Loren Pechtel

Amedean Messan wrote:Bump....

Was looking into this again today and found an awesome demonstration by Myth Busters.

That is almost exactly the device I saw in Shanghai. The one over there had an easier-to-use crank to keep it turning, they weren't turning that one enough and burned the popcorn a bit.


And, Hassan Emrauni, you're right, the link I posted before seems to be dead.

Jicky Jones wrote:Why so tight? Well fitted, such as would be adequate to pop corn and retain it in a saucepan ought to work. You could hold the lid on and shake the pan to keep it from burning.
Or you could use a screw-down pressure cooker. But this would not give you as much control.

The point is to raise the boiling point of water to instantly boil the water when the pressure is released. The time I saw it being done the pressure gauge was up to several atmospheres. (I wasn't paying much attention to the gauge so I don't know how many.) I doubt an elephant standing on the lid could hold the pressure. This is a lot higher than a typical pressure cooker.


Edit: I did some more snooping trying to find the pressure and I find some guys doing it on a small scale:

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2011-01/vise-cakes-making-grain-puffer-cheap-hosts-food-jammers

They were using 11 atmospheres.

Dale Hodgins wrote:It will make puffed rice but not rice krispies. They are made from rice flour, sugar etc.

Look for an importer of Chinese antiquities. Puffers were very common in recent history.

Don't look for an importer of Chinese antiquities.

I had encountered one of those puffers in Shanghai (but I had been warned that the local product had lead problems) and I was Googling to see if one could be had here in the US.

In doing so I learned that the Chinese machines are inherently flawed--there is a piece of lead in them that is in contact with the food.

http://www.solucionespracticas.org.pe/td/pdf/food_chain_31.pdf

(Don't let the URL scare you, it's in English.)