# can you use a popcorn maker to make puffed grains eg millet, kamut...



## aranya (Apr 18, 2006)

I was wondering if this could be an easy way to make breakfast cereal at home. We have a popcorn maker that DH only uses very rarely and plenty of kamut and other grains lying around since our hand cranked grain mill broke.


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## julie diane (May 27, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *aranya*
I was wondering if this could be an easy way to make breakfast cereal at home. We have a popcorn maker that DH only uses very rarely and plenty of kamut and other grains lying around since our hand cranked grain mill broke.

i have heard that you can - have you found any info about this yet?
julie diane


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## rareimer (Oct 20, 2003)

would be interested in this also...


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## its_our_family (Sep 8, 2002)

oooo...that woudl be AWESOME!!


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## mamajessica (Sep 15, 2004)

Not a professional answer, but my guess is no. Most grains are puffed under really high pressure that is not natural. Popcorn pops because of a little bit of water in the kernel. I suppose that it won't hurt to try it though!


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## tboroson (Nov 19, 2002)

ooh, that never occurred to me! I'll have to borrow my Mom's popcorn popper and try it! I have popped quinoa on the stovetop. If you heat up a frying pan dry, then dump some quinoa in it, it will start jumping around and popping like popcorn. It tastes neat and nutty







But, much of it jumps out of the pan as it pops, so it makes a mess. A popcorn popper would make that easier.

Ooh, I wonder if spelt would work in the popper. That would make a nice addition to homemade (otherwise raw) "power bar" type snacks. I love making them, but they turn out so sticky, some sort of dry bulk would help their texture.


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## its_our_family (Sep 8, 2002)

But wouldn't millet and such go through the screens and just jam things up?


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## toraji (Apr 3, 2003)

Here's what I've heard, though I've never tried it in an air popper...

Grains like amaranth and quinoa will "pop" like popcorn

Grains like wheat will kinda crack open and roast

No grains will get puffed like commercial products as it is an industrial process.

Actually, puffed grains have been shown to be toxic:

Quote:

Paul Stitt described one [study] in his book Fighting the Food Giants. Four sets of rats were given special diets. One group received plain whole wheat, water, vitamins and minerals. Another group received Puffed Wheat, water and the same nutrient solution. A third set was given water and white sugar, and a fourth given nothing but water and the chemical nutrients. The rats that received the whole wheat lived over a year on the diet. The rats that got nothing but water and vitamins lived for about eight weeks, and the animals on a white sugar and water diet lived for a month. But [the company's] own laboratory study showed that rats given vitamins, water and all the Puffed Wheat they wanted died in two weeks. It wasn't a matter of the rats dying of malnutrition; results like these suggested that there was something actually toxic about the Puffed Wheat itself. Proteins are very similar to certain toxins in molecular structure, and the puffing process of putting the grain under 1500 pounds per square inch of pressure and then releasing it may produce chemical changes which turn a nutritious grain into a poisonous substance.
from http://nourishingourchildren.org/parents/cereal.html


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