Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Solve Riddle of Unpopped Popcorn
Kozar_The_Malignant writes "CNN is reporting that scientists have solved the problem of unpopped popcorn kernels left in a bag or bowl. The short answer is that unpopped kernels have leaky hulls (seed coats) that prevent the buildup of sufficient pressure to cause the pop. The research has been published online and will appear in the July 11 edition of the journal BioMacromolecules. From the article: 'In the varieties popped, the percentage of unpopped kernels ranged from 4 percent in premium brands to 47 percent in the cheaper ones.' So buying the good stuff for home use is probably worth it."
Not necessarily true. The quality of kernels is of minor concern, major concern is time to market and freshness. Keep your unpopped corn in a sealed container to maintain humidity level and keep it fron drying out. Microwave popcorns aren't all going to be equal, either, as the oil/salt compositions will vary which affect the hulls of kernels. I've found microwave popcorn has a very short shelflife compared to plain kernel corn. Freshly opened popcorn has fewer 'widows and orphans' than older corn, especially corn which has been left exposed to air.
Like all things, popcorn engineered to look better or pop better in a microwave isn't necessarily your best tasting corn, either. I only buy microwave corn when I feel I need some for within the next few days and usually not just for myself. If eating popcorn at home I'm more likely to air pop some good stuff and put on real butter and use actual popcorn salt (not that table salt which is appearing in cheaper theaters everywhere.)
I don't have a paper on this anywhere, but I have had considerable experience popping corn, particularly in college where it helped absorb lots of beer. Naturally popcorn which comes in jars is going to fare better than that in plastic bags, but how old the kernels are is the most decisive factor and a higher end popcorn distributor is more likely to have better packaging. A more porous hull is likely to dry out faster or be weakened by contact with hydrogenated oils in any case. Your 4% to 47% is most likely attributable to quality of packaging, how long the product took to get to market and how long it stayed on the shelf (including shelf time at home.) Granted, better advertised brands are more likely to move through distribution and stores than generic brands, which may give it some edge.
What's more near and dear to my heart, when I shell several zorkmids at the bijou for my greasy paper bag is what the fsck they're putting on the corn. Most of those butter replacements are horrible and concession stands should be required to post a warning that their 'Butter' isn't butter at all but a blended gookum of vegetable oils. There's only one theater left in my area which still uses genuine butter.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I pop my corn the old fashioned way. Heat, oil, and stirring. I've never seen anything worse than 5% old maids. In fact, the cheap popcorn often works best for this method of popcorn (harder shells, bigger pops). If you're really serious about yield throw out your microwave and go back to the basics. It's cheaper, tastes better, you have more control over the additives, it never burns like a microwave, and the yield is superior to microwaves.
and I just wasted all my mod points on that great email database story! I would much rather have them back for this earth shattering news.
Obama is a twitter sock puppet
Those must be some BORED scientists...
Really... who thinks it's THAT important to find out? And has access to equipment...
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
...and ignore the unpopped kernels. Probably be cheaper.
Real reason to get better quality is it tastes better.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
So I'm guessing we've also solved that cancer thing or that AIDs thing already. Right?
Anything having to do with kernel reliability is always on-topic at Slashdot. /ducks
include $sig;
1;
I imagine it would just be a simple task for most slashdotters to patch their kernels...
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
The Professional Organization Of Popcornpoppers has announced a $10,000 reword for the article in the 1954 "Poppers Life" where Orville Redenbacher declares that every tine a kernel pops it doubles in size.
As mentioned, plain kernel corn lasts quite a while on the shelf, if properly stored. With an air popper, I usually get about 3-4 bad-popped kernels, but even they usually have opened up a little. I use the cheapest brand kernels I can buy.
The best part is the cost. The microwave popcorn with 6 3.5oz bags in it costs the same as a 4lb bag of plain kernels. Also, I can spend my money on better-tasting butters specially designed for popcorn.
So with an air popper, I get fewer bad kernels, just over three times the amount of corn, and I can control the salt and butter amounts.
I don't understand why people use microwaves rather than a cheap air popper.
frob
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
I have read this a few times, never seen any substantiated confirmation that popcorn is a good packing material. OK, if your father told you so, maybe they did try it at least once. But, from some controlled experiments I have read about, popcorn is actually a shitty packing material, compared to styrofoam.
The reason? Mice and cockroaches. Popcorn is edible, styrofoam isn't. If you don't add some environmentally dangerous pesticides, you'll have a severe pest-control problem if you pack things with popcorn.
An hot air popper I paid $3 for at a flea market leaves at most a couple kernels unpopped from enough corn I put in to make about five liters of popcorn. These never burn popcorn either, since once a kernel pops, it is blown away from the hottest bottom of the machine by the airflow. However leaky kernels are, usually the heat at the bottom will generate pressure faster than can be relieved -- the machine can reach very high temperatures, as I know since I use it to roast coffee beans as well.
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
Making perfect oil popped popcorn is an exact science, optimizing the ratio of oil, popcorn, and timing. While it is true that leaky hulls are the culprit in most old maids, a lot can be done to compensate by popping well. Here we go:
The process: Oil is added to the pan, and heated over an electric element or open flame until the oil is hot enough to pop a few kernels added when the oil was cool. The rest of the load of popcorn, typically 1/3 cup, or about 80 grams of popcorn are added to a roughly equal amount of oil. Too much oil makes the popcorn greasy, too little inhibits rapid and even heat transfer from the oil and the pan.
The pan itself is a freqently overlooked, but very important element in the mix. A flimsy thin pan tends to develop hot and cold spots, but just as important, it is an inadequate heat reservior. Once the load of popcorn is added to the oil, the temperature of the oil itself will drop, as heat is taken up in the kernels from the oil and the pan. Oil at 350 degrees will drop to about 200 when a roughly equal amount of popcorn is added. As a result, the heat necessary to heat the kernels sufficiently to rapidly develop steam inside must come from the fire itself. A heavy aluminum or cast iron pan will prevent such a sharp temperature drop, and all that heat in the skillet will find its way into the kernels quickly.
Why is this important? Think of a car tire with a slow leak. If you try to pump it up with a hand pump or one of those battery operated compressors, you may never get the tire up to pressure. If you fill it from a large tank of high pressure air with a large bore hose, you can probably blow it out. The same thing happens with popcorn. A skillet with a large thermal mass will rapidly transfer the heat needed to rapidly develop steam in the leaky kernels before it can leak out. This is why the old Jiffy Pop popcorn usually had lots of old maids.
The same thing will happen when you add popcorn to cold oil, and then heat it on the stove. As the oil heats, the precious steam inside many of the kernels will start to escape before it the oil gets hot enough to heat the kernels rapidly. Once the steam escapes, you will have charred old maids, no matter how high you turn the flame. You have much better results if you heat the oil in a heavy skillet to the brink of the oil smoking, then add the payload of kernels.
I've known this for YEARS.
Also if you want your bagged microwave popcorn to pop better unfold the bag and spread the oil gobbed seeds away from each other to all corners of the bag evenly and then reduce the cooking time by about 10% and you'll have a great bag every time with almost no unpopped seeds.
If you really like light fluffy popcorn you could build a microwave with an air pump in it, if you reduce the air pressure to a near vacuum they pop considerably larger. Keep in mind your average microwave is not, and was never meant to be used as a low pressure vessel.