We love family movie night! It usually involves making your own pizza followed by a big bowl of popcorn to share. In fact, I just don’t think that movie night would be the same without our huge antique cabbage shaped bowl full of popcorn.
However, if your movie time snack is the microwavable version, then beware! It may contain a dirty little pop secret. Some microwave popcorn contains chemicals that can cause major health problems. We have all heard of popcorn lung, right?
The chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PTOA) has been found to cause both cancer and lung disease and Diacetyl is responsible for popcorn lung disease.
So, next time your family decides to snuggle on the sofa for movie night, pop your own popcorn. It is easy, simple and very affordable. All that you need is a large deep pot, a few tablespoons of organic canola oil and a cup of organic popcorn kernels. When the popcorn starts to pop, just shake the pot gently so that the unpopped kernels fall to the bottom – continue until you can count slowly to five in between pops.
If popping your own popcorn sounds more like work than fun, consider purchasing an electric popcorn maker. My lovely mother gave my family this one
Does your family enjoy popcorn?
Do you make your own? Or do you chance it with the microwave version?
We buy the microwave kind but have long since left the toxins behind. Brands such as BEARITOS Organic, whose only ingredients are Organic Popcorn and Real Salt (A Natural Mineral Salt), or Newman’s Own Organics Pop’s Corn, whose only ingredients are Organic Popcorn, Organic Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Vitamin E. Popping your own is always best for sure, but there are safe microwave alternatives out there!
Wow. I’d never heard of that one but it makes me glad we laid off the nuker popcorn! I still have a bag occasionally when the hubbie travels because he’s the official popcorn maker in the house and by the time the evening’s done when he’s not here, the last thing I want to do is fix popcorn “the right way.” However, he typically fixes us popcorn 1 or 2 nights a week from our jolly pop- one of the old-fashioned stovetop stirring popcorn pots.
Hi Angie,
Yay! That is fantastic to know. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Hi Jen,
Yay! As long as you are using a brand such as the ones Angie suggested above. You will be fine!