At last, the mystery of old maids is solved, thanks to my alma mater. The mystery: At the bottom of my popcorn bowl, there are always approximately twenty unpopped kernels per quart of popcorn. Why is that? It's been a minor puzzle to me for fifty years. (If my experience is the norm, that means we Americans have to put up with a half trillion of those annoying things every year.)
Here's the breaking news on good kernels vs. bad kernels:
"They're sort of like little pressure vessels that explode when the pressure reaches a certain point," said Bruce Hamaker, a Purdue professor of food chemistry. "But if too much moisture escapes, it loses its ability to pop and just sits there."
It's fun to watch science continue to close those knowledge gaps. Now we can move on to the next pressing issue.
