Uggggh.......Hot Air-Popped POPCORN

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decoeyes
decoeyes Posts: 1
in Food and Nutrition
Quite a few years ago I purchased a Presto PopLite Hot Air Popper with the intention of cutting calories from one of my favorite snacks. What a terrible experience to find that popcorn WITHOUT salt was totally bland! The enjoyment I had always received from my bowl of popcorn was just not there. Thus the hot air popper went to the back of the small appliance closet.

Well, today I decided that closet needed a much neglected cleaning and found the forgotten popper. Mostly out of curiosity I plugged it in loaded with I/2 cup of popcorn. I salted it with a very fine popcorn salt............and it was even worse than I had remembered. The very finely ground salt all went straight to the bottom of the bowl. Not to be defeated again, I tried "pulverizing" the already finely ground salt to a powder. Hmmm, it didn't taste much better.

By this time my wife figured out what I was attempting to do by making her kitchen look like a chemistry laboratory. She quickly offered me a can that was labeled Great Value Butter Spray. I immediately responded that what I was attempting was to cut calories........gee, I could pop corn with conventional oil and butter to obtain the same result tremendously raising the caloric content.

Next, the "know-it-all" showed me the label that claimed 0-calories. Gee I sprayed some onto the air popped corn and the salt actually stuck to the popcorn.......and was DELICIOUS. I had to eat some crow with that second bowl of popcorn. Does that spray really have 0-calories or did she tamper with the label?????????

Replies

  • shartran
    shartran Posts: 304 Member
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    Here's an explanation from 'Hungry Girl': http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/37-i-cant-believe-its-got-calories


    Dear Hungry Girl,

    I use "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray and it supposedly has ZERO calories. Does it really have no calories at all? How can that be?

    -- Spraying in Sacramento




    Dear Spraying,

    The "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" spray has ZERO calories if you use just a few spritzes. However, if you do what most of us do and spray to your heart's content, you can rack up calories and fat grams pretty quickly. Here's the scoop: 12.5 sprays is 10 calories and 1 gram of fat, 25 sprays (1 teaspoon) is 20 calories and 2 grams of fat, and 37.5 sprays is 30 calories and 3 grams of fat. In case you're curious, the entire bottle contains 900 calories and 90 grams of fat! Helpful hint: When it comes to this stuff, stick with spraying as opposed to pouring.


  • goddessofawesome
    goddessofawesome Posts: 563 Member
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    What's wrong with adding a little bit of butter to it? The amount of calories that are added would be negligible.
  • jlahorn
    jlahorn Posts: 377 Member
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    I toss mine with a tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil and garlic salt. Love it.
  • pinklark
    pinklark Posts: 49 Member
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    Now I want popcorn :p
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Yes, spray butter is going to give you better overall coverage on your popcorn than pouring butter on it would do. If you use it sparingly it'll also be far less calories than popping in oil. I like to use spray butter and a little of the white cheddar popcorn seasoning on my air popped popcorn.
  • jenjim2021
    jenjim2021 Posts: 43 Member
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    I love the Presto popper. Air popped popcorn is full of fiber and really fills you up. Just need to get a little inventive if you don't want the butter calories. Spray with Pam and mix it up so you get the Pam on most kernels. Then shake on a seasoning and it will stick. This works really well for me. Popcorn salt will stick better than table salt. Someone mentioned mixing in a tablespoon of mini chocolate chips. That sounds messy and DELICIOUS.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    jlahorn wrote: »
    I toss mine with a tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil and garlic salt. Love it.

    I've been meaning to do this since someone brought it up on another popcorn thread a few weeks ago. Sounds amazing!
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
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    If I'm going to have popcorn, I want real butter on it. So, I don't eat it for now LOL. I have a tendency to keep wanting to make more when it's in the house. Plain popcorn has a kind of sweet flavor though. But, even though it is low calorie, it's not very satisfying for me.

    I have had it with some olive oil too and it is good. Fat is fat though and I prefer butter still lol
  • goddessofawesome
    goddessofawesome Posts: 563 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    jlahorn wrote: »
    I toss mine with a tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil and garlic salt. Love it.

    I've been meaning to do this since someone brought it up on another popcorn thread a few weeks ago. Sounds amazing!

    Now that sounds good.
  • Lezavargas
    Lezavargas Posts: 223 Member
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    Im a huge fan of the spray butter! Well worth it, add a little salt and im good to go. If you need a liitle more punch then speinkle like 1/4 tsp of sugar over it after the spray butter and its got a kettle corn taste. Mmmmmm. Still waaaay less calories than any of the microwave popcorns
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    I pop my popcorn on the stove using coconut oil and then I poor a little more on afterwards. A pretty solid serving of this deliciousness is still only a few hundred calories. I would never use an air popper.

    Also, there's only 0 calories if you use like a millisecond spray..more than that and there are calories.
  • Lezavargas
    Lezavargas Posts: 223 Member
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    Also, a paper bag and a microwave will do just as well as an air popper. 1/8 cup kernels in a brown paper lunch sack and microwave on your large popcorn setting or just take out when the kernels slow down popping
  • goddessofawesome
    goddessofawesome Posts: 563 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I pop my popcorn on the stove using coconut oil and then I poor a little more on afterwards. A pretty solid serving of this deliciousness is still only a few hundred calories. I would never use an air popper.

    Also, there's only 0 calories if you use like a millisecond spray..more than that and there are calories.

    I just started using coconut oil when popping my popcorn and it adds a good flavor.

    I'm not a fan of air popped. It deflates and gets soggy as soon as you put butter on it.
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
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    You can also run your hand under running water and then flick water at your bowl of popcorn so the salt/seasonings will stick.

    I do that, I also will use butter flavored spray sometimes, though the latter doesn't seem to grab fine popcorn seasoning as well as a little water does.

    If you're really concerned about what a butter spray means, take out a tablespoon and spray your can into it and see how long it takes to get a tablespoon of oil. That should help you see it takes quite a bit of spraying to get anything worth counting.





  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    goddessofawesome wrote: »
    What's wrong with adding a little bit of butter to it? The amount of calories that are added would be negligible.

    Agree. Although I actually like plain popcorn.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    Lourdesong wrote: »
    You can also run your hand under running water and then flick water at your bowl of popcorn so the salt/seasonings will stick.

    What about spraying it with water using a fine-mist/spritz bottle? I have one I bought at a beauty supply store and the spritz is pretty fine. we don't buy spray butter/oil (although we SHOULD, it would make seasoning popcorn so much easier). Maybe I'll just have to try and report back :p
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
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    There is no such thing as a 0 calorie butter. It's 0 cal per portion (1 spray that last 0.0001 sec kinda). And it's full of toxic chemical to make it vaporize.
  • Sydking
    Sydking Posts: 317 Member
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    best toppign for popcorn is spray oil so things stick. Then i use salt and pizza topper herbs. Basil, Oregano ect
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    Lourdesong wrote: »
    You can also run your hand under running water and then flick water at your bowl of popcorn so the salt/seasonings will stick.

    What about spraying it with water using a fine-mist/spritz bottle? I have one I bought at a beauty supply store and the spritz is pretty fine. we don't buy spray butter/oil (although we SHOULD, it would make seasoning popcorn so much easier). Maybe I'll just have to try and report back :p
    Yeah i used to keep a spritzer bottle with water in my kitchen for browning homemade bread, but it's been repurposed with a DIY cleaning solution. :p
    I like the water mist idea though. I have a can of Avene water somewhere that i got in an Ipsy bag, And i recall Evian water had misting cans too.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    Lourdesong wrote: »
    ana3067 wrote: »
    Lourdesong wrote: »
    You can also run your hand under running water and then flick water at your bowl of popcorn so the salt/seasonings will stick.

    What about spraying it with water using a fine-mist/spritz bottle? I have one I bought at a beauty supply store and the spritz is pretty fine. we don't buy spray butter/oil (although we SHOULD, it would make seasoning popcorn so much easier). Maybe I'll just have to try and report back :p
    Yeah i used to keep a spritzer bottle with water in my kitchen for browning homemade bread, but it's been repurposed with a DIY cleaning solution. :p
    I like the water mist idea though. I have a can of Avene water somewhere that i got in an Ipsy bag, And i recall Evian water had misting cans too.
    LOL I think I have an Avene can too, which weirdly enough irritated my face (ikr? water? pft).

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