Not Every Kernel Pops . . . The First Time

Here's one off the political grind. After viewing an interesting website, wastedfood.com, I began to ponder an offbeat conversation with a friend about the wasted unpopped kernels left in a microwave popcorn bag after popping.

My popcorn of choice is slightly burned. Unpopped kernels still remain in most bags after over-cooking the contents. In the course of a recent conversation, I made the stance that one could always roll up the bag and send it back through the microwave for round two.

My oppositional defiant friend responded in gospel-like fashion, "My Mama says you can't do that. It's bad for you, and it won't pop."

According to www.wastedfood.com there are consequences of wasted food associated with the many ways Americans waste it. Here's an important point author Jonathan Bloom makes in his May 23 blog from wastedfood.com:

"Food waste and water loss are linked. The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) alerted me to this troubling link in their recently released study:

In the US, for instance, as much as 30 percent of food, worth some USD 48.3 billion, is thrown away. That’s like leaving the tap running and pouring 40 trillion litres of water into the garbage can - enough water to meet the household needs of 500 million people."

I find no written evidence that re-popped popcorn kernels are detrimental to health. I re-pop all the time, and it pops with a slightly well roasted flavor. My rule of thumb is, when you smell the bag and/or hear no kernels, it's time to bring it out.

Somewhere between a half and one cup of popcorn can be revived out of a previously popped bag. And many a mama has said, "Don't waste your food. It ain't right."