Community Cookbook: Popcorn balls with Jill Pinkston from St. Lawrence Catholic Church in New Hamburg, Mo.

Jill Pinkston sits at her kitchen counter with the homemade popcorn balls she made, as featured in the 2018 St. Lawrence Parish Cookbook. For 20 years, Pinkston has served as one of the church's fall dinner chairmen.

Jasmine Jones

Recipes tell the stories of communities and the people who shape them. Each recipe is more than a list of ingredients and steps; it is a written legacy of the individual who created the dish, their family and history. This monthly series highlights one of these legacies and gives readers the chance to create the recipe themselves.

Every October, Jill Pinkston hosts “Popcorn Ball Sunday,” an annual tradition for her children and grandchildren to gather, rub their hands with chilled butter and make her famous popcorn balls. The recipe involves molding popcorn using homemade vanilla caramel, which Pinkston’s grandchildren refer to as “hot lava.” Pinkston says they must continually lather cold butter on their hands to prevent burns.

Pinkston’s recipe for popcorn balls dates back to her grandmother, Bea Skinner, who grew up in Commerce, Mo., and worked hard in the kitchen, garden and home making sure her family was always well-fed. Pinkston’s mother told her stories of what life was like growing up with Skinner.

“[My mother told me] there was always a big breakfast, and everything left over, [Grandmother] put a tea towel over it, and then you eat part of that again for lunch. Then, she’d get a chicken. [She’d] kill the chicken, and you’d have fried chicken for dinner,” Pinkston says.

Pinkston’s mother, Joann Lester, also loves cooking and has an obsession with cookbooks. Lester stores her cookbooks in stacks and cabinets around her home, and when she ran out of room, Pinkston thought her mother would finally get rid of a few. Instead, Lester added another cabinet and stored the overflow cookbooks in Pinkston’s barn between their homes. Pinkston says her mother owns approximately 500 cookbooks.

One of the many cookbooks present on Pinkston’s property is the 2018 St. Lawrence Parish Cookbook from the St. Lawrence Catholic Church in New Hamburg, Mo. Pinkston has attended the church for a couple of decades, but the church’s history stretches back to 1847.

According to church documents, the St. Lawrence Parish settled in Benton, Mo., before relocating due to religious persecution and starting their church in New Hamburg, Mo. For early parishioners who lived 20 miles away, a typical church day started at 3 a.m. They typically rode for five hours to attend early Mass, confession, breakfast, high Mass and lunch. Then, they’d ride back at 4 p.m.

In 1859, the old church was relocated to make room for a new stone church. Everyone in the parish was asked to donate their labor or $5, approximately $180 dollars for someone today, to help complete the new building.

The new church was burned and construction halted during the Civil War, but by 1869, the building was completed. This second church went through renovations twice and is still used for Mass today.

Pinkston says their parish puts together multiple events every year to get the outside community involved, including the annual St. Lawrence New Hamburg Parish Picnic, as well as spring and fall dinners. Almost everyone has the same jobs at St. Lawrence’s events each year, with Pinkston saying she’s served as the fall dinner chairman for “20-something years.”

Pinkston submitted her grandmother’s popcorn ball recipe to the 2018 St. Lawrence Parish Cookbook, because she believes it’s important to preserve traditions. She says it’s amazing to flip through the cookbook and see her friends’ and community members’ best recipes, many passed through generations.

As Pinkston turns the pages, she smiles, points at a recipe for meatloaf and says, “You just know that is going to be something.”

Jill Pinkston made popcorn balls as a child with her grandmother, Bea Skinner. Now, she makes the treat with her children and grandchildren every October and calls the tradition "Popcorn Sunday."

Jasmine Jones

Popcorn Balls

Recipe as written in the 2018 St. Lawrence Parish Cookbook:

8-9 quarts popcorn, popped

2 cups white sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix and boil sugar, butter, salt, syrup, and vanilla for 5 minutes. Add baking soda and stir. Pour over popcorn. Grease hands with chilled butter to prevent burning, otherwise it feels like hot lava. Roll into balls. Enjoy.

Learn to make popcorn balls

See Jill make this recipe at The Best Years Facebook Page.