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Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

uclahealth.org

351–360 of 430 posts

Re: Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

#351

Best popcorn you can make is cheap and easy cleanup. Take one large pot (the kind that holds like 10qts). Cover the bottom with kernels. Add a bit of oil, basically just enough to swirl and have everything covered in an oil sheen, not enough to have them submerged. Cover, put on high (I use gas). I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water. Once popping slows,…

I do this all the time. I never liked microwave popcorn because all of it has a strange odor and taste to me.

> I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water.

Brilliant! I never thought of this, and I'm going to start doing doing it. Thank you!

Re: Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

#352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of interest, why do you prefer a salt grinder? I've never understood why these exist. Pepper grinders, absolutely - the aromatics are released on grinding. By not so with salt. Curious if I'm missing something.

In my neck of the woods, unground salt is much, much cheaper than ground. Ground salt can basically be only found coming in a plastic dispenser. It could be argued that throwing all these plastic containers away isn't great for the environment. I only realize that I've never thought of comparing, but I've got the habit of using unground salt when cooking. My grandmother used to do this for some reason, so I picked it…

> In my neck of the woods, unground salt is much, much cheaper than ground.

In my neck of the woods, unground salt is the most expensive kind, because the only place you can find it is in upscale gourmet stores.

Re: Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

#353

Best popcorn you can make is cheap and easy cleanup. Take one large pot (the kind that holds like 10qts). Cover the bottom with kernels. Add a bit of oil, basically just enough to swirl and have everything covered in an oil sheen, not enough to have them submerged. Cover, put on high (I use gas). I like to suspend a paper towel between the lid and the rest of the pot, absorbs excess oil and water. Once popping slows,…

I'm a "heat kernels to just below popping and then pop" fan, since trying this method a decade ago. The goal is to get all the kernels to pop in a relatively short window, so nothing sits there to burn. Method: - Prepare: Measure out 1/3 cup of popcorn and have a serving bowl ready. - Add high temp oil to the pot. I use 1-2tbs of coconut oil. - Place in stock pot along with 3 kernels over medium high heat. - Cover wi…

With this method, the popping is reasonably quick, and the temperature fairly consistent, so, despite the advice seemingly everywhere in the internet, high temp oil isn’t actually necessary. Be careful and you can use olive oil (though that tastes a bit weird) or even butter.

Re: Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

#354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> throw most trash in a landfill. Is this some stranhe double-hypocracy? If 3M put their crap is a properly contained landfill, millions of people wouldn't be poisoned! 'Sins of the consumer' is a toxic ideology!

If you want to be proactive about problems you need the political will to create and enforce rules. But nobody votes for rules that make people’s lives worse now, but future generations lives better. You can’t just blame rich people for that. The political will didn’t exist for pfas back then, and it doesn’t exist for things like water scarcity, or antibiotic resistance, or e-waste today.

Knowingly poisoning people is a criminal offence, and always was. They knew their workers were dying from it, they had done studies that show it’s toxic.

No new laws are needed.

This is not the case of finding loopholes in laws or pushing a problem off to the next generation, like climate change.

This is a corporation profiting off someone’s death and getting away with it.

Re: Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

#356
post #157
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

pre-ground salt often contains sugar (as an ingredient, it's on the package).

I've never seen this, this would lead to some sticky salt. Usually you see anti-caking agents and Iodide added.

https://www.achievergirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/suga...

Re: Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? They sell salt with added sugar in the US!?!?

Yeah, no. I have no idea what that person is referencing. I've had all the available salts around me and I've literally never seen sugar in salt. That would be insane. They do use an anti caking agent sometimes though, but that's more like sand

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Re: Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)

#360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grinder means finer salt. Finer salt sticks to things better (you can get a baby powder consistency). And the way the salt "tastes" is different because the powder dissolves on your tongue differently/quicker. Salt "dust" is a really interesting way of adding salt to food -- and you actually end up adding less than larger grains

> Grinder means finer salt. I've never seen on-the-spot ground salt smaller than the stuff you can buy already grounded. Except if you buy flakes, but then why do so if you want finer salt?

It's just culinary cargo cult. You grind pepper and other such things because the flavor survives well in the peppercorn but degrades relatively rapidly in air, so waiting until the last minute to grind it results in better flavor. Oxidized pepper is easy to notice the difference in flavor profile and much lower complexity. Especially the pepper shakers that have been sitting at the restaurant table probably yea verily these many years, mostly unused.

Therefore, grinding things at the last minute makes them taste better, goes the simplification.

Therefore, grinding salt must make it taste better.

But salt is not like the aromatic flavors in a peppercorn. Salt is geologically stable. NaCl itself does not need a last minute grind to retain its salty flavors. NaCl is not a chemically complex flavor.

I qualified that as NaCl specifically because it is faintly possible some of the fancy salts could have their fancy flavors come out better if they are ground, but I'm yet to even notice a difference when any of these are used in food in any manner so I can't judge. Those flavors must be awfully darned stable as it is if they're still hanging around in a 99+% NaCl environment. I'd want to see a specific chemical that can survive that but will suddenly wilt if exposed to oxygen. (We're sure not talking about traditional benzene-ring aromatics at that point!) If there is a difference it is hovering at the very bottom of human detectability.

Salt grinders are annoying. They're hard to use because you're trying to grind a rock, a soft rock sure but still a rock. It's wasted effort, and it occurs to me to wonder if they even do anything to speak of; now I want to find one and compare the before and after of the chunk size; I find myself suspicious that many of them are just theatrics and the salt basically passes through unscathed because "cheap plastic" and "grinding a rock" are not compatible with each other. Even if it does do some real grinding it's still a waste though because it was never necessary, you could just have bought it at the right grain size.

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