I come from a family of serious popcorn makers. My memories of childhood are tied to the rattle of corn kernels hitting the pan. The ping-ping-ping of them bursting. The alluring fragrance of popped corn wafting into the room. The deliciously greasy fingers that had to be licked.

On Saturday nights, my mother would pull out the 3-quart Revere Ware pot — the one with a few vestiges of burnt kernels — and pop up our treat while we, freshly scrubbed and smelling sweetly of Lux soap and Prell shampoo, watched “My Three Sons” and “Hogan’s Heroes.”

We took our popping seriously, my mother comparing notes with her sisters on the best technique: lots of oil or little, salt before or after, shaking the pan or not, white, yellow or any of the gourmet versions of popcorn. (“Can you believe it?” my mother would exclaim when she saw the newfangled oddities. “Popcorn comes in colors these days.”)

By the mid-1980s, when microwave popcorn appeared on the shelf, we had packed up the old pan. The sheer novelty of almost-instant popcorn had us transfixed in front of the microwave as the small bag expanded in front of our eyes, even though we heeded the urban rumor to “stand clear of the microwave.” Never mind that the bags often burned. It was magic.

I’m back to the real thing these days, kernels popped in a heavy pan with just a thin coating of oil. I top it with a modest dose of melted butter and salt. It’s the perfect snack (and in some cases, dinner) in the winter and fall, which not surprisingly is when most popcorn kernels are sold.

Not only is popcorn cheap to make at home, but it’s also fast — almost the same amount of time to make popcorn from scratch as to make it in the microwave. From start to finish, 3 to 5 minutes. (So much for our early excitement over the speed of microwave popcorn.)

These days, the corn offers a big advantage we never considered earlier: Popcorn is a whole grain and, yes, it can be used to meet dietary recommendations for whole grains (3 cups of popcorn is considered to be one serving of grain). It is fiber, after all.