Microwave Popcorn Taste Test
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I won’t eat things that have much (if any) Trans fat in them. Ponzi found three types of microwave popcorn that have no Trans fat, and no Hydrogenated oil. I agreed to taste each of them, and give her my final opinion.
The first contender is the Buttery, Salt and Cracked Peppercorn from Orville Redenbacher. This has 730mg of sodim per serving, and 180 calories. It is honestly very tasty. Ponzi feels it’s too much of a pepper taste, but not me. This is great! Who would have thought pepper on popcorn would please my palette?
Second up we have Newman’s Own Butter Boom popcorn. This one has 130 calories per serving, with 290 mg of sodium. Holy cow this is buttery and good! Very flavorful, and of course being from Newman’s Own, it’s healthy. There’s no cholesterol or sugars in this, even!
Ok fine. I’ll try #3. This one is the one we normally eat. It’s Smart Balance Light Butter. There are 120 calories in this, and 290 mg of sodium again. This may “win” for calories… but for me, it doesn’t win the taste test. It’s very good, don’t get me wrong. But in comparison with the other two, it’s quite bland.
Edited to add follow-up quote
Hey Chris,
This is Sangueffusor. I work at a grocery store, and popcorn is one of the sections that I stock. I thought you might want to know about some more popcorn varieties that fit your criteria.
ALL of the Orville Redenbacher varieties I checked had no hydrogenated oil – they’re only made with palm oil – and have no trans fats. There are a number of flavors in this brand. However, Wikipedia says that palm oil is one of the most unhealthy types of oil, because it is very high in saturated fat. So what you trade here for no trans fat is more saturated fat – not a very good compromise.
Smart Balance makes another flavor of popcorn – movie-style butter. You might find it more to your buttery satisfaction than the light butter flavor you tried already.
Jolly Time also has a “Better Butter” flavor that has no hydrogenated oils or trans fats. Interestingly, their “Healthy Pop” variety DOES have hydrogenated oil in the ingredients, and has 0g of trans fat “per serving”. This is the “hiding” thing you were talking about in the video- if a food has less than 0.5g of trans fat per serving, the label can get away with saying it has zero, providing it states “0g trans fat per serving”. There is a note in the ingredients list that states the hydrogenated oil adds an “insignificant amount” of trans fat, but if you were to eat the whole bag, for instance, it would be more than insignificant.
I have yet to examine Act II or Pop Secret. I’ll probably get back to you on those.
So to sum it up, if I want something with zing or a bit different, I’m going with the Redenbacher’s. If I want butter… Butter Boom from Newman’s it is!
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