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Chocoholic
Senior Member
| Joined: | 29 Apr 2005 |
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| Posts: | 341 |
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Posted: 29 Sep 2006 09:47 pm |
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The label of my microwave popcorn says that one serving (2/5 of a bag, just to make the calculations easy for the consumer  )contains:
110 calories unpopped
25 calories popped
Reading this, two questions immediately spring to mind:
1. Who on earth eats unpopped popcorn?
2. Where did all of the calories go?
It's been awhile since I've had chemistry or physics or anything, but energy doesn't just disappear! The energy to pop the corn comes from the microwaves, not the actual popcorn, no? So where does it go? Just curious.
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Peter
Founder of this forum
| Joined: | 24 May 2005 |
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| Posts: | 4180 |
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Posted: 30 Sep 2006 02:49 pm |
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It is an undeniable fact that the labels on microwave popcorn are the most confusing and misleading labels you will ever find.
Now, to answer your questions:
1. No one.
2. I have always assumed that the calories that disappear are from oil that ends up on or absorbed by the bag.
So unless you eat the bag, too...
Peter
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 1 Oct 2006 09:45 am |
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the packet I use ("NATCO American Popping Corn") only gives one figure. As I am in the UK, we typically get information per 100g and we're left to figure out our serving size for ourselves (it is a 2kg bag). 100g = 371 kcal. The most typical serving I allocate myself is about 13.5g - which is 50 calories. Volume-wise, it just about fits in a 650ml tuppaware container (sometimes a few popcorns get 'broken' when I fit the lid on the container). If you're measuring in "cups", that's approximately 2.5 cups.
More recently (I'm not doing precise counting just at the moment, but I was curious) I put a large handful in the machine and it popped into my very large (about 3 litres) plastic bowl. I weighed the bowl before (215g) and after (177g) eating, so there was about 38g of popcorn there. One very large bowl = 141 calories.
As far as I am aware, the calories per 100g of popcorn are the same before and after air-popping. Though obviously the volume differs considerably.
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Chocoholic
Senior Member
| Joined: | 29 Apr 2005 |
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| Posts: | 341 |
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Posted: 1 Oct 2006 08:20 pm |
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Well I was looking at the label more carefully, and what it actually says at the top when giving the serving size is:
Serving size 2 Tbsp unpopped
(makes about 5 c popped)
Servings per bag: 2.5
I had been assuming that the 5 c meant per bag, but hadn't given it much thought (obviously, as it doesn't make sense). Then below, where I was looking, it lists
Amount per serving 2 Tbsp unpopped 1 Cup popped
Calories 110 25
...thus giving the impression that 2 tbsp unpopped=1 c popped. Now looking at the bag of popped popcorn, it doesn't seem to me that there are13 cups of popcorn inside!!! That said, there are certainly more than 2 1/2. I then looked at the weight on the outside of the box, and judging by Nir's figures my new theory made much more sense.
So I have come to the conclusion that I have been dramatically underestimating the calories in this popcorn, and instead of 63 calories, each bag is actually 313 calories  ...meaning that I have been eating 250 calories more than I thought almost every day this week!!! I won't be eating any more of that popcorn anytime soon... oh well, at least it explains why I've been feeling so full lately! 
Thanks for helping me to figure it out  , and I'll be sure to read the label a bit more carefully next time I find a food that seems too good to be true. 
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Scoobees
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 Oct 2006 08:32 pm |
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Popcorn is one of the things I just can't live without  . The two kinds I buy both come in mini bags so you get just the single serving. I cannot be trusted with a normal size bag - I would definitely eat the entire thing.
I usually purchase either Orville Redenbacher's Mini Bags Smart Pop Butter Flavor(whole bag = 100 calories) or Pop Secret 100 Calorie Pop Butter Flavor.
Both are delicious but I think the Pop Secret brand is a tad more buttery tasting.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 2 Oct 2006 09:57 am |
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| Wow, I hardly ever eat as much as that (250 calories of popcorn in one go). Either this bag is really large or maybe the calories in microwave popcorn aren't so good and you should just switch to air-popped popcorn.
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Chocoholic
Senior Member
| Joined: | 29 Apr 2005 |
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| Posts: | 341 |
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Posted: 2 Oct 2006 01:25 pm |
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I think it comes mostly from the butter, but I don't have (or have room for!) an air popper, so it doesn't really matter. Each bag is 81 g, so they are kind of big (well 2.5 servings according to the label) but not absurdly so. Oh well, at least now maybe I'll start losing weight again! 
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jillybean720
Senior Member
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Posted: 2 Oct 2006 04:37 pm |
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Chocoholic wrote: Amount per serving 2 Tbsp unpopped 1 Cup popped
Calories 110 25
So I have come to the conclusion that I have been dramatically underestimating the calories in this popcorn, and instead of 63 calories, each bag is actually 313 calories
It would have to be a really big bag of popcorn for 313 calories worth if 1 cup popped is only 25 calories. It would have to be almost 13 cups of popped popcorn! I very highly doubt you've been eating 13 cups of popcorn every day In fact, I'm pretty sure 13 cups of popped popcorn in a bag wouldn't even fit in most microwaves  You might want to check how many cups of popped popcorn you get out of a bag.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 2 Oct 2006 06:10 pm |
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| I have a 3 litre bowl which I use for popcorn. 3000/250=12 cups. So I can believe that. Of course it takes fewer calories to fill that up with air-popped popcorn, so it is unfortunate that Chocoholic has room for a microwave oven but not for a popper...
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Chocoholic
Senior Member
| Joined: | 29 Apr 2005 |
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| Posts: | 341 |
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Posted: 3 Oct 2006 02:34 am |
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Nir wrote: it is unfortunate that Chocoholic has room for a microwave oven but not for a popper...
Do I detect a sneer? If it were a matter of life or death I'm sure I could find a spot under the bed or something. The truth is I never really ate much popcorn until recently, so the space is worth more to me than the popcorn would be. As for my microwave, it is useful for a myriad of foods and drinks , not just one, and stacks conveniently on top of my little refrigerator, thus providing a shelf at the appropriate height for my printer. Not something that could be said of a popcorn popper.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 Oct 2006 04:36 pm |
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Chocoholic wrote: Do I detect a sneer?
I guess so, sorry.
I also have the microwave on top of my small fridge, and then usually have bowls, tupperware and assorted things on top of the microwave. (Microwaves do get hot though, I'd be worried about that printer!)
I have a 3-tier steamer which originally I got for vegetables and yet I only use it to hard-boil eggs, and a food-processor which I only use once in a blue moon, but I guess I'm lucky to have more space than you because although my living room is also my bedroom, my kitchen area, though small, is separate.
(it is a small kitchen though - I have to have my large fridge, and my freezer where most people would be hanging their clothing, i.e. in the clothing cupboard located in the main room!)
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