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BjornQorn pops corn with the power of the sun.
To me, popcorn is the perfect snack. It’s convenient, crunchy, and satisfyingly salty — what more could I ask for? When I first came across BjornQorn, I fell in love with their simple yet delicious flavors. As I continued my loyal patronage, I fell in love with the brand’s wholesome origins and unwavering commitment to sustainability.
In New York’s Hudson Valley, Bjorn Quenemoen and Jamie O’Shea harness the power of the sun to pop their cult-favorite popcorn. The duo met at Bard College where Bjorn, the son of a Minnesota corn farmer, became known around campus for his family’s popcorn recipe, while Jamie, an artist and inventor, could always be found working on a new contraption.
During a game of catch in Central Park, the concept for BjornQorn was born as Bjorn and Jamie realized their seemingly disparate skillsets could come together to sustainably craft a vegan and allergen-friendly snack.
Harnessing the Hot Sun
At their first production site at Kelder’s Farm in Hudson Valley, Bjorn and Jamie constructed enormous solar ovens with hemispheric mirror structures. These giant cookers harnessed the power of the sun to heat their kettles and pop their corn kernels.
Though they retired this practice in 2017 as the brand expanded, their facility (a barn located just down the road from their origins at Kelder’s Farm) is still powered entirely with solar energy captured by photovoltaic panels on the facility’s roof. The BjornQorn team also continues to research the applications of giant mirrored solar cookers, looking for ways to make the technology cheap and accessible.
BjornQorn’s motto is “100% committed, 100% renewable, 100% doable,” reinforcing their ethos that energy independence and environmental awareness should be built into the foundation of any business.
Corn Grown With Care
For BjornQorn, sourcing kernels as locally as possible and partnering with small farms is more true to the heart of their sustainability goals than merely seeking out the stamp of approval from corporate certification programs.
Jamie and Bjorn have close relationships with their corn farmers, and though not all of the small farms they work with are certified organic, the majority of their kernels are either minimally treated or farmed with organic practices (just not officially certified).
With that said, all of BjornQorn’s ingredients are GMO-free with certifications from both Project Verified and BioStar. Snack Safely has also verified that the BjornQorn facility is allergen-free.
For snackers interested in where their specific kernels came from, you can email BjornQorn with the flavor and best by date information on the bag and they’ll be happy to share farming information for that particular harvest lot.
Sustainable Snacking
BjornQorn is best known for their Classic flavor, a savory snack seasoned with vitamin-fortified nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast seasoning gives the popcorn a cheesy taste without using any dairy products. Their other flavors include Spicy (which adds a dusting of jalapeño on top of the nutritional yeast), Cloudy (seasoned with only salt), Earth (dusted with black truffle salt sourced from Urbani Tartufi), and Maple (which marries sweet and salty with local maple sugar from Tree Juice Maple Syrup).
BjornQorn frequently has fun seasonal releases as well, like Coz-Y Corn, a snack made in collaboration with Plant People intended to invoke flavors of the holiday season with a signature reishi mushroom–cinnamon blend.
When it comes to their packaging, BjornQorn is constantly monitoring developments in the compostable packaging world to find an adequate high shelf-life solution to the plastic bags they currently use. While BjornQorn’s bags cannot be recycled by municipal programs, they are accepted by specialty services like TerraCycle.
Ultimately, BjornQorn stands out not only for its distinct flavor and playful personality, but for the seriousness with which it approaches sustainability. From solar-powered production to close partnerships with small farms and ongoing research into renewable technologies, the company integrates environmental responsibility into every layer of its operation. In a crowded snack landscape flooded with trendy marketing and fad flavors, BjornQorn offers something special: popcorn that satisfies both your cravings and your conscience.
