this is genius! the true life hack is always in the comments...

wait, how can you differentiate the unpopped from the yet to pop? (tbh. so far I'm just a premade popcorn buyer, so ELI5...)

When you pick the kernels for the sacrifice they have to accept their fate and the others have to accept the tribute. It's just their tradition.

Ignore the snark from the sibling comments.

You have to study the grain. Most kernels have a left to right grain, and they will pop between 140-150C, because the cell structure of the skin is weak in several places. A relatively rare genetic mutation leads to around 1-2% of kernels having a right to left grain, and because of this orientation the skin is actually more robust in the typical popping spots, meaning that temperatures as high as 450C are required to pop these! That's why they typically will remain unpopped when cooking popcorn in this legacy manner.

To detect the right-to-left kernels, you can actually use a UV flashlight - you will see that they have a softer glow compared to the bright left to right kernels.

Hope that helps!

This is probably the most interesting thing I’ve read all day. Now where did I leave the UV torch…

You can get them at auto parts stores used with dye to detect leaks, often in the HVAC system.

Or at most pet supply stores, for a similar but not identical purpose.

I want to believe, but I don't have a UV light handy to verify this.

I dont know if this is true or if this is a brilliant and creative troll.

If this is true, does this mean that it's technically possible to pre-sort out most of the kernels that won't pop easily? Do expensive popcorn brands do this? Would it be possible to breed out this mutation? So many questions.

It’s a joke.

Apparently, the reason why some kernels don't pop is because they have too little moisture due to the hull not being perfect and the moisture escaping[1][2]. So it seems like it should be possible to somehow go through all the kernels and remove most of the unpoppable ones? Maybe make something that weighs each kernel and removes ones outside a range?

1: https://americasfavoritepopcorn.com/blogs/all-blogs/why-do-s... 2: https://popcornity.com/why-some-popcorn-kernels-dont-pop/

Plus who wants to eat unlucky popcorn?

These days, I’ve been separating the poop from the food before I eat it.

This is funny. This is also not the type of comments that I expect to see on HN. I come here out of curiosity, not for humor or entertainment.