What Makes Popcorn Pop?
Some engineers are interested in making sure
wholesome, nutritious food can get all the way
from the farm to your kitchen. The amount of
moisture in our food—fruits, meats, grains—is
important. Too much moisture will cause food to rot before it can be sold and eaten. Too
little moisture can also affect the quality of food, making it unappealing or even
unusable.
The amount of moisture in popcorn determines how well it pops. Make a guess: Will it
pop better if it’s pretty moist? Pretty dry? Or somewhere in between?
Materials:
Three popcorn batches – with different moisture contents
13.5% (ideal…should be the moisture content of popcorn kernels from the store)
< 13.5% (take popcorn kernels and “dry” in oven for a few hours)
> 13.5 % (soak popcorn kernels in water and let air-dry)
Three hot air popcorn poppers – will need access to electrical outlets
Oil – to help cook the popcorn
Waste bags
2 tables
Procedure/Demo/Expected Results:
1. Designate the first popper for “dry” popcorn; second popper for “ideal” popcorn; and third
popper for “wet” popcorn.
2. Follow the procedure for making popcorn with the poppers.
3. Be sure to watch the poppers!
• Dry popcorn – if the popcorn is too dry, it
won’t pop at all. If you let it sit in the
popper too long, it might burn. If it pops,
you can break it up between your fingers
and see it crumble. The popcorn will be
very crunchy and much smaller than the
normal popcorn.
• Ideal popcorn – normal, average popcorn
• Wet popcorn – this should pop easily.
Since there’s so much water in the
kernel, the popcorn pops violently and
does not retain a spherical shape. The
popped corn will be very squishy
between your fingers and very gummy.