Chuck Bao
12/15/2009, 03:32 PM
There is nothing in the world I love more than hot popcorn with a lot of black and red pepper sprinkled on top.
Yeah, microwave popcorn is expensive, but I always thought it was healthier than making popcorn on the stove with a little vegetable oil. I learned how to do that 40 years ago when my grandfather would make popcorn before playing dominoes with his three grandchildren and that is one of my favorite childhood memories.
In university, I had one of those hot air popcorn popper things. I lived through university because I could concentrate a little longer while munching on popcorn.
When I moved to Asia, I was still doing the stove top popcorn for many years because microwave popcorn hadn’t made its way here yet. But, when I would return home, my dad was always telling my mom: “woman, make me some popcorn.” My mom was like “okay” and would put this paper bag in the microwave and everyone was happy.
Asia got microwaves and microwave popcorn and although I didn’t have “woman, make me some popcorn” option, I learned how to put the package in the microwave.
Life wasn’t the same afterwards. Now, I find out that the alternative butter was actually toxic. This isn’t a political thread or one about corporate greed, but gee… Can you just imagine that some suit deciding that the extra stocks would be shipped overseas?
Somebody elsewhere mentioned that you can very easily have microwave popcorn by putting regular popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave. Is that true? Even if it is, Asia retailers do not offer a paper bag option and I don’t think a plastic bag would work.
Damn, I miss my hot air blower popcorn machine that got me through my university studies.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/study-finds-popcorn-butter-alternatives-also-toxic.php?campaign=th_rss_food
Just a few short years ago, famed popcorn label Orville Redenbacher said it would eliminate all diacetyl (the chemical in alternative butter that is linked with health problems in many workers, possibly a few deaths and destroying the lungs of popcorn addicts) from popcorn. Soon popcorn makers everywhere followed suit, removing diacetyl and replacing it with newer, safer butter alternatives. Turns out now those alternatives are really just another form of diacetyl and this time even the lawyers are agreeing, reports Sphere News.
The diacetyl alternatives, release diacetyl when they are heated or in the presence of water. Next, the diacetyl alternatives are considered a "natural material" which is great for all of those green marketing campaigns advertising popcorn with "newer, safer butter alternatives." A lawyer for the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association says he has encouraged manufacturers to not state that their products are diacetyl-free or to even use these alternatives, but without government regulation to back this up, these are merely suggestions. At this time, the Obama Administration is looking into it but has said they don't plan any results or decisions for another year. Manufacturers won't talk specifics on what they use for butter alternatives because competition in the popcorn market is fierce.
Workers exposed to diacetyl often come down with bronchiolitis obliterans, which destroys the small airways in the lungs. The only solution when a worker contracts it: a single or double lung bypass. Current Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says that this is inexcusable particularly because it is preventable. The Labor Department has new plans for worker health and safety, and specifically mentions eliminating diacetyl but those plans are still under review. In the meantime, maybe homemade popcorn with your own topping is best. :Sphere News
Yeah, microwave popcorn is expensive, but I always thought it was healthier than making popcorn on the stove with a little vegetable oil. I learned how to do that 40 years ago when my grandfather would make popcorn before playing dominoes with his three grandchildren and that is one of my favorite childhood memories.
In university, I had one of those hot air popcorn popper things. I lived through university because I could concentrate a little longer while munching on popcorn.
When I moved to Asia, I was still doing the stove top popcorn for many years because microwave popcorn hadn’t made its way here yet. But, when I would return home, my dad was always telling my mom: “woman, make me some popcorn.” My mom was like “okay” and would put this paper bag in the microwave and everyone was happy.
Asia got microwaves and microwave popcorn and although I didn’t have “woman, make me some popcorn” option, I learned how to put the package in the microwave.
Life wasn’t the same afterwards. Now, I find out that the alternative butter was actually toxic. This isn’t a political thread or one about corporate greed, but gee… Can you just imagine that some suit deciding that the extra stocks would be shipped overseas?
Somebody elsewhere mentioned that you can very easily have microwave popcorn by putting regular popcorn in a paper bag in the microwave. Is that true? Even if it is, Asia retailers do not offer a paper bag option and I don’t think a plastic bag would work.
Damn, I miss my hot air blower popcorn machine that got me through my university studies.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/study-finds-popcorn-butter-alternatives-also-toxic.php?campaign=th_rss_food
Just a few short years ago, famed popcorn label Orville Redenbacher said it would eliminate all diacetyl (the chemical in alternative butter that is linked with health problems in many workers, possibly a few deaths and destroying the lungs of popcorn addicts) from popcorn. Soon popcorn makers everywhere followed suit, removing diacetyl and replacing it with newer, safer butter alternatives. Turns out now those alternatives are really just another form of diacetyl and this time even the lawyers are agreeing, reports Sphere News.
The diacetyl alternatives, release diacetyl when they are heated or in the presence of water. Next, the diacetyl alternatives are considered a "natural material" which is great for all of those green marketing campaigns advertising popcorn with "newer, safer butter alternatives." A lawyer for the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association says he has encouraged manufacturers to not state that their products are diacetyl-free or to even use these alternatives, but without government regulation to back this up, these are merely suggestions. At this time, the Obama Administration is looking into it but has said they don't plan any results or decisions for another year. Manufacturers won't talk specifics on what they use for butter alternatives because competition in the popcorn market is fierce.
Workers exposed to diacetyl often come down with bronchiolitis obliterans, which destroys the small airways in the lungs. The only solution when a worker contracts it: a single or double lung bypass. Current Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says that this is inexcusable particularly because it is preventable. The Labor Department has new plans for worker health and safety, and specifically mentions eliminating diacetyl but those plans are still under review. In the meantime, maybe homemade popcorn with your own topping is best. :Sphere News