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Do you crave a big bucket of popcorn when you go to the movies? How about at home when you fire up your DVD player to watch a late-night flick with your sweetie?
As it turns out, popcorn is one of the healthiest snacks you can eat (far healthier than the much-touted edamame) and polyphenols are the reason why.
Polyphenols are a type of chemical found in plant foods that help neutralize free radicals, those nasty little baddies that damage your cells and contribute to rapid aging.
Popcorn has one of the highest levels of polyphenols of any plant food – including most fruit!
According to Joe Vinson, Ph.D., professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton:
“Popcorn has more antioxidants in total than other snack foods that you can consume and it also has quite a bit of fiber.”
While the fiber aspect of popcorn is not particularly impressive to me as fiber is not necessarily a good thing in large quantities (people just need so much of it as they are typically so constipated from their lousy diets), the polyphenol aspect of the research is indeed compelling and should encourage folks to fire up that popcorn maker more often.
Don’t Buy Microwave or Processed Popcorn
As with any food, preparation and sourcing are critical, so don’t run out to the supermarket and load up on microwave popcorn after reading this post. It also would be wise to avoid popcorn at the movies as the synthetic factory fats and processed salt used to flavor the popcorn is less than ideal and overrides any benefit of the popcorn itself!
One other type of popcorn to skip: popcorn in snack bags specifically packaged for lunchboxes which are loaded with all manner of chemicals and synthetics for flavoring and coloring.
The healthiest popcorn is made yourself the old fashioned way on the stovetop. Popcorn makers are ok too, but in my experience, the stove is just as fast and easy with less cleanup. Popcorn is so cheap, most people will find that a nice big bag of organic kernels easily fits into even the tightest of food budgets.
The best oils to cook your popcorn in include homemade ghee or a quality brand of expeller-pressed coconut oil.
After popping, sprinkle with a good quality sea salt to complete your delicious and healthful snack. Some folks I know sprinkle with nutritional yeast powder for a nice boost of B vitamins.
Even though homemade popcorn is a fantastic and healthy snack choice, don’t overdo it. Corn that is not soaked or sprouted prior to cooking contains anti-nutrients that can inflame digestion if consumed to excess.
By the way, if someone in your family is allergic to corn, try popped sorghum. It looks and tastes the same, just smaller kernels.
How to Make Stovetop Popcorn (Video)
Below is a video I filmed for the Weston A. Price Foundation on Healthy Snacks. Click here for a transcript if you don’t prefer videos. The video includes a segment on making healthy popcorn. This visual can be helpful if you’ve never made it on the stovetop before. This is the healthiest way to enjoy it!
Organic, preferably heirloom corn kernels popped on the stovetop is a great snack to pack in your children’s lunchboxes. It is very affordable and you can feel good about making it!
Source: Study: The Snack Loaded with Antioxidants
We have a stainless steel popper similar to this one: http://www.amazon.com/Lindys-Stainless-Popcorn-Popper-6-Quart/dp/B0034D5BIQ/ref=sr_1_18?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1345616689&sr=1-18
It’s great, and we think the popcorn tastes much better done that way than with an air popper.
Thanks for the good info Sarah. I think tomorrow we’ll enjoy some popcorn. Yum!
Hey, thx for that tip… I’ll have to get me one of those!
I second the recommendation of this type of popper. I tried for years to get consistent popping in a pan on the stovetop or over a fire and never got there. I’m not much for kitchen gadgets, but if you make popcorn a lot, these are well worth the investment. Most of them are constructed very poorly. The newest one we got, the Sweet and Easy Snack Machine seems heads above the rest in build quality. It’s stainless and direct drive instead of geared, which is where many of them go bad or catch a lot while turning. They are also good for roasting coffee.
As for Corn, organic, GMO and otherwise, corn is wind pollinated over long distances (2 miles). Since GMO corn is now ubiquitous, there is hardly such a thing as a safe zone for growing organic corn. Also, the quality of corn kernels is affected by the pollinator which is unusual for a plant. In other words, the color and flavor of the corn Kernel can be affected by the pollen it receives. Most seeds don’t show new traits until the plant is grown out from the fertilized seed. There are also reports that most Organic corn is already contaminated. It can be grown from a non-GMO variety, but pollination is an issue and unless the corn is genetically tested every generation, there is no telling that it is clean. So, you can see the boat we are in. It is probably that almost all of us are already eating at least a small amount of GMO corn. My girlfriend is trying to grow a number of heirloom corns and even here in the mountains we can’t be sure we have clean air. Our nearest neighbor less than 1/2 mile away just told us he’s growing corn from seeds his brother sent him. His brother works for a mega seed corporation. Bummer. Fortunately California is about to vote on a GMO labeling law and we’re hopeful it will pass. Its still too late to salvage the gene pool though. Ways could be found to grow clean seed, but not large scale crops for consumption.
I share your concerns Steve on the GMOs. I’m in CA and working on the campaign to label them. I’m not really a popcorn eater but I have noticed that Tropical Traditions sells popcorn. A lot of their stuff is grown specifically for them by farmers. Many of these farmers are in Wisconsin and farm in small isolated valleys where contamination is very unlikely. Let’s all hope that we can get this GMO labeling law passed and that that will help reduce the use of GMOs while we still have some uncontaminated seeds. If we totally pollute the supply in the US we do have some hope that we can still get non GMO seed from countries that have banned them but I hear that contaminated seeds are “accidentally” being sent to them as well.
Question: I use the microwave to pop organic popcorn in virgin coconut oil. I’m interested in getting and air popper but if I remember, they seem aluminum-y inside. What kind of metal do they use inside them? I burn my popcorn when it’s on the stove so I need either microwave or air pop.
a good popper will be stainless steel.
Please, suggest one. I haven’t been able to find one yet.
I found this article exciting as I love popcorn (though my body doesn’t). I had heard from the traditional food community that it was not good for you I guess because it can’t be soaked etc and that it was hard on the digestive system. I heard it should be eaten sparingly if at all.
Definitely not healthy. Disappointing to see this post.
I love homemade popcorn! I remember several years ago when I finally switched from the microwave garbage, I actually had to google ‘how to make popcorn on the stove.’ Thought my late grandmother would have gotten a kick out of that one. I pop mine in either coconut oil (ex. press) or ghee and sometimes use a little bacon fat from drippings from good, pastured bacon. Delicious! My favorite topping is celtic salt and a drizzle of raw apple cider vinegar. Kind of reminds me of salt and vinegar chips. Soooooo yummy!!!
I have a Paramount glass popcorn popper for the microwave which use NO OIL! It is wonderful and will never again pop corn in oil….but of course then I drizzle melted REAL butter over top and season with sea salt…..Not just any popcorn will do either…I buy an Amish version that is medium hulless…AHHHH…the grandbabies call it Mimi’s Special popcorn. It doesn’t get any better than that.
I’m glad you’re using real butter, and have found an easy way to pop popcorn… But using a microwave is never a good idea. Please do some research on them! They’re very “easy to use”, but SO bad. I’m sorry to be negative… It just kills me when I hear people are using microwaves.
Would love to have some facts on the microwave. I can’t seem to find anything that proves either way. Anyone have anything?
Oh, he has some leaky gut, too. Working on healing the gut. Once it’s healed and florishing with good bacteria, he may be able to enjoy corn again without the negative effects. But for now we will do without or with very little. Even after, it will still be a blue moon treat. With most american’s on a american diet having leaky gut and systemic yeast, probably not the best to recommend this as a healthy- good for you- snack that you don’t have to worry about eating.
Some folks have issues with corn due to imbalanced guts. This doesn’t make corn the bad guy; it just means work on rebalancing the gut is in order.
I really love a lot a of these recipes. I agree that corn is no good. Any grain that is puffed by air becomes toxic to the body HOWEVER you have given me lots of snack ideas for myself and my little ones and I really enjoyed the video.
Corn has gotten a bad rap due to GMO corn and overfeeding of corn to livestock. People like to deal in extremes. Fact is, there is nothing wrong with corn. I love corn and it is indeed a traditional food and very healthy when source properly (organic or nonGMO) and prepared correctly and eaten in moderation if not sprouted or soaked first.
Tradition is a relative term. We have been on earth for 7 million years. We started eating corn only in the past 7 to 10 thousand. Organic or not, once you boil, roast, pop, fry or any of a number of cooking methods, you have damaged, beyond repair, all of the critical nutrient molecules rendering only a starch product.
Once again: that is so freakin’ not true. Get a clue already.
Roxanne – You could do us all a great service if you simply provided evidence agaisnt what I am saying. You tell us when we started harvesting corn – a million ys ago? 2? 5? how about as soon as we started walking up right?
I am clueless, so give me (us?) the clue.
And then explain to us what happens to the molecules inside corn at certain temps – tell us something other than I am wrong.
@Oliver, GO AWAY!!!!!
Thanks, Oliver. Science over fantasy is my goal and I appreciate any educated explanation to how I can stay healthy. I want to actually know the truth, not what someone wants to believe despite the facts. Sure hope one day we can figure out exactly what’s good for us and what isn’t. Sounds like we’ll all be eating raw food. I’m good with the raw veges but the protein is hard. Gave up raw oysters because of the bacteria? Now wondering if that was the right thing to do. Haven’t been able to try any other raw protein yet but I expect the day will come. Thanks again, and thanks for sticking it out despite all the less-than-educated and sometimes mean-spirited comments.
oliver, thanx you so much, iv been feeling this way for a long time. i even cook my eggs on super low, take a half hour to cook em lol… im going to look up that site you were talking about . i cant wait to watch you and your buddys change the way we think of food.. its about damn time !!!