January 01, 2015 3 Comments
Its time to set the record straight. There really is no such thing as hulless popcorn. The hull of the kernel is the seed, so naturally, all popcorn has a hull. Also, popcorn is held together by the hull. A kernel becomes the fluffy popcorn we know and love by exploding (hence "pop"corn) and turning inside out. The dark piece of popcorn, deep inside the popcorn, is the hull!
The leading complaint of popcorn consumers is the kernel gets stuck in their teeth. So, the next logical step is to get hulless popcorn, when in reality, hulless popcorn is just popcorn made from a smaller kernel that still contains a hull. The hull of the kernel is the seed, and popcorn cannot exist without a seed. However, smaller hulled popcorn, when popped, is smaller, tenderer and less noticeable. When it pops, the hull breaks up into smaller pieces and does not get noticed in your teeth.
In addition, a study done by scientists at the University of Scranton found that the hull of popcorn is packed with disease-fighting antioxidants. These antioxidants are known as polyphenols, which help prevent damage to cells in your body. So the next time you want a healthy snack, don't be so quick to pass up the popcorn. Add it to your daily fruits and vegetables, and you will have yourself a snack packed full of disease-fighting antioxidants! However, you may be contradicting those antioxidants by smothering your popcorn in butter, salt and cheese.
Finally… a breakdown of the pros and cons of hulless popcorn:
The pros of "hulless" popcorn: safer for people with braces and may be easier to digest for some people.
The cons of "hulless" popcorn: a smaller variety is available for consumers and is slightly more expensive than regular-sized hulls.
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3 Responses
Rosalind (Rose) Tovey
July 27, 2018
At my second colonoscopy, it was noticed that there are small sacs (diverticula, diverticulosis) along my intestine, where certain foods could cause problems by getting caught and causing an infetion. They warned me to avoid nuts, seeds, apple seeds, etc. Going forward 8 years, and I did get something caught in that way, it felt like a knife stabbed into my lower left side. Fortunately an antibiotic cleared it, then I drank a lot of buttermilk to help reestablish the “good guys” which the antiobiotic had killed along with the “bad guys”. So I asked what I should avoid, and was told the main thing is popcorn. The doc said in many cases of diverticulitis, they found popcorn was eaten a few days before, and part of the hard part, the hull, had caught in a diverticula and caused diverticulitis, which in some cases leads to surgery. So I was glad to have caught the problem early. Although popcorn had become my go-to snack, when I had to cut back on cheese when build up was found in my arteries. So I was hoping there was REALLY hullless popcorn. Guess I need a new go-to snack.
Jackie Walsh
July 27, 2018
I never knew any of this about popcorn, Thank You! Its my favorite thing in the world whether it has hulls or peelings from hulls or whatever, lol. I have a friend who gains weight easily but she started bringing a big bag of popcorn to work each day (plain popcorn) and she would chew on it off and on throughout the day and she could lose weight quickly and stayed healthy!
Pamela Burkus
July 27, 2018
I get diverticuilitis easily and had to give up eating popcorn and nuts. Doctors today say that it is ok to eat these, but for some reason, it really makes me sick with diverticulitis.
NOW….someone told me that it would be safe to eat hull-less white popcorn because it is more tender. Do you think it would be safe?
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