Organic Popcorn

Tastier And Better For You!

Organic popcorn; spend enough time looking at specialty popcorn on the Internet and you're bound to read all sorts of claims. That’s when the questions start rolling off your tongue.

Does organic pop the same?

Does organic taste the same?

Is it really better for you?

What’s the price difference?

All of these are reasonable questions, but before we get hung up on all of these, let’s step back and remember why we’re here. At Primo-Popcorn.com, we’re here to find the best popcorn available! With that in mind, we start with taste.

It’s All About The Taste!

No, organic varieties don’t taste the same as regular popcorn. Turn your senses on high, then sit back for a treat!

The first time I made and tasted quality organic popcorn I couldn’t help but remember eating popcorn on the floor in front of the TV on Saturday nights when I was a kid. Yes, it brought back childhood memories. Why?

Memory is sensory specific and sensory queued. Okay, enough psycho-banter, but really, this is the popcorn from our past and it tastes and smells richer and nuttier than non-organic varieties.

Ripped From the Headlines!

In Teresa Koltzenburg’s article, WIU Organic Research Farm Pops with New Crop, Dr. Joel Gruver of Western Illinois University states that popcorn’s taste is directly related to a kernel’s expansion ratio – how big it pops.

Gruver Says, "Most of the popcorn available for purchase today has a very high expansion ratio (more than 40) which means that popped kernels are mostly air. This translates to less flavor," he explained. "Many organic farmers choose to grow varieties with lower ratios, which means they have a more robust corn flavor."

So really, if you’re after great popcorn taste, you want smaller popcorn puffs, not larger!

Organic Popcorn Brands

Brands of organic popcorn range from American Popcorn Co.’s Jolly Time, which can be bought or requested at your local supermarket all the way to micro producers who sell strictly on the Internet. See our Organic Popcorn Producers page to be linked to their individual sites.

Once again, Primo-Popcorn.com is not affiliated with any popcorn producer, so the links are truly in your best popcorn tasting interest. Enjoy!

Organic Popcorn and Your Health

Some individuals and organic companies write that popcorn is on the FDA’s top ten list of most pesticide-laden foods. When I couldn’t find these statistics, I emailed Eden Organics for a reference and received the Pesticide Action Network’s (PAN) Nowhere to Hide: Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the U.S. Food Supply.

The FDA study that PAN references, clearly states that pesticides are a part of popcorn production, but there are problems with the study’s information as well.

The study is random and very broad, not brand specific in any way. It was performed in 2000 and is piggybacked on the 1994 findings. Quite frankly, the information is old! Not to mention that without data from the brand of popcorn you specifically and consistently eat, the data is next to meaningless. Remember, data without context is statistical noise!

Please don’t think I’m excusing pesticides in our food, but I think it’s important to hear from both sides on this topic. Also, I would hope that there’s a difference between the “no brand” popcorn used in theaters or sold in bulk for export and the popcorn sitting on our store shelves labeled Jolly Time and Redenbacher, but I don’t know. Let’s find out!

Jolly Time & Redenbacher on Organics

Primo-Popcorn.com has requested to interview a senior representative from Jolly Time Popcorn and from the Orville Redenbacher company in order to discover their take on pesticide use and to find out if the FDA’s study accurately describes their popcorn production.

These interviews are important because Jolly Time and Orville Redenbacher are the two brands that most Americans have access to as they grocery shop.

Cost

Yes, organic popcorn can cost more, but there are some places where it costs the same or just slightly above the non-organic price.

Grow Your Own Organic Popcorn!

Okay, so it won’t be “certified organic”, but you can grow popcorn at home without using pesticides. It’s fun and educational for kids as well as adults.

You can also plant as many varieties of popcorn as you have available. For example, in the Primo-Popcorn.com garden I’ve planted Eden Organics Yellow Organic Popcorn, Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow, Black Diamond, and Japanese Hull-less.You can find different varieties of popcorn, simply by visiting local natural food stores, gourmet food stores, or you can surf the Net and find a myriad of varieties to plant.

How do I know they won’t cross-pollinate? Well, I planted each variety 2 ½ weeks apart. This allows the pollination of each variety to take place while the other varieties are either still maturing or past the pollinating stage.

Organic Popcorn - Bact To The Top

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