Pop-quiz on popcorn!

How much do you know about this ubiquitous snack food?

--

Popcorn has been a top choice snack food for me for most of my entire life. Since I was very young I have always had a thing for popcorn of all kinds. Flavor variety of course but also its other unique characteristics like aroma, crunch, light airiness and even its color spectrum. Then of course there is the physical and auditory spectacle transformation process of this tiny hard, inedible kernel literally exploding itself into a puff of white flower-like edible piece of fibery goodness.

Popcorn comes in so many forms as well. Just on my own recollections we have good ole&#; jiffy pop, microwaved bags, bags of raw kernels, pre-popped bagged corn, tins of flavored popcorn we see during the holidays, popcorn candy balls, popcorn you can pop right off the kernel itself and many others I am sure I&#;m missing.

Now I am not a popcorn expert by any means at all. I simply have a obsession and love for this addicting snack food. Popcorn was not really even known about or utilized as a crop commodity for farming until in the USA. A little over 140 years old as we know and consume it today. Popcorn in the US however goes way back much earlier than this via the Native Americans who were popping up the good stuff in hot sand pits. Popcorn kernels have been found in caves of southwestern Utah belonging to the predecessors of the Pueblo Indians that date back 1,000 years ago. For a full history of popcorn origins globally and domestically click here.

I want to offer other fellow fans of popcorn some helpful tips, insights, facts and useful applications of making, eating, selecting and understanding popcorn as a food that I feel is not well understood or even appreciated. Let&#;s get started.

Why do most prepackaged and microwave popcorn types have so many more calories than air popped types?

This really depends as not all pre-packaged or microwave popcorn brands and types are always high calorie but yes many of them are.

Given that many forms of bagged pre-packaged and microwave popcorn exist, you need to be sure and do an apples to apples comparison of say kettle corn to kettle corn or butter lovers to butter lovers and not a plain salted form to say caramel corn. That being the case you still need to keep in mind brand differences, production methods and of course, ingredient list and nutrition facts panels. All else aside, look at the nutrition facts panel (NFP) to help in deciding what&#;s truly lower calorie.

Many lite versions of microwave and pre-bagged popcorn are pretty darn good finds with low salt, sugar, calories and additives. Many bagged types are also designed around being lighter as well so you really need to ask what your after most. Ready to eat popcorn without need for a microwave or something you pop and eat hot, fresh out of the bag?

I happen to like making air popped popcorn from scratch in 3&#;4 minutes using a Cuisinart collapsible popcorn bowl. No oil needed. I can then flavor the popcorn anyway I want without any worry of what else was added to it. For $13 it&#;s cheaper than a popcorn machine too!

OK, so what is your favorite way to flavor up bland air-popped popcorn?

Ah now this is where it gets fun and tasty! I have toy&#;d with many creations and some were duds but lucky for me, many more have been hits for not just me but also my friends and family and even my fitness clients as well. Here are my top sweet and savory ways to flavor up air popped popcorn;

Place all your popped corn in a paper grocery bag and spray it well with canola oil spray. (not butter unless you want butter flavor) shake the bag after every few sprays to coat all the popcorn well. this assures the spices and seasonings stick. Close the bag after adding all spices and shake well. Open and enjoy!

For 12 cups popped corn (56g kernels) I suggest using ~1 level tablespoon of each spice as a base. Adjust as you wish for your liking.

savory

Pizza pie: pepper, oregano, Mrs. dash tomato seasoning, grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder.

Chinese chomp: Chinese 5 spice blend. red pepper flakes.

Taco time: paprika, taco seasoning, onion powder, chili powder.

sweet

Chocoholic: cocoa powder, cinnamon, kosher salt, sucralose

Cinna-Suga: cinnamon, sucralose, sea salt, flavored butter spray

What if I want to know more about popcorn? Are there true experts on popcorn who grow it, produces it, sells it and know all the details about popping corn?

I still have questions about popcorn myself and for that I have &#;my people&#; that I go to for such questions and 9 out of 10 times, they have the answer for me as well as really cool stories to go with it. I would direct you to go check out Indiana farmer Brian Scott on Twitter as he taught me more about popcorn production than any other person to date. Brian is super interactive with anyone who has an interest in popcorn. I also highly recommend you go listen to this short 29 minute podcast with Matt Helms, grower, producer and seller of his very own MO sourced family named popcorn brand.

Now go out and get popping, so much tasty snacking to be done!

Every day at 4 p.m., like clockwork, one of my co-workers makes a bag of microwave popcorn.

We all can hear it popping and then, of course, the fake-buttery aroma permeates the office, which invariably causes someone to ask -- "Isn't that stuff bad for you?"

Actually, it's not popcorn, per se, that people should be worried about. It's the microwave bag in which it cooks that many experts say is the problem.

Popcorn itself is healthy. It's a whole-grain food, high in fiber and antioxidants and, if not doused in fat, a pretty low-cal snack.

The problem is the chemicals used in the lining of the bag, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

PFOA is also used to make Teflon and other stain- and stick-resistant materials, including pizza boxes. It's part of a number of compounds that have caused liver, testicular and pancreatic cancer in animals. The chemicals may also be linked to infertility in women, according to a recent  study at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Earlier this year, a  study found that these chemicals may prevent childhood vaccinations from working properly. Children who had higher concentrations of the chemicals in their blood had a lower level of protection against some childhood diseases for which they had been vaccinated.

The chemicals in the bag lining get into our bloodstream because they vaporize and migrate into the popcorn during microwaving, said Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group. "They stay in your body for years and accumulate there," she told Prevention magazine for an article titled, "7 Foods That Should Never Cross Your Lips."

While scientific research has not established a link between microwave popcorn bags with PFOA and increases in cancer in humans, the chemical is so pervasive that it's detectable in the blood of 95 percent of Americans.

Popcorn with artificial flavoring is also a concern. A few years ago, microwave popcorn was slammed for the use of diacetyl in its artificial butter flavor, which caused a rare type of lung disease among workers who inhaled it at microwave popcorn factories.

Most manufacturers have removed diaceytl from their products, but it's been replaced with other kinds of butter flavoring that some government scientists say are just as bad as the original stuff.

Even the top lawyer for the flavoring industry has said that "these so-called substitutes are diacetyl." 

So what's a popcorn lover to do?

Make your own microwave popcorn, says cookbook author and longtime food writer Mark Bittman.

Bittman first wrote "Microwave popcorn, minus the ripoff," for the New York Times in . His no-brainer idea to microwave kernels in a brown paper lunch bag was so popular, he did a repeat last year on his website.

Now, obviously, you can make popcorn the old-fashioned way, by popping it with some oil in a heavy, covered pot. Or you can use this clever stovetop gizmo with the wonderful name of Whirley Pop.

You can also find glass microwave popcorn poppers online or in some cookware stores, if you want to skip using dead-tree bags.

But if you're at the office or lazy (like some of us), here are Bittman's microwave popcorn instructions:

Mark Bittman's Microwave Popcorn:

(Makes 2 to 4 servings). In a small glass container, or a brown paper lunch bag, combine 1â&#;4 cup popping corn with 1â&#;4 teaspoon salt and fold the top of the bag over a couple of times (some people tape it shut). Microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes, until there are 4 or 5 seconds between pops. Open the bag or container carefully, because steam will have built up. Toss with your seasonings and a drizzle of butter or olive oil or serve as is.

You can add oil to the bag at the beginning if you like, but this will yield a slightly greasy bag (so - you use a bowl). And of course you can top the finished product with melted butter or any spice you want. This enables you to have microwaved popcorn but with your choice of popcorn and oil, and, if you were to make popcorn daily, to save hundreds of dollars a year. At every supermarket in the country, microwave popcorn sells for at least $4 a pound and usually closer to $6. Ordinary popcorn is about $1 a pound, or less; good organic popcorn is about $2 a pound.

In other health news:

Less invasive hernia procedure offers less pain, faster recovery. Hernia surgery that uses the newer technique of laparoscopy  through a small opening results in less chronic pain and a faster recovery when compared to the traditional approach that involves a two-inch incision in the groin, reports HealthDay. However, laparoscopy must be performed under general anesthesia, while the older approach can be done with a local anesthestic, making the older one more appropriate for patients with multiple health problems, doctors said.

How about a face lift for your hands? Dermatologists are now offering aging hands a "hand lift" -- injecting fillers to plump up the thinning skin on the back of the hand and using lasers to resurface the skin and remove brown spots. These kinds of cosmetic procedures have helped women's face look younger, so now "hands are the new hot area," says one New York dermatologist.

A cheap drug saves bleeding victims, but there's too little profit in it for companies. A New York Times story says a simple, generic drug that has been saving lives on battlefields by slowing the bleeding of gravely wounded soldiers -- and could do the same for victims of car crashes or other emergencies here -- is having a tough time getting into American hospitals. The drug, tranexamic acid, is so inexpensive, there's little profit in making it, so drug companies don't.

They're calling it "Marmageddon." New Zealand is reeling from a shortage of its beloved breakfast spread, Marmite. The dark, sticky, yeasty product, which is rich in B vitamins but definitely an acquired taste, is made by only one factory, which has been shut down since last year's earthquake. The company hopes to resume production by July, but in the meantime, enterprising citizens are even selling already-opened jars of Marmite for top prices. (New Zealanders favor their domestic Marmite to its Aussie cousin, Vegemite, although Americans might not be able to tell the difference -- or want to eat either of them.)







Photo credit: (top) home-ec101.com; (bottom) squawkfox.com

How much do you know about this ubiquitous snack food?

--

Popcorn has been a top choice snack food for me for most of my entire life. Since I was very young I have always had a thing for popcorn of all kinds. Flavor variety of course but also its other unique characteristics like aroma, crunch, light airiness and even its color spectrum. Then of course there is the physical and auditory spectacle transformation process of this tiny hard, inedible kernel literally exploding itself into a puff of white flower-like edible piece of fibery goodness.

Popcorn comes in so many forms as well. Just on my own recollections we have good ole&#; jiffy pop, microwaved bags, bags of raw kernels, pre-popped bagged corn, tins of flavored popcorn we see during the holidays, popcorn candy balls, popcorn you can pop right off the kernel itself and many others I am sure I&#;m missing.

Now I am not a popcorn expert by any means at all. I simply have a obsession and love for this addicting snack food. Popcorn was not really even known about or utilized as a crop commodity for farming until in the USA. A little over 140 years old as we know and consume it today. Popcorn in the US however goes way back much earlier than this via the Native Americans who were popping up the good stuff in hot sand pits. Popcorn kernels have been found in caves of southwestern Utah belonging to the predecessors of the Pueblo Indians that date back 1,000 years ago. For a full history of popcorn origins globally and domestically click here.

I want to offer other fellow fans of popcorn some helpful tips, insights, facts and useful applications of making, eating, selecting and understanding popcorn as a food that I feel is not well understood or even appreciated. Let&#;s get started.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website individual popcorn bag microwave.

Why do most prepackaged and microwave popcorn types have so many more calories than air popped types?

This really depends as not all pre-packaged or microwave popcorn brands and types are always high calorie but yes many of them are.

Given that many forms of bagged pre-packaged and microwave popcorn exist, you need to be sure and do an apples to apples comparison of say kettle corn to kettle corn or butter lovers to butter lovers and not a plain salted form to say caramel corn. That being the case you still need to keep in mind brand differences, production methods and of course, ingredient list and nutrition facts panels. All else aside, look at the nutrition facts panel (NFP) to help in deciding what&#;s truly lower calorie.

Many lite versions of microwave and pre-bagged popcorn are pretty darn good finds with low salt, sugar, calories and additives. Many bagged types are also designed around being lighter as well so you really need to ask what your after most. Ready to eat popcorn without need for a microwave or something you pop and eat hot, fresh out of the bag?

I happen to like making air popped popcorn from scratch in 3&#;4 minutes using a Cuisinart collapsible popcorn bowl. No oil needed. I can then flavor the popcorn anyway I want without any worry of what else was added to it. For $13 it&#;s cheaper than a popcorn machine too!

OK, so what is your favorite way to flavor up bland air-popped popcorn?

Ah now this is where it gets fun and tasty! I have toy&#;d with many creations and some were duds but lucky for me, many more have been hits for not just me but also my friends and family and even my fitness clients as well. Here are my top sweet and savory ways to flavor up air popped popcorn;

Place all your popped corn in a paper grocery bag and spray it well with canola oil spray. (not butter unless you want butter flavor) shake the bag after every few sprays to coat all the popcorn well. this assures the spices and seasonings stick. Close the bag after adding all spices and shake well. Open and enjoy!

For 12 cups popped corn (56g kernels) I suggest using ~1 level tablespoon of each spice as a base. Adjust as you wish for your liking.

savory

Pizza pie: pepper, oregano, Mrs. dash tomato seasoning, grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, onion powder.

Chinese chomp: Chinese 5 spice blend. red pepper flakes.

Taco time: paprika, taco seasoning, onion powder, chili powder.

sweet

Chocoholic: cocoa powder, cinnamon, kosher salt, sucralose

Cinna-Suga: cinnamon, sucralose, sea salt, flavored butter spray

What if I want to know more about popcorn? Are there true experts on popcorn who grow it, produces it, sells it and know all the details about popping corn?

I still have questions about popcorn myself and for that I have &#;my people&#; that I go to for such questions and 9 out of 10 times, they have the answer for me as well as really cool stories to go with it. I would direct you to go check out Indiana farmer Brian Scott on Twitter as he taught me more about popcorn production than any other person to date. Brian is super interactive with anyone who has an interest in popcorn. I also highly recommend you go listen to this short 29 minute podcast with Matt Helms, grower, producer and seller of his very own MO sourced family named popcorn brand.

Now go out and get popping, so much tasty snacking to be done!

Every day at 4 p.m., like clockwork, one of my co-workers makes a bag of microwave popcorn.

We all can hear it popping and then, of course, the fake-buttery aroma permeates the office, which invariably causes someone to ask -- "Isn't that stuff bad for you?"

Actually, it's not popcorn, per se, that people should be worried about. It's the microwave bag in which it cooks that many experts say is the problem.

Popcorn itself is healthy. It's a whole-grain food, high in fiber and antioxidants and, if not doused in fat, a pretty low-cal snack.

The problem is the chemicals used in the lining of the bag, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

PFOA is also used to make Teflon and other stain- and stick-resistant materials, including pizza boxes. It's part of a number of compounds that have caused liver, testicular and pancreatic cancer in animals. The chemicals may also be linked to infertility in women, according to a recent  study at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Earlier this year, a  study found that these chemicals may prevent childhood vaccinations from working properly. Children who had higher concentrations of the chemicals in their blood had a lower level of protection against some childhood diseases for which they had been vaccinated.

The chemicals in the bag lining get into our bloodstream because they vaporize and migrate into the popcorn during microwaving, said Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group. "They stay in your body for years and accumulate there," she told Prevention magazine for an article titled, "7 Foods That Should Never Cross Your Lips."

While scientific research has not established a link between microwave popcorn bags with PFOA and increases in cancer in humans, the chemical is so pervasive that it's detectable in the blood of 95 percent of Americans.

Popcorn with artificial flavoring is also a concern. A few years ago, microwave popcorn was slammed for the use of diacetyl in its artificial butter flavor, which caused a rare type of lung disease among workers who inhaled it at microwave popcorn factories.

Most manufacturers have removed diaceytl from their products, but it's been replaced with other kinds of butter flavoring that some government scientists say are just as bad as the original stuff.

Even the top lawyer for the flavoring industry has said that "these so-called substitutes are diacetyl." 

So what's a popcorn lover to do?

Make your own microwave popcorn, says cookbook author and longtime food writer Mark Bittman.

Bittman first wrote "Microwave popcorn, minus the ripoff," for the New York Times in . His no-brainer idea to microwave kernels in a brown paper lunch bag was so popular, he did a repeat last year on his website.

Now, obviously, you can make popcorn the old-fashioned way, by popping it with some oil in a heavy, covered pot. Or you can use this clever stovetop gizmo with the wonderful name of Whirley Pop.

You can also find glass microwave popcorn poppers online or in some cookware stores, if you want to skip using dead-tree bags.

But if you're at the office or lazy (like some of us), here are Bittman's microwave popcorn instructions:

Mark Bittman's Microwave Popcorn:

(Makes 2 to 4 servings). In a small glass container, or a brown paper lunch bag, combine 1â&#;4 cup popping corn with 1â&#;4 teaspoon salt and fold the top of the bag over a couple of times (some people tape it shut). Microwave on high for 2 to 3 minutes, until there are 4 or 5 seconds between pops. Open the bag or container carefully, because steam will have built up. Toss with your seasonings and a drizzle of butter or olive oil or serve as is.

You can add oil to the bag at the beginning if you like, but this will yield a slightly greasy bag (so - you use a bowl). And of course you can top the finished product with melted butter or any spice you want. This enables you to have microwaved popcorn but with your choice of popcorn and oil, and, if you were to make popcorn daily, to save hundreds of dollars a year. At every supermarket in the country, microwave popcorn sells for at least $4 a pound and usually closer to $6. Ordinary popcorn is about $1 a pound, or less; good organic popcorn is about $2 a pound.

In other health news:

Less invasive hernia procedure offers less pain, faster recovery. Hernia surgery that uses the newer technique of laparoscopy  through a small opening results in less chronic pain and a faster recovery when compared to the traditional approach that involves a two-inch incision in the groin, reports HealthDay. However, laparoscopy must be performed under general anesthesia, while the older approach can be done with a local anesthestic, making the older one more appropriate for patients with multiple health problems, doctors said.

How about a face lift for your hands? Dermatologists are now offering aging hands a "hand lift" -- injecting fillers to plump up the thinning skin on the back of the hand and using lasers to resurface the skin and remove brown spots. These kinds of cosmetic procedures have helped women's face look younger, so now "hands are the new hot area," says one New York dermatologist.

A cheap drug saves bleeding victims, but there's too little profit in it for companies. A New York Times story says a simple, generic drug that has been saving lives on battlefields by slowing the bleeding of gravely wounded soldiers -- and could do the same for victims of car crashes or other emergencies here -- is having a tough time getting into American hospitals. The drug, tranexamic acid, is so inexpensive, there's little profit in making it, so drug companies don't.

They're calling it "Marmageddon." New Zealand is reeling from a shortage of its beloved breakfast spread, Marmite. The dark, sticky, yeasty product, which is rich in B vitamins but definitely an acquired taste, is made by only one factory, which has been shut down since last year's earthquake. The company hopes to resume production by July, but in the meantime, enterprising citizens are even selling already-opened jars of Marmite for top prices. (New Zealanders favor their domestic Marmite to its Aussie cousin, Vegemite, although Americans might not be able to tell the difference -- or want to eat either of them.)







Photo credit: (top) home-ec101.com; (bottom) squawkfox.com

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