Why does butter do this to popcorn?

Question

I put my own melted butter on my popcorn but it turned to mush why is that?

Answer 1

it is the milk fat in the butter when you melt the butter the two separate the milk fat will settle to the bottom and just use the clarified butter that is left on top and no more soggy popcorn

Answer 2

Try using clarifed butter.

You make it by melting a pound of butter. Scrape the foam off the top with a spoon or a ladle. There will be sediment on the bottom. Ladle out the clear butter oil and disgard the sediment.

Put the popcorn in a large mixing bowl and add a little bit of butter at a time while tossing the popcorn.

hopes this helps

Answer 3

Melt your butter while your popcorn is popping and then pour it on while the popcorn is still hot, not after it gets cold. Also, just melt the butter just to the melted point, not so that it's sizzling. And either use real butter or real margarine, not the light margarine because that is mostly water.

Answer 4

When popcorn is popped, the texture of the "popped corn" is light, fluffy, and extremely absorbant (like a sponge). When it comes in contact with any liquid, it soaks up the liquid and shrivels. Liquid butter only works well if it is a very thick substance, like they use in the movie theater. If you melt butter or use a liquid butter that is very greasy, it will most certainly be absorbed by the popcorn and turn mushy!

Answer 5

You poured liquid onto popcorn, it's going to absorb the liquid, just like if you poured water on it. The trick is to pour the butter lightly while you stir the popcorn, so you get a light coating rather than soaking it. Or put melted butter into a clean spray bottle and spray the butter on lightly while you stir.

Answer 6

I have had this happen if the butter is too hot. When I let the butter cool first then it does not make the popcorn mushy unless it sits too long in the bowl, which usually is not a problem because my family loves fresh buttered popcorn. :-)

Answer 7

Because when you melt butter it has a lot of water in it. So you're basically pouring melted butter and water on your popcorn, hence it gets soggy. If you're going to melt your own butter, let it separate after melting so you only get the butter part.

Answer 8

I've never had that happen with real butter, but some margarines and margarine /butter blends will cause popcorn to shrivel or melt. Having the butter too hot may cause problems too.

Answer 9

Natural Butter, as opposed to butter flavoring, is composed of several hydroxyl groups of compounds. These hydrated compounds react with corn material to create an acid that destroys the corn. What is actually happening is the butter is disintegrating the corn molecules.

If you placed honey in the butter as you melt it, it will neutralize the acids and stop this from occurring.

Try it.

also you can try adding an egg to the butter mixture and some cheddar cheese. These will all help to make your popcorn taste so good.

Answer 10

The butter they use at movie theaters is more of a flavored oil and formulated specifically for use on popcorn, whereas the butter we have at home will just make it wet. If you want to flavor popcorn, you might want to get some popcorn butter flavored salt. It probably will work better!