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What's Up with Microwave Popcorn Bags; From Jeff Elder, via Jewish World Review
Topic Started: Dec 13 2005, 11:39 PM (65 Views)
Seoul Survivor
Thanks Jay!
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Q: Why does it make any difference which side of a microwave popcorn bag is "up" when you put it in the microwave? — Bill Giduz

A: Bill, `member the early days of microwave popcorn?

Even if you programmed the oven perfectly, punched in the right time, cheered along with each pop and yanked the bag at the poptimum moment, half the kernels would STILL be unmotivated.

The bag came out looking like a beanbag chair the dogs had got a hold of.

Why?

Those old bags didn't heat up fast enough or stay hot long enough. The only thing in those old bags to "catch" the microwaves was the oil and kernels. See, microwaves need something to sort of grab them. They can't just heat the air.

Nowadays, there's a heater-helper inside each bag. The bag needs to go in the oven a certain side up so this patch of carbon-like material can do its job. (You can see the patch — it's a little darker than the rest of the bag.) The patch is under the oil and kernels. It heats up fast and stays hot. So it gets things poppin'. And more importantly, the patch, which faces up, keeps the temperature high by "catching" those microwaves. So stubborn kernels will pop — even after the sizzlin' oil has slipped away.

Think microwave popcorn hasn't made an impact on our country? It's the No. 1 product made specifically for microwaves.

Great thanks to Garry Smith, president of Jolly Time Popcorn, for his help with this column. His great-granddad started the Sioux City, Iowa, outfit in 1914, and Garry's the fourth generation to run it.

Just like his pop, and before him his pop, and before him ...

Did you know microwave popcorn was invented before the microwave oven?

Well, kinda.

Perry Spencer, an engineer with Raytheon, was working with a magnetron tube just after World War II. He took out a candy bar for a snack, and the high-voltage system melted it. So Spencer placed some popcorn kernels near the tube. Within minutes, he had cooked up the first batch of microwave popcorn. And this helped lead to ...

NO, not a fancy new kind of s'mores! The invention of the microwave oven, which relies on the magnetron tube to zap stuff.

//Seoul
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