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.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 …

    • acupofcoffee@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Since ghee is so expensive, I usually do coconut oil and ghee mixed!

      I love ghee on my stovetop popcorn! A wok works great!

        • xuxebiko@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          By equating artificial insemination in cattle to rape.

          You’re just using shock tactics to garner attention. Do you even care about how your minimization affects rape & sex assualt survivors?

    • meat_popsicle@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Cows can be raped?

      Do we send cow rapists to cow jail? If a cow is in a field with a bull, do we arrest the bull pre- or post- mount?

      • NotAPenguin@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Come the fuck on buddy, obviously they are talking about humans forcefully impregnating cows to force them to produce milk.

        Humans have the capability to understand the consequences of our actions, other animals don’t.

    • NotAPenguin@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Even on the fediverse people absolutely refuse to hear about the animal abuse they support everyday…

      Come the fuck on people, stop being reactionary and think about it for a minute.