Most of us eat popcorn and we do love them much. And what's better is that there is nobody who can affirm that popcorn is bad for health – at least until now. Popcorn is thus set to remain king at movie theatres. But what about those nasty unpopped kernels that remain at the bottom of each and every popcorn pack?

Apart from being a source of annoyance, those unpopped kernels can break teeth, destroy fillings and cause choking. Although manufacturers have tried to locate the best corn species for less unpopped kernels, the problem perseveres.

And consequently, food chemist Dr. Bruce Hamaker, director of Purdue's Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, and his team of scientists have investigated the pop-ability of corns hoping to find answers to such questions as: "why do unpopped kernels occur in the first place?"

Dr. Hamaker and his team found that the main influence in pop-ability of corns is the chemical structure of the corn's pericarp, which is made partly of cellulose. During heating, the corn pericarp locks moisture inside the corn kernel. The heated moisture increases the pressure inside the corn until finally the kernel ruptures and pops. The kernel turns inside out to produce the white, yummy substance that we eat.

The best popping kernels comprise a stronger and more ordered crystalline arrangement of cellulose molecules than less abled popping kernels. In fact Dr. Hamaker and the team found that the stronger crystalline structures maximise moisture retention. Consequently the rupture is more complete and there are fewer unpopped kernels.

Dr. Hamaker thinks that the critical pop-ability properties of better popping kernels can be collected and induced in other corn plants, for better popcorns.

Popcorn manufacturers are very pleased with the research and they will probably release the popcorns, popped using Dr. Hamaker's data, in as little as 3 to 5 years.

So now we are heading for better popcorns thanks to science. And I still find it an extremely witty discovery: heating corn to get them pop into popcorn, in the first place. But why don't we just eat plain maize? Can science ever answer why humans like to be stupidly witty, if you know what I mean?

Other science issues (not too complicated don't you worry)
can be found at:

Not Scientific Science
Archive

NotScientific

01.09.05 Front Page

Back Issue Page