Why YSK: Popcorn fans often want a buttery flavor, but plain butter is a bad choice for popping popcorn in a pot, because the proteins and sugars smoke and burn around the same temperature where it’s hot enough to pop the kernels.

Ghee, or Indian-style clarified butter, is butter that’s been simmered and the milk solids (proteins and sugars) skimmed off. This leaves a clear yellow oil that doesn’t smoke when it’s heated and doesn’t go rancid quickly, but has a distinct toasty butter flavor.

Vegetable oil is either flavorless or faintly bitter, and some high-temperature vegetable oils tend to start polymerizing (i.e. becoming plastic) when heated in small amounts. This is also not good for popcorn.

Good-quality popcorn popped in ghee reliably produces lots of “butterfly” popcorn with few unpopped “duds” and no scorched kernels or batches ruined by smoke.

Try it! I’m sure not going back to canola oil.

  • tanin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve always just used avocado oil. Sometimes coconut oil but that obviously leaves a faint hint of coconut that not everyone likes. I’ll try ghee next time but I never heard of anyone trying to make pop corn with just butter in the pan. That sounds like a mistake folks only make once! lol

    • RalphTheDog@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The makers of my commercial-grade popper recommend coconut oil. Like you, I am interested in trying ghee. It’s good to just have a bottle of that stuff handy for lots of things.

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          They are pretty much the same thing. Clarified butter can be skimmed as soon as the milk solids begin to separate. Ghee is cooked until the solids become browned and settle to the bottom, giving it more of a nutty flavor.

  • lnm225@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    smacks forehead

    That is a great idea! Coconut oil was ok,but kinda odd-flavored for popcorn …

  • Jakwithoutac@feddit.uk
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    1 year ago

    For any dairy intolerant or vegan people here you can get a similar effect by clarifying a vegetable spread like Flora and adding salt until it tastes ‘buttery’ enough for you

    • fubo@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago
      1. Not buttery
      2. Although it probably doesn’t kill the housemate with the peanut allergy, it makes them very uncomfortable and possibly costs them a significant medical bill.
  • johng@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ll give this a try. At my theater we use peanut oil because we are a small single screener and don’t need to pinch every penny and use flavicol or something else less natural. It tastes good to me though I am peanut intolerant (not a major allergy but it upsets my digestive system, which upsets those around me).

    At home, corn oil is my go-to as I am just cooking corn in corn and then melt some butter and salt the butter and toss the popcorn with it to get it evenly coated.

    One other trick we do at the theater and you might be able get your place to do is when they add ‘butter flavoring’ is to ask them to half full the bag, pump some on, shake up the bag, add the rest of the popcorn and add more flavoring. It makes the bottom levels of popcorn more consistent with flavor.

      • nihilist_hippie@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You must use refined coconut oil. As long as it is refined, there is no coconut flavor. It basically just tastes like theatre popcorn, because that’s what they use. They just use a fancier version that has beta-carotene in it, for a nice yellow coloring.

  • Amro@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    @fubo
    I agree. Ghee is very nice for popcorn. And for everyone who isn’t into milk products, vegetable ghee has the same qualities and flavor profile.

        • xuxebiko@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          None of them are ghee. They’re all interesterified vegetable fat/ oils with ghee flavour added calling themselves “vegan ghee” to con the gulllible.

          There’s no harm in being vegan, but it is foolish to fall for unhealthy products because they brand themelves as vegan/ vegetable-based.
          Stick to vegetable oils but ffs don’t call them ghee.

          Interesterified oils increase heart-disease risk by lowering HDL (good) cholesterol and raising LDL (bad) cholesterol, (like trans fats do). And they increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by raising fasting blood-glucose levels and decreasing insulin response. They also increase liver cellular stress markers.

          Look up the effects of interesterified vegetable fat/ oils on a search engine of your choice and then read their labels before recommending them.

          • Amro@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            @xuxebiko
            I’m no expert in these matters. But I can’t imagine ghee (clarified butter) being very healthy either in large quantities. If you are vegan (which I’m not) this a way to taste the op’s popcorn suggestion. I get the feeling you already had an opinion on the whole ghee/fake vegan ghee thing. And al I can say is, in the Indian cuisine, with a relatively large vegan population, fake ghee is a thing. Not some hipster hype.
            This was about taste and cooking. Not about health.
            @fubo

            • xuxebiko@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              India does not have a ‘large vegan populatiion’, it has a large ‘vegetarian’ population with milk, yoghurt (we call it curd/ dahi), paneer (cottage cheese), and ghee a part of the daily diet. Vegetable fat/ oils used in cooking instead of ghee are usually either raw or filtered or refined. Interestified vegetable oil/ fat is a relatively new product and is used by FMCG co.s as a replacement for palm oil in their products. Interestified vegetable oil also tastes nothing like ghee. Don’t take my word for it, try it out yourself.

              Any Indian touting vegan ghee will get laughed out of their home and get told to use the real thing.

  • half@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Avocado oil is great for popcorn. It doesn’t add any flavor but I love the resulting texture: very crisp and clean. I like using red or blue corn because the contrast is visually appealing. You want long, skinny kernels to get the butterfly popcorn. Personally I’m crazy for cheesy popcorn, and the secret there is to find cheese powder with some savory herbs like oregano. I also love to do it with Kashmiri (floral hot Indian chili) powder.

    Important edit: Do NOT under any circumstance use chili popcorn to spice up Netflix & Chill. This is a snack for lonely degenerates who don’t even masturbate daily any more. It’s for watching war documentaries and French New Wave, not pervy cartoons and superhero throwdowns with plot designed to be ignored while you finger your frenemies. You won’t look worldly and sophisticated while you’re driving somebody to the fucking hospital. Be responsible.

    • Tot@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Burlap and barrel has a black lime and a black urfa chili that are just fantastic on popcorn.

  • Takina's Old Pair™@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Is this a protip to make popcorn more enjoyable when Reddit goes to shit on the 1st of July? 😅

    So store bought ready to pop microwaveable “buttered” popcorn is not with ghee, right?

    • ohmyiv@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No, it’s not made with ghee. Microwave popcorn “butter” is typically artificially flavored oil.

    • kreekybonez@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      soybean oil, usually. and diacetyl can be added as a buttery flavoring.

      fun fact: diacetyl inhaled in large enough doses can cause bronchitis. this was a problem in popcorn topping factories, hence the term “popcorn lung”

  • thesalamander@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Never tried Ghee. I usually use canola, coconut, or bacon grease. I’m up for more buttery flavor though. Thanks!