1y ago

YSK: If you make popcorn in a pot on the stove, the oil to use is ghee.

Ghee, or Indian-style clarified butter, is butter that's been simmered and the milk solids (proteins and sugars) skimmed off. This leaves a clear yellow oil that doesn't smoke when it's heated and doesn't go rancid quickly, but has a distinct toasty butter flavor.

Popcorn fans often want a buttery flavor, but plain butter is a bad choice for popping popcorn in a pot, because the proteins and sugars smoke and burn around the same temperature where it's hot enough to pop the kernels.

Vegetable oil is either flavorless or faintly bitter, and some high-temperature vegetable oils tend to start polymerizing (i.e. becoming plastic) when heated in small amounts. This is also not good for popcorn.

Good-quality popcorn popped in ghee reliably produces lots of "butterfly" popcorn with few unpopped "duds" and no scorched kernels or batches ruined by smoke.

Try it! I'm sure not going back to canola oil.

106 comments

smacks forehead
That is a great idea! Coconut oil was ok,but kinda odd-flavored for popcorn ...
- Since ghee is so expensive, I usually do coconut oil and ghee mixed!
  I love ghee on my stovetop popcorn! A wok works great!
  
  Dude, my mom makes ghee out of milk. It costs literally nothing
  
  Go to youtube and watch how to make ghee. It's quite simple. I use butter to make mine. I won't buy expensive storebought again because it's so cheap and simple to make.
- Sorry for the hijack, but the post I see above this comment is some baseball scores. Twins @ Braves. Using Lemmy.world in a web browser. What's going on?
  This is the URL: https://lemmy.world/post/661229?scrollToComments=true
  
  It's a bot. I kept getting it too and there are identical ones for other teams.
  Here's how I blocked it. Click on the community listed next to the (bot) username. Then on that page block the community. It should be on the upper part on the right close to where it says join the community.
  I had like three bot baseball communities that I blocked.
  
  It's another websocket related bug that's already been fixed! lemmy.world is currently out of date, however. If you want to get rid of it, either wait for Ruud to push the update, or switch instances.

Avocado oil is great for popcorn. It doesn't add any flavor but I love the resulting texture: very crisp and clean. I like using red or blue corn because the contrast is visually appealing. You want long, skinny kernels to get the butterfly popcorn. Personally I'm crazy for cheesy popcorn, and the secret there is to find cheese powder with some savory herbs like oregano. I also love to do it with Kashmiri (floral hot Indian chili) powder.
Important edit: Do NOT under any circumstance use chili popcorn to spice up Netflix & Chill. This is a snack for lonely degenerates who don't even masturbate daily any more. It's for watching war documentaries and French New Wave, not pervy cartoons and superhero throwdowns with a plot designed to be ignored while you finger your frenemies. You won't look worldly and sophisticated while you're driving somebody to the fucking hospital. Be responsible.
- Burlap and barrel has a black lime and a black urfa chili that are just fantastic on popcorn.
- You can also get brewers yeast
- Someone's speaking from experience..

Never tried Ghee. I usually use canola, coconut, or bacon grease. I'm up for more buttery flavor though. Thanks!
- Bacon grease sounds incredible. How much of the flavor ends up in the popcorn?
  
  It's subtle, but I only use just enough to pop the kernels. I also have a jar of it by the stove most of the time.
  
  Sounds a bit like that bacon popcorn...

Olive oil here. The market nearby doesn't sell canola oil because it was never popular. MSG is also great on popcorn.
- Nutritional yeast is also amazing. Gives it a cheesy flavor, and it's healthy to boot!
  
  Nutritional yeast, chicken salt, and ghee for the oil is my go to. Absolutely delicious.
  
  I second that comment.
  It's been about two decades since I've gone there, but the Landmark Cinemas in the San Diego area had nutritional yeast for your popcorn, right there in the station where you pump your own butter and grab napkins. Curious, I gave it a try...
  For the past twenty years (give or take), a can of Bragg's Nutritional Yeast has been an ever-present staple in the kitchen, which I use to season popcorn, as well as slightly charred tortillas with either butter or avocado.
- Olive oil has a very distinct olive flavour and is generally not advised to heat up to much, since it gets carcinogenic

…holy shit you’re a genius.
- **gheenius
  
  Ugh. That was so bad. I love that for you.

I've always just used avocado oil. Sometimes coconut oil but that obviously leaves a faint hint of coconut that not everyone likes. I'll try ghee next time but I never heard of anyone trying to make pop corn with just butter in the pan. That sounds like a mistake folks only make once! lol
- The makers of my commercial-grade popper recommend coconut oil. Like you, I am interested in trying ghee. It's good to just have a bottle of that stuff handy for lots of things.
  
  I think ghee is clarified butter.

Don't some companies sell "popcorn oil"? What is that made of?
- Oil and artificial flavors. I've tried a lot of them and none of them have a "real" butter flavor. It's more of a greasy feel than taste.
- soybean oil, usually. and diacetyl can be added as a buttery flavoring.
  fun fact: diacetyl inhaled in large enough doses can cause bronchitis. this was a problem in popcorn facilities, hence the term "popcorn lung"

For any dairy intolerant or vegan people here you can get a similar effect by clarifying a vegetable spread like Flora and adding salt until it tastes ‘buttery’ enough for you
- Exactly. And don't use the vegan butter to pop the corn, just use some neutral vegetable oil like rapeseed oil there. After the corns have popped, just melt the vegan butter in a pan and drip it over your popcorn.

Ghee sounds awesome for popcorn! I use refined coconut oil and Flavacol at the moment.

We use non-virgin olive oil. High smoke point, but good flavor.

Oh, that’s brilliant! We got a whirly-pop last Christmas and have just been using generic vegetable oil but it definitely doesn’t improve the taste any. Looking forward to trying this.

I use bacon grease.

After reading this post a few days back, I was inspired to get some Ghee and try it out. Absolutely delicious, thank you @fubo@lemmy.world!

Also, as far as i know, you can buy the same seasoning they put on the popcorn at the theaters. Its called flavacol.
Also, beware of bagged popcorn a lot of the bags contain PFAS, which is supposedly bad for you.

Coconut oil

That’s great and all, but if any discussion about popcorn on the stove doesn’t involve Flavicol, it’s simply incomplete.

Oh, that’s brilliant! We got a whirly-pop last Christmas and have just been using generic vegetable oil but it definitely doesn’t improve the taste any. Looking forward to trying this.

Oh, that’s brilliant! We got a whirly-pop last Christmas and have just been using generic vegetable oil but it definitely doesn’t improve the taste any. Looking forward to trying this.

"Ghee!"
"No, Ghee-T-E."
(that's not how it's pronounced.)
(Silence!)

Oh, that’s brilliant! We got a whirly-pop last Christmas and have just been using generic vegetable oil but it definitely doesn’t improve the taste any. Looking forward to trying this.

Oh, that’s brilliant! We got a whirly-pop last Christmas and have just been using generic vegetable oil but it definitely doesn’t improve the taste any. Looking forward to trying this.

I prefer to airpop it in the microwave and then spritz EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) on afterwards. EVOO is delicious, and unrefined oils like EVOO retain more flavor if you don't heat them.

I tried ghee, it tasted awful. Butter flavored coconut oil is where it's at.

Peanut Oil is the answer. High smoke point, taste negligible.
- Not buttery
  Although it probably doesn't kill the housemate with the peanut allergy, it makes them very uncomfortable and possibly costs them a significant medical bill.
  
  I add butter back into the pot after popping to melt (add flavours), then pour on popcorn.
  
  Should note that refined peanut oil will not cause allergic reactions in the majority of peanut allergy sufferers (although it really isn’t worth risking).

yall are burning your butter?
- Well how else are we gonna make our burnt butter biscuits?? Lol

And if youre a terrible cook (like me), throwing the kernals in a paper lunch bag & throwing it in the microwave for 3 minutes makes perfect popcorn (and does so without covering your kitchen in oil splatter/ annoying your neighbors with smoke detectors going off.)
Lol sorry. Thanks for the ghee suggestion! It sounds awesome & im excited to try it!
- I'm sorry, what now??
  
  Sounds like a roll-your-own microwave popcorn bag. Intriguing.

@fubo
I agree. Ghee is very nice for popcorn. And for everyone who isn't into milk products, vegetable ghee has the same qualities and flavor profile.
- what is vegetable ghee?
  
  @xuxebiko https://roshnisanghvi.com/blogs/nutrition-tips/top-3-vegan-butter-or-ghee-alternatives
  Next time use a search engine of your choice
  @fubo

Hello.
Could you please add a "Why YSK:" to your post? It's rule #2. :)

~~Is this a protip to make popcorn more enjoyable when Reddit goes to shit on the 1st of July? 😅~~
So store bought ready to pop microwaveable "buttered" popcorn is not with ghee, right?
- No, it's not made with ghee. Microwave popcorn "butter" is typically artificially flavored oil.

Ghee is not an oil. Other than that I agree.
- You mean you aghee? I'll show myself out.

wait how can it be indian butter I thought they don't exploit cows there
- No, most Indians aren't vegan, just vegetarian. They just don't kill cows (and this isn't universal, some areas don't care).
  
  But I thought Indians were a monolith
- They just leave them to suffer of malnutrition and disease in the streets. Good thing they don’t exploit them!

YSK: Cows are raped & slaughtered for butter
- YSK: I did not ask
- explain
  
  In order for a cow to produce milk it must be pregnant or recently pregnant, then once it gets older and starts producing less milk it will be slaughtered.
  _{the more you know!}~
- why are you minimizing rape & sexual assault?
  
  Being against sexual assault of cows minimizes it how?
- Cows can be raped?
  Do we send cow rapists to cow jail? If a cow is in a field with a bull, do we arrest the bull pre- or post- mount?
  
  Come the fuck on buddy, obviously they are talking about humans forcefully impregnating cows to force them to produce milk.
  Humans have the capability to understand the consequences of our actions, other animals don't.
- butter is made from raped & dead cows?
- Even on the fediverse people absolutely refuse to hear about the animal abuse they support everyday..
  Come the fuck on people, stop being reactionary and think about it for a minute.
  
  The point is to be conscious about the shit you're eating and where it comes from, not to demonize butter or animal products on the whole. Factory farming is a horrid practice that I don't support but I've worked with local livestock outfits for 15 years and see the care they put into production. Not every pound of butter is wrought on a life of pure suffering, and to reject the fundamental role of death in life's process is just a bizarre and sterile approach to living.

106 comments