Brown Bag Microwave Popcorn

I am not one who is overly concerned about the latest warnings on too much of this or that. The headlines might warn about the chemicals in basic house cleaning products, too many or not enough multivitamins, or the benefits or harm of red wine, but I generally don’t drastically change my lifestyle. Yes, I do buy organic sometimes, and sometimes not, and I am sure there are many ways I could be more health conscious. It’s just hard to react to every single warning out there. If you read long enough you’ll tie yourself in circles of confusion!

Saying that, I bring you today a tidbit that I read in the May 2012 issue of Martha Stewart Living under the heading of “the truth about toxins”. One item that surprised me belonged to the “Cut Back On'” category: microwave popcorn. Apparently there can be “chemicals used in grease-resistant food packaging, such as popcorn bags” (source Martha Stewart Living page 138, May 2012) which have led to health issues in laboratory studies. Who knew? Not me.

I’m sticking with the microwave (for now, please don’t tell me that will kill me too!), but changed the packaging for my son’s microwave popcorn and gave the plain brown bag a try. Surprise, it worked! I used a 1/4 cup of corn kernels and popped the corn for a minute and a half, or until the sound of corn popping spread out to a few seconds between each pop. This made plenty of popcorn for an afternoon snack—too much really—next time I’ll use fewer corn kernels.
    
We ate the popcorn plain but it would taste even better with some melted butter and a hint of salt. I’m sure I’ll save a few pennies by using brown bags and corn kernels instead of the pre-packaged microwave bags. Better yet, I might cut back on some unnecessary chemicals in our life too.

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