Is Orville lying to me?????

I LOVE air popped popcorn and have always loved the fact that it's 15 calories per cup.  Spray some ICBINB, add a little salt and voila!.....Snack galore!

So here's my question.  On the jar of Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn, one cup of popped corn is rated at 15 calories.  Why do I keep seeing people refer to one cup as 30?  Even on CC Orville's comes up as 30.  I called the 800 # on the jar and questioned this and they swear that it is listed correctly as 15 calories per cup.   I would love clarification on this.  It's driving me crazy! 

Probably because they are referring to the bags of microwave popcorn, while you eat the unpopped kernals sold in a jar.

Actually Jonas, it's referring to the popped corn.  It actually says on the jar "1 cup of air-popped corn - 15 calories".  The unpopped kernels are listed as "3 tsp of un-popped corn - 120 calories".  See why I am confused?  There is no microwave involved.  This is purely air-popping.  Thanks for your reply!

bump

3 tbsp of unpopped kernels is 120. it says on the jar that 3 tbsp makes about 6 cups popped, which comes up as 90 calories (15 x 6=90). i'm no expert, but i'm guessing the caloric discrepancy between unpopped and popped is explained by the fact that popping is an exothermic reaction.

Original Post by heatherhm3:

Actually Jonas, it's referring to the popped corn.  It actually says on the jar "1 cup of air-popped corn - 15 calories".  The unpopped kernels are listed as "3 tsp of un-popped corn - 120 calories".  See why I am confused?  There is no microwave involved.  This is purely air-popping.  Thanks for your reply!

 But the microwave stuff is NOT sold in a jar. I am saying that when you pop it fromm scratch, there is fewer calories because most bagged popcorn (microwave) is buttered.

Hi guys.....I am giggling to myself because I think you are both misunderstanding what I am asking.

ewwxrolflzz, I had a typo on that last one.  Yes, it is TBSP, not TSP.  But even still, why when I log air popped popcorn into my food list for the day, does one cup come up as 30 calories instead of 15 like stated on the jar?  Why does CC and other calorie counting websites basically double the calories for the same serving size?  Like I said, Orville Redenbacher's  nutritional info states one cup of POPPED corn is 15 calories.  It's not an issue regarding the popping process, exothermic reactions or microwave popcorn comparisons....just purely a mathematic question.

I asked this question a looooooooong time ago, and someone explained to me that it's because Orville's kernels supposedly pop higher and turn fluffier (take up more space) than do regular kernels. I'm not sure if this is true, but it's the only explanation I could get...

bump.....

Thanks Moscovite!  Can that be true?  Let's see if anyone else can help us with this!

Well, this is silly information, but in Fall semester Chem lab, we actually did an experiment comparing Orville Redenvacher Popcorn kernels to generic kernels. We weighed unpopped kernels, and then we weighed the same kernels after popping. I don't remember all the details, but the popped Redenbacher kernels were larger in size and had the greatest weight loss after popping.  Something about water weight -- I don't recall the exact statistics because I don't have that spreadsheet saved anymore.

Anyhow, a 15 Calorie margin of error isn't something to get too worked up about unless you're getting a LARGE percentage of your daily Calories through popcorn. Try to remember that every Caloric content listing is an estimate at best.  

I've looked up many items on the CC food database that didn't match what my label said on the package.  I'd go by the package.