcorn, but as you stir during the baking process the carmel will slowly spread to more of the corn. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan as you stir to get as much goodness on the popcorn as possible.)
Cool carmel corn completely before packaging in airtight containers.