Why YSK: 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.
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.
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.
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?
Sounds a bit like that bacon 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.
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.
…holy shit you’re a genius.
**gheenius
Ugh. That was so bad. I love that for you.
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 topping factories, hence the term “popcorn lung”
@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 choiceNone of them are ghee. They’re all interesterified vegetable fat/ oils with ghee flavour added calling themselves “vegan ghee” to con the gulllible.
There’s no harm in being vegan, but it is foolish to fall for unhealthy products because they brand themelves as vegan/ vegetable-based.
Stick to vegetable oils but ffs don’t call them ghee.Interesterified oils increase heart-disease risk by lowering HDL (good) cholesterol and raising LDL (bad) cholesterol, (like trans fats do). And they increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by raising fasting blood-glucose levels and decreasing insulin response. They also increase liver cellular stress markers.
Look up the effects of interesterified vegetable fat/ oils on a search engine of your choice and then read their labels before recommending them.
@xuxebiko
I’m no expert in these matters. But I can’t imagine ghee (clarified butter) being very healthy either in large quantities. If you are vegan (which I’m not) this a way to taste the op’s popcorn suggestion. I get the feeling you already had an opinion on the whole ghee/fake vegan ghee thing. And al I can say is, in the Indian cuisine, with a relatively large vegan population, fake ghee is a thing. Not some hipster hype.
This was about taste and cooking. Not about health.
@fuboIndia does not have a ‘large vegan populatiion’, it has a large ‘vegetarian’ population with milk, yoghurt (we call it curd/ dahi), paneer (cottage cheese), and ghee a part of the daily diet. Vegetable fat/ oils used in cooking instead of ghee are usually either raw or filtered or refined. Interestified vegetable oil/ fat is a relatively new product and is used by FMCG co.s as a replacement for palm oil in their products. Interestified vegetable oil also tastes nothing like ghee. Don’t take my word for it, try it out yourself.
Any Indian touting vegan ghee will get laughed out of their home and get told to use the real thing.
“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.
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.
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.
Olive oil here. The market nearby doesn’t sell canola oil because it was never popular. MSG is also great on popcorn.
Olive oil has a very distinct olive flavour and is generally not advised to heat up to much, since it gets carcinogenic
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.
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!
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!
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.
You can also get brewers yeast
Burlap and barrel has a black lime and a black urfa chili that are just fantastic on popcorn.
