Monday, April 10, 2006

Did I Ever Tell You About the Moldy Popcorn?

On two separate occasions I have tasted mold on popcorn. Once was Orville Microwave popcorn and once was at Famous Players. In fairness to them - I never sent the nasty gram to Orville Redenbacher to they didn't have a chance to apologize and at the theatre they refunded my money - while they stared at me like I was crazy. Now understand - I am not the type to have butter or flavoring on my popcorn. Just plain old popcorn for me. I think that is part of the reason I have tasted this unmistakable resemblance to mold. Unmistakable because that is what it is.

I have attempted to research the process of drying kernels but found very little to go on. Logic dictates that the kernels are separated from the cob, dried, packaged, popped and eaten. Knowing enough about the properties of mold (requires organic matter and some moisture to grow) it seems reasonable to assume that this molding of my popcorn could very easily occur if the kernels are not dried enough or a few are overlooked.

Now I know this sounds like I have lost touch with reality. Moldy popcorn you say? Just keep in mind that on occasion whilst eating your popcorn - you will taste something vaguely familiar (in my case once it was mild and once it was so overpowering that I almost threw up - so there are varying levels) that just stays on your tongue and reminds you of the time you opened - and for some reason smelled the inside of a bag of moldy hot dog buns. Do not question your sanity - though many of those who consume popcorn floating in MSG, butter, caramel, ketchup and/or salt and vinegar flavoring may have a difficult time accepting the truth of this. They have been fooled...

Now I have an aversion to salad (unless I can wash it myself- but they look at me funny when I ask to do that at a restaurant) and popcorn. I also have one to broccoli but not because something happened to me. It's that old wives tale about the little green worms in it - that and the fact that I find the flavour repulsive. So all in all - my viable food group is diminishing.

Sorry if I have ruined your snacking ability. Please feel free to add to my aversions.

;-D

34 comments:

Deanna Heaslet said...

Just ate moldy popcorn...googled it because I thought I was crazy. Thanks for the confirmation! I knew it was mold. Eewww...

Anonymous said...

My palate does not lie. I knew I was not crazy (at least not on this), but had to find some info on timeframe, etc. It does stay on the tongue. Even after I brushed. Ugh!

walking_man from BigChurch

P.S. Love the pic of Guevera's Revolutionary lipbalm.

elizabeth said...

AHA!! Another victim of the popcorn mold. Another confirmation that I have not completely gone off the deep end ;-)

Unknown said...

Yes I ate the moldy popcorn too!! Yuk!! Terrible thing it was..

Dana said...

I Googled "moldy popcorn" because I was sure I just ate some. Disgusting! Glad to know I'm not crazy. :)

Unknown said...

I am also one who googled whether popcorn can grow mold after eating some. Had just popped a bag of Orville Redenbacher fat free popcorn, put some powdered butter in the bag (which is definitely not moldy), and reached in... A few pieces in, I tasted mold. Of course, I tried to convince myself that it's dehydrated and thus could not grow mold. Ate another handful, and got another mold-flavored kernel.
I'm someone who, for whatever reason, is more sensitive to the smell and taste of mold. If the garbage disposal hasn't been run in a few days and I walk within 15 feet of it, I start gagging while no one else seems to notice it.
So maybe I just found the off bag with some mold... Or maybe more bags have a light moldy flavor that no one else in the house has noticed D:

Unknown said...

Legit ate a whole bag before realizing. Blah! The last few were moldy... my stomach is turning

Unknown said...

Legit ate a whole bag before realizing. Blah! The last few were moldy... my stomach is turning

Kestutis said...

after tasting mold in my pocporn, i coulnt believe it. Gave it to my wife , and she confirmed the same. After that -Google and you guys. Thanks
Now my question would be did popcorn went bad in my cupboard, or its the way it came from manufacturer.
Anyways, while googling came across King Corn movie, thats my saturday's movie for tonight anyways.

Stacy said...

Had to google this because it happened to me multiple times. I thought the popcorn bowl went funky from being put away right out of the dishwasher. In my case it was gourmet Amish popcorn and I had several bags of it go bad.

Unknown said...

Me too. Darn they are right about the taste not going away. Ugh. It won't make me sick will it?

Unknown said...

I just ate some moldy Gourmet Amish Popcorn! I hope I don't get sick!

TeaMouse said...

Literally just happened to me, at my work we have Popcorn Fridays and I popped perfectly good, non expired Act II popcorn and ate a handful and in the next little bit I took boom - mold taste! I thought the stuff was bad so I grabbed the box, no it expired in 2018! This is literally my first time and if there is mold in something I will taste it. Everyone thought I was nuts and they kept eating their popcorn, I came right back to my desk to google this because I wanted confirmation that I'm not losing my mind lol! Now to find something to get rid of that mold taste!

Conky said...

I have had this happen to me on occasion and it makes me mental b/c it requires massive determination to keep eating it after that one mouldy POS kernel... #FTW #IGETYOU

Unknown said...

I just ate some moldy popcorn. It was the bottom half of a plastic jar of Safeway Organics kernels. It was stove popped. Gross.

Unknown said...

Mine was alao Amish gourmet red less hulls variety. I've had several different varieties from this company but this red one is the first one to taste moldy. So disgusting.

Neets said...

Yes, me too! Same experience...popped some plain old kernels (not sure if the ones in the top of the container were the ones bought from the store or the ones from Bob’s Red Mill) in a microwave popcorn bowl with fresh butter and salt and I could smell it when I opened the microwave! I have some kind of mold intolerance because mushroom soup gives me diarrhea and yeast hurts too, so this might get a bit painful...my stomach is already upset! After the smell and taste of mold, I looked and some of the kernels are black/grey on the end. Currently debating whether to pick the black/grey tipped ones out and try again or not...eww! And my mouth feels burnt and my lips are a tiny bit tingly and my stomach is upset...

Unknown said...

I love popcorn, it's my snack of choice. A lot of times when I eat it, my eyes will get very puffy and I always thought it was because I put too much salt on it. At one point I tried eating it with sugar instead and lo and behold, my eyes still got puffy. It never happens with corn on the corn or any other corn. Now I'm thinking it must be mold.

StayC said...

We just experienced moldy popcorn from AMC Theater. Didn’t taste it until the third handful. Both my husband and I’s chest got tight & we got wheezy. Gross! Not going to chance that, so we tossed it!!

Unknown said...

We just came from AMC & our popcorn also tasted moldy & also super salty. Not sure if it's because it was towards the end of the night when we bought ours but it sure is interesting to see that we're not the only ones who also ate mold tasting popcorn from an AMC.

Unknown said...

I forgot to add that we still have a bucket full of the popcorn. We couldn't find any employee to inform them & request a refund.

Lisa said...

Sitting here Bobs Red Mill popcorn and for the second time now, I taste Mold, its horrible and stays in the palette, long after its chewed and swallowed

Sue R. from MA said...

I thought I tasted mold last night! not the whole bowl, but a few bites. I must be crazy, right? So, chalked it up to crazy.

tonight, eating a bowl of popcorn again, same container. My tongue felt weird. 15 minutes later, my son said his tongue felt weird. I hadn't told him I felt the same. I think it's the popcorn.

Flimmsan said...

I just ate a popcorn that tasted like mold and could not belive it, so disgusting! Thank you for writing about this, now I know that I'm not the only moldy popcorn victim!

Unknown said...

bro me too

Annie said...

Lockdown just ended and finally my boyfriend and I were able to go to a movie. We were enjoying a large bucket (unbuttered) until an explosion of mold in my mouth. Spitting, gaging and nearly threw up. Was impossible to get the taste of mold from my mouth. It was horrible. Today I'm not feeling well with a bad headache and bad diarrhea. Appreciate the confirmation about mold in popped popcorn.

Unknown said...

I just ate some but I spat it out and mouth washed three times and tried not to puke. I had air popped no name brand kernels and btw I can still taste it

Unknown said...

Just happened to me

t said...

Of course I’m here because I googled “my popcorn tastes moldy” after grabbing a handful and scarfing it down. I guess I’ll be switching to cheese doodles for a while.

P86M said...

Happened to me too.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31137416/

Unknown said...

I also got some moldy batch of purple popcorn from Amish gormet, absolutely disgusting and they don't give refunds on Amazon. Don't but the Amish brand people.

Unknown said...

Just ate some moldy popcorn!!yuck!!!! It was Orville redenbacker kernals. I've already contacted Amazon and they r sending a replacement jar. Wow! HoW icky!!!

sds said...

It's been interesting reading your post and then the string of comments throughout the years, thereafter.

Anyway, me too! Immediately thought "Oh no, do i have COVID!??" But no. Just one mouldy kernel. Well, there might've been more, but I threw the rest out. Barf!

sds said...

Oh forgot to mention: mine was Act II Butter Lovers from Target. Won't expire until Sept 2023.