The Science of Popcorn
My long-time friend Frank Taylor e-mailed me last night and said that his son (Frank Jr.) had won a Grand Prize with his fifth grade science project.The reason I'm mentioning this is because his science project was about determining the optimal temperature to store popcorn.
Geeks everywhere salute you, Frank Jr.
I've had unpopped popcorn in my freezer for years, because I'd always heard that it was the best way to get the most kernels popped and the fluffiest popcorn.
And as it turns out, I was completely wrong. After they popped and measured the volume of popcorn under different storage conditions (freezer, refrigerator, room temperature), here are the averages (three bags popped for each storage environment):
Room temperature: 2.25 liters, 10.67 unpopped kernels.
Refrigerated: .........2.25 liters, 15.33 unpopped kernels.
Freezer: .................2.06 liters, 36 unpopped kernels.
So the one place popcorn shouldn't be stored is in the freezer. Thanks to Frank Jr. for the methodical investigation.
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