One of my favorite dishes growing up was lemon meringue pie. That was my dessert. I’m talking about the one I’d be thinking about before we even pulled up.

And it was always Aunt Shell.

Aunt Shell would bring them lemon meringue pies to everything—Thanksgiving, family reunions, and honestly whatever function somebody decided to throw together. That’s how it is down South. Families like mine are big, and we gathered for any holiday that came with a plate. Easter, for sure. Halloween… not really, but you know, we still saw each other. We just found reasons. That’s what we did.

So for me, lemon meringue pie doesn’t just mean dessert. It means familiarity. It means walking into a room full of your people and already knowing what the table is giving.

And I used to eat mine with a fork, real slow. I’d try to stretch the moment out. I’d also try to sneak a bigger piece—every single time—and every single time, I’d get caught. End up with a smaller piece like I didn’t know any better. But that pie? It was always worth the attempt.

It was sweet and tangy, and it had this flavor right in the middle that I couldn’t put my finger on when I was younger. I just knew it hit. I knew it made me pause. I knew I wanted another bite before the last one even happened.

When I decided to do popcorn, that was one of the first things that came to mind. I wanted to recreate that feeling. That taste. That childhood moment of watching Aunt Shell set that pie down like she knew she was about to make everybody happy.

Now she don’t make lemon meringue pie anymore.

Shame on you, Shell.
And if you reading this—get back in the kitchen. 😭🍋

So I did what I do.

Lemon Meringue Pie Kernelz™ became more than a flavor idea. It became a memory I could hold. And yes, it’s the first to exist—built on my special formula, my frozen popcorn—because I wanted it to feel different. I wanted it to carry that same sweet-tang balance and that soft, creamy “what is that?” feeling I remember from the middle of the pie.

This one means a lot to me. I think about those days all the time. I miss them. I want us to stay close. I want the generation after us to still know what it feels like to be in a room full of family, laughing too loud, eating good, and side-eyeing somebody because they tried to grab an extra piece.

That’s what this flavor is for.