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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -- Eat your way to the bottom of almost any bag of popcorn and there they are: the rock-hard, jaw-rattling unpopped kernels known as old maids.

The nuisance kernels have kept many a dentist busy, but their days could be numbered: Scientists say they now know why some popcorn kernels resist popping into puffy white globes.

It's long been known that popcorn kernels must have a precise moisture level in their starchy center -- about 15 percent -- to explode. But Purdue University researchers found the key to a kernel's explosive success lies in the composition of its hull.

Unpopped kernels, it turns out, have leaky hulls that prevent the moisture pressure buildup needed for them to pop and lack the optimal hull structure that allows most kernels to explode.

"They're sort of like little pressure vessels that explode when the pressure reaches a certain point," said Bruce Hamaker, a Purdue professor of food chemistry. "But if too much moisture escapes, it loses its ability to pop and just sits there."

The findings may help popcorn breeders select the best varieties -- or create new ones -- with superior hulls that yield few, if any, unpopped kernels. But for now, there's no way to screen out potential old maids before they end up in bags of popcorn.

Hamaker and his associates compared the microwave popping performance of 14 Indiana-grown popcorn varieties and examined the crystalline structure of the translucent hulls of both the popped kernels and the duds.

In the varieties popped, the percentage of unpopped kernels ranged from 4 percent in premium brands to 47 percent in the cheaper ones.

The findings could be good news for people who savor the snack and those who grow the 17 billion quarts of popcorn sold each year in the United States.

Wendy Boersema Rappel, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based Popcorn Board, said popcorn processors are always looking for ways to improve their product, including reducing the number of old maids.

"It's one of life's annoyances -- it's not rocking anyone's world, but our members always like to improve their product," Rappel said.

Hamaker said two popcorn manufacturers have already expressed interest in Purdue's findings.

The research, funded by Purdue's Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, which Hamaker directs, has been published online and will appear in the July 11 edition of the journal BioMacromolecules.

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...popcorn breeders...

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Now I know WHY the butter... it's for lube!

Well, that along with the old maids is enuff to make me change to nachos!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-23-2005, 01:43 AM:
 
Thank God there aren't any real problems in the world for these college kids to be solving.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 04-23-2005, 02:50 AM:
 
"Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall."

Pink Floyd: " Another Brick In The Wall "...

[ 04-23-2005, 04:31 AM: Message edited by: Phil Hill ]
 

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Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 04-23-2005, 04:07 PM:
 
just in case anyone is wondering, the answer to your question is "because they've never been popped."
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-23-2005, 05:13 PM:
 
We have several people who come into the theatre occasionally and ask for a cup full of old maids from the drawer. So maybe it isn't such a "problem" after all. Maybe we should put'em on the menu.
 

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Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 04-23-2005, 05:45 PM:
 
Mike, what do they do with them?
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-23-2005, 06:33 PM:
 
Eat 'em. I think they're crazy myself, but whatever floats your boat. This one guy will eat a whole 16oz cupful during a movie.
 

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Posted by Jarryd Beard (Member # 2543) on 04-23-2005, 07:13 PM:
 
I guess so. I wouldn't think they'd be so great. At least they don't have to pay for them.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 04-25-2005, 04:12 AM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

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.....and ask for a cup full of old maids from the drawer.

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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We have several people who come into the theatre occasionally and ask for a cup full of old maids from the drawer.

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The first time somebody asked me to fill the bottom inch or so of their popcorn bag with the old maids, I thought, "wow, they're buying our 'garbage'".

But hey! as long as they like it...
 

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Posted by Joshua Waaland (Member # 287) on 04-25-2005, 06:40 AM:
 
I like the half-pops. The ones that are split down the middle and are crunchy. The ones that don't pop at all just break your teeth. I could do without them but please don't take away my half-pops!
 

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