Hey all,
Been wanting to reduce the amount of waste I generate, and one small way I was thinking of doing so was perhaps by reheating the unpopped popcorn kernels that appear in the bottom of my bowl after making a batch with my air popper.
Would this be safe to do, or is it recommended against? I’d love to reuse them if possible and ensure I have no unneeded waste there, but I also want to make sure I’m not making myself sick by eating something I shouldn’t be.
Thanks in advance!
You must log in or register to comment.
I don’t think there would be anything harmful if you tried, but it might just flat out not work. My understanding is that the kernels that end up not popping probably just aren’t able to. There’s a certain amount of moisture that needs to be inside the kernels in order for them to pop. If that moisture level isn’t right then it won’t go off. So the fact that they didn’t already pop, probably means they can’t.
I do this all of the time. You are partially right. You have to keep a close eye on it and stop popping earlier, otherwise they burn.
I’m unsure if it’s unsafe. The kernals are safe at room temperature, but once they’ve been heated, they could become unsafe?
Surprisingly, my food manager safety test did not cover this.
It did cover to never touch turtles then food.
My main concern would be the kernals might simply not want to pop, either from being stale or the previous heating process made the water inside escape but not explode the kernal, so there’s no more left to make it explode now.
It is unsafe at room temp. Kernals and grains must always be cooked before eating. They are prone to deadly Bacillus bacteria strains.
It’s not waste, it’s compost.
Any leftover food stuff can be turned into useful fertilizer. Check you local community to find people who collect it.
Separate your trash and store it in an airtight container.
There is still waste involved into putting edible food in the compost. Growing, packaging, and transporting food all consume resources that go to waste if the food is not eaten.
Are unpopped popcorn kernels a significant source of uneaten food? Debatable.
Here’s a trick I like.
Get a liter sized container. Any time you chop veggies put the unused bits in the container and freeze it. When it’s full use that to make soup stock.
Yep, then the solids get strained out and composted, or if you have chickens they love it.
Uncooked grains and corn kernals are prone to several bacillus bacterial strains which can be fatal.
Cooking them makes them safe in almost all cases, as long as they reach the correct internal temperatures and stay hot for some time.
Even after cooking, if it tastes even a little wrong then toss it anyways.
…i eat uncooked oats (steel cut or rolled) occasionally, and they’re a staple ingredient in muesli as well: is that a dicey practice?..
Rolled Oats, Cut Oats, and Instant Oats are all steam treated and dried (I think…) which should remove any chance of contamination, but if they stay unsealed for a long time or are in contact with moisture or oils then it would carry some risks.
Why would you even think this was unsafe? What’s the concern? Are you talking about returning the unpopped kernels to storage and popping them later or do you mean right away?
Sometimes I get the time wrong on my microwave and wind up with a lot of unpopped kernels. So when I get to the bottom of the bowl and see how much extra there is, I put them back in. The only problem is you have to watch them carefully. They have a tendency to burn if you don’t stop cooking right when your running out.
I should probably note that in not popping microwave popcorn, I’m popping regular popcorn in a special bowl in the microwave.
If they became coal, toss them. If you collected them last week, toss them, because the oil will go bad. Otherwise should be safe, they are dry so they cannot grow fungus or bacteria.
Y’all don’t eat those too? They’re delicious and extra crunchy.
If you just did a batch and want to add the unpopped to a second batch, it is perfectly fine.
