NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
August 24, 2000
You could always tell when college mid-term and final exams were taking place. You just listened for the familiar popping sound and followed your nose to the dorm lounge. Popcorn poppers were lined up, and so were the students with their bowls, books and caffeinated soft drinks.
There was Karla, the perpetual dieter, with her air popper, shaker of butter-flavored salt and water spray bottle to mist the popcorn so the bright yellow flavoring would stick. Somehow this amber-colored styrofoam-like snack even attracted some friends to her popper. Then there was Sally with her automatic buttering popper. She always made extra because she loved stale popcorn the next day. She was very disappointed when she found my leftover popcorn in the trash, but at least she didn’t pick it out. I don’t think so anyway.
Americans eat over 17 billion quarts of popped popcorn annually. That amounts to about 68 quarts of popcorn per person. Popcorn poppers have come a long way since ancient times when sand was heated in a fire and kernels of popcorn were stirred in and allowed to pop. Some tribes in the Americas dating back at least 1500 years used large clay pots to pop corn. Colonial housewives popped corn in the fireplace in metal cages and served it with sugar and cream for breakfast.
The first commercial mobile popcorn popping machine was invented in 1885. Home poppers arrived on the scene in the mid-1920s. By the mid 1940s, popcorn was used in the initial testing of the heating properties of microwave energy, which opened the doors for the development of the microwave oven. The microwave popcorn business amounts to at least a quarter billion dollars per year.
Here’s a tasty recipe adapted from a website that’s all about popcorn, www.popcorn.org.
Crunchy Popcorn Treat
Ingredients:
4 quarts popped popcorn
1 cup unsalted cocktail peanuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juiceProcedure:
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Add popped popcorn, peanuts and raisins. Combine honey, water and lemon juice in a pan. Bring to a boil, cook and stir until mixture reaches 250 F using a candy thermometer, or the hard ball stage. Pour mixture over popcorn and mix thoroughly. Place in buttered jelly roll pan or two cake pans. Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes 16 1-cup servings.
A serving of Crunchy Popcorn Treat (about 1/16 of the recipe) contains about 175 calories, 5 grams of fat and 2.3 grams of fiber. Popcorn varies in calories and fat depending on how it’s prepared. Air-popped popcorn contains about 30 calories per cup, oil-popped popcorn contains about 55 calories per cup and lightly-buttered popcorn contains about 120 calories per cup.
Popcorn is different from other kinds of corn in the ratio of protein to starch in the kernel and in the chemistry of the starch that’s contained. In order for popcorn to pop, it must contain about 11 to 14 percent moisture. During heating the water becomes steam and the pressure created leads to a bursting of the protein layer around the starch. The small explosions literally turn popcorn kernels inside out and result in the popular fluffy white snack.
Popcorn is a good source of complex carbohydrates or starch. Starch provides energy with little fat, unless you go heavy on the added butter. As a cereal grain, popcorn is part of the base of the Food Guide Pyramid, along with bread, rice and pasta.
Dietary fiber is found in foods such as whole grains (including popcorn), nuts, cooked dry edible beans, fruits and vegetables. Dietary fiber contains no calories because it comes from the parts of plants that are not digestible by the enzymes in our intestinal tracts. Insoluble fiber, a type found in whole grain foods, can help prevent constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulosis, a condition that leads to painful pouches in the intestines. Dietary fiber also may reduce our risk of some types of cancer, such as colon cancer.
As part of a diet low in saturated fat, water-soluble fiber -- found in foods such as oatmeal, carrots, apples and some dried fruits -- can lower cholesterol levels and may have a protective effect against heart disease. While there’s no official recommendation, adults should aim for 20 to 35 grams of fiber per day. Most Americans consume 14 grams per day or less. The suggestion for children is "age plus five" (so a 10 year old should eat 15 grams of fiber per day).
Nutrition labels give us clues about fiber content. A food product labeled "high fiber" contains at least 5 grams of fiber per serving. A "good source" of fiber contains 2.5 to 4.9 grams of fiber per serving. Read the Nutrition Facts panel to help you get the fiber you need.
Enjoy this slightly sweet crunchy treat. In fact, some college student you know might enjoy a care package even before mid-term or final exams.
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Source: Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629