Who eats popcorn when it's still unpopped?

Plot Device

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Seriously!!

I bought a box of microwave popcorn packages last night (something I never buy) because I decided I've been snacking WAAAAYYY to much lately and I need to lose some weight. So today instead of reaching for a bag of Christmas cookies, I opened the box of popcorn packets and tossed one into the microwave.

As it was popping I took the time to read the nutitional inforrmation chart to count how many calories I'd be taking in via one bag of popcorn.

Now, most of us (especially Americans) have seen these nutrition charts. And they typically have TWO columns, such as breakfast cereal charts. There are always TWO columns on the breakfast cereal chart: one column itemizing all the vitamins and calories if you have a dry serving WITHOUT milk, and then the other column itemizing the same info if you eat the same serving WITH the milk. Nothing unreasonabe about that kind of a delineation.

So anyway, this popcorn box had TWO columns: one column is if you eat the popcorn popped, and the other if you eat it unpopped.







What????? :Wha:




Accoring to the chart, here's the difference in calories:

Amount per serving ....... Unpopped ........ Popped
Calories ........................... 180 .................. 40
Calories from Fat ............... 100 .................. 25



But does ANYONE eat popcorn unpopped??

Now I'm not talking about people who bite down on one or two of the greasy, leftover, unpopped kernels found at the bottom of the bowl after the popped stuff has already been eaten. I'm talking about eating the entire package completely unpopped.






Does ANYONE really do that??



.
 

roncouch

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Yes, I had a pet chicken named Jack who loved unpopped corn:)

Unfortunately I had a neighbor who loved chicken and he ate Jack.
 

benbradley

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It's for measuring purposes, you know, like one cup of X has X calories "as packaged" or "as prepared".
In other words, you're saying the "unpopped" column is required by law. As a practical matter, this makes no sense at all since no one would eat popcorn unpopped (or could? those kernels are too hard to bite open, at least after heating!), but when seen through "the eyes of the law" it makes perfect sense in that "it's the law that the nutritional value of the contents 'as packaged' must be listed."

How's that quip go, the law is an ass?
 

Fraulein

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If I were to tell you, then that would be cheating
I think it has more to do with the fact that the company suggests that the product should be altered in such a way prior to consumption, i.e. cooking, popping, shelling, or peeling. If the only way that they suggest that you eat their product is "as packaged", then they probably won't be supplying two nutritional charts.

ETA: Think about the volume differences between popped and unpopped popcorn and the fact that you're measuring the popcorn in cups.
 
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benbradley

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Does anyone think it odd that the unpopped popcorn has four times the amount calories as the popped? Where does all the fat go when you pop it?
I can think of a couple of things - much of the fat is in the oil, and as the corn is popped much of the oil is splattered around and impregnated in the bag, which (most) people don't eat.

But there's also "serving size" which I'd guess is one cup. The whole unpopped popcorn and oil will fit on one cup (and again, who would consume this?), but when popped it fills several cups, so the popped "official serving size for one serving" is a much smaller amount.

Think of it as devolution government in action.