Some day soon we might be making popcorn with infrared poppers

There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the cracks in 2022, each day from December 25 through January 5. Today: Researchers figured out how to make tasty popcorn with infrared cooking.

Most of the time, we use counter-top air poppers or microwaves to make popcorn. According to a September paper in the journal, there is a viable alternative to cooking with fire.

Popcorn is the only grain in the corn family that pops when heat is applied. The pericarp is a tough outer shell that contains the germ and endosperm. Popcorn needs about 14 percent water to pop, so trapped water is held by the latter.

The pressure inside the pericarp increases as the water inside the endosperm becomes hot. The snack we know and love is solidified when the pressure gets high enough to cause the pericarp to break. A popped kernel is larger than the original one.

Last year, the Iran Research Organization for Science and Technology in Tehran was able to demonstrate the proof of principle for their popcorn-making method. When using this method, a heat source like fire, gas or energy waves is in direct contact with the food, instead of a heating element like a pan or grill grate. It's similar to cooking food over a fire. Fans say that this method is fast, energy efficient, and eco-friendly when compared to other heating methods.

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It's already used for a lot of things, including heating, drying, roasting, cooking, baking, and even Microbial Decontamination. The popularity of the grill is increasing. Is it possible to make popcorn with all the desirable characteristics we love and convince us to switch from microwaveable brands? It might be possible.

The popcorn grains were put into a Pyrex petri dish with a bit of oil inside a chamber that was equipped with two lamps and a power supply. The corn was held close to the lamps. The popcorn was popped and the samples were taken away. Scientists took pictures of the popcorn for a better look at it. The samples were 10 cm away from the lamps and the highest popping yield was 100 percent.

Would consumers enjoy it? The paper takes a closer look at how the continuous cooking process affects key features of popcorn, including color, shape, odor, taste, and texture, all of which contribute to the sensory pleasures of popcorn. The final popcorn products were evaluated by a panel of taste testers on a scale of 1 to 5.

700 W power yielded the highest yield of fully or semi-popped popcorn. The highest ratings were given by the sensory panel, who identified the batches with the best color, taste, and firmness. The authors said that the IR expansion method is very efficient in the popcorn popping process. Maybe in the future, our kitchen gadgets will include popcorn poppers.

The journal of food science and technology is published by the American Chemical Society. About DOIs can be found at 10.1021/acsfoodscitech.