Popcorn Butter Ingredients
Popping oil, otherwise known as popcorn butter, is an amalgam of oil, butter flavoring and yellow coloring. There is usually no butter in popping oil. Popping oil has a higher smoking point than butter and will not wilt popcorn, making it suitable for use in popping and topping when heated.
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Oils
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The main ingredient in popcorn butter is oil. Coconut oil is commonly used, along with hydrogenated soybean oil, sunflower oil and sometimes canola oil. These oils have a higher smoke point than butter. Many movie theaters do not use real butter due to cost and spoilage issues, nor do many microwave popcorn manufacturers.
Use of Butter
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If you've ever tried to use real butter at home on your popcorn, you probably noticed two things. First, the smoke point for butter is too low for popping popcorn. The butter burns. Second, the melted butter, when poured on a freshly popped batch, will "wilt" the popcorn, leaving the kernels in small, gooey glops. The reason popcorn gets soggy when butter is poured over top of it is due to the moisture in the butter. Some popcorn butter makers do sell popcorn butter made from actual butter in a concentrated form, without that moisture.
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Butter Flavoring
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When butter is not used in the oil mixture, an artificial butter flavoring has to be added the formula. Diacetyl is a commonly used compound and is the same compound that can lead to lung problems when inhaled. Most popcorn butter manufacturers will not specifically state what compounds are being used to flavor the butter. The ingredients list states only that the butter flavoring is present and often whether it is natural or artificial.
Dyes and Other Ingredients
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Yellow coloring is added to the popcorn butter to give it that characteristic yellow "butter" look. Often, the dyes are derived from beta carotene. To preserve the oil, manufacturers add tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ. TBHQ is an antioxidant often used to preserve oils. Citric acid is also added sometimes as a preservative.
Caloric Information
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Popcorn butter is fat. As such, it contains 120 calories per tsp. of oil used in both topping and for popping. Air-popped popcorn does not contain oil or any added flavorings and is completely fat-free. Oil-popped corn does contain oil, even if no extra oil is added after the fact. Microwave and movie theater popcorn are oil-popped.
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