Sunday, November 06, 2011

Mary Pops Popcorn in a Brown Paper Bag

Mary makes popcorn in a brown bag. She puts 1/4 cup of loose popcorn kernels in a 5 1/8 x 3 3/8 x 10 5/8 inch brown paper bag, a lunch bag that you buy in a package of 50. After adding the popcorn to the bag, she folds over the top a couple of times, and sticks it in the microwave. If you want oil, you can pour a little into the bag over the corn before you close up the bag and pop it. But I don't pour in the oil anymore.

I used to think that I was fine with the microwave popcorn packages that came in boxes that said "94% Fat Free Butter." But I don't anymore since Carol got back from Austin about 6 weeks ago.

Six weeks or so ago, Carol attended an Engine 3 Immersion program in Austin with Mary Ann. She learned that you shouldn't eat oil at all, whether plant-based or not. She also learned not to trust what's written on the front of boxes containing food. She said you had to read what is on the back of the box or package.

On the back of the Act II 94% Butter-Free box, I learned that it doesn't really say what "94% Fat Free Butter-Free" really means. What is the math all about here? Instead, I looked on that little label on the back, which a Democrat Congress sometime in the dim past probably required the food industry to apply, and it indicates that there is a good deal of fat left in the packages. So now I fix popcorn in the form of loose kernels in a brown bag as Mary does, and I don't use any oil.

(It's probably unfair to say that but for the Democrats, food labels would be a complete pack of lies. What I really think is that it was a compromise. The politicians, both Republican and Democrat, told the food industry that they could say whatever they want to say on the front of the box, provided that they at least approach the truth on the back. There is even trickery on the back of the box, but if you know the tricks, then you can pretty much figure it out, as Carol and Mary Ann learned in Austin.)

As I go through yet another of these food sea-changes in my life (not sea-food changes; I don't eat sea-food anymore. I'm talking about popcorn here.), I thought I would read about how much popcorn cost. Carol would bring home from Publix for Mary's visits Orville Redenbacher's Original Popcorn Kernels, in the 30 oz. Jar, plus the paper bags. One would think that he could certainly trust Orville to be fair on the cost side.

Orville's popcorn on Amazon costs about 21 cents an ounce, if you are a Prime customer and don't have to pay postage.

Amazon also carries, however, Arrowhead Mills Organic Popcorn, sells it in a pack of six 28 oz. packages , and the cost of the corn is about 11 cents an ounce. Plus the popcorn pops into bigger popped kernels, there are significantly fewer unpopped kernels left in the the bag, and it tastes better than Orville's.

2 comments:

Lindsay said...

We are all about the hot air popper at our house. Once we tried it, we couldn't go back.

Paul Stokes said...

That's good, Lindsay. People say there is a lot of hot air around our house, but I don't know what they are talking about.