Corn Starch Packing Peanuts Edible?

[Louis Hom]

Does anyone know if those packing peanuts made from corn starch are edible?
Are there any strange organic residues remaining from the puffing process
or does it just involve some sort of superheated gas (e.g.,steam) extrusion?
I've tasted a couple from a shipment of software (wouldn't trust it from a
Sigma delivery) but I'm not sure it was such a good idea (healthwise).
--
****************************************************************************
* Lou Hom * "All folks are family." *
* lh...@ocf.berkeley.edu * -- John Saponara *
****************************************************************************

[A. Holder]

Louis Hom (lh...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU) wrote:
: Does anyone know if those packing peanuts made from corn starch are edible?

: Are there any strange organic residues remaining from the puffing process
: or does it just involve some sort of superheated gas (e.g.,steam) extrusion?
: I've tasted a couple from a shipment of software (wouldn't trust it from a
: Sigma delivery) but I'm not sure it was such a good idea (healthwise).

I have no idea what is in them or how they are made, but my cat likes to
eat them after she plays with them for a while.

amy

[Bill Newcomb]

lh...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Louis Hom) writes
->Does anyone know if those packing peanuts made from corn starch are edible?
->Are there any strange organic residues remaining from the puffing process
->or does it just involve some sort of superheated gas (e.g.,steam) extrusion?
->I've tasted a couple from a shipment of software (wouldn't trust it from a
->Sigma delivery) but I'm not sure it was such a good idea (healthwise).

I know folks who have eaten a large number of them with no apparent
ill effect. I thought they were made from wheat starch, though. I have
noticed small particles of metal in some of them, but then again
Cheerios has small particles of metal in it (try blenderizing them in
water and then stirring with a magnet), so it can't be too bad. We got
some one time that were green; I would advise against eating those,
even though the dye is probably harmless food dye.

--
Bill Newcomb "Most of what I've learned over the years has

[Andreas Kadavanich]

In article <2vej2a$e...@agate.berkeley.edu>,

I guess, if they aren't edible, several members of our lab should have
dropped dead by now.

Not that they taste too good.

Cheerio,

--
Andreas ("The terror that flaps in the Lab") Kadavanich
andr...@garnet.berkeley.edu
Box 101 Department of Chemistry UC Berkeley
"Die with honour, O'Brien"--Task

[Marilyn J. Barney]

Bill Newcomb (nu...@netcom.com) wrote:
: lh...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Louis Hom) writes

I got some of these "peanuts" in a book package the other day. I didn't know
they were actually food starch until my children decided to play with them
outside. They used their supersoakers (squirt guns) to soak the peanuts and
found out they dissolved in water. Then one of them thought it would be
funny to feed one to the neighbors' dog (he eats just about anything)--the
dog gulped it down and he's still alive. But I don't think I want to eat
them, even though the kids thought that if you dyed them orange they'd look
like big cheetos.

--Marilyn J. Barney

[Susan Hattie Steinsapir]

I guess I haven't been hungry enough to try, yet. Our food
budget is fairly limited but I seem to get by without this. I'd probably
eat cat food first.
--
Yours,
Susan
_____________________________________________________________________________
Susan Hattie Steinsapir hat...@netcom.com Sacramento, California

[Jennifer L. Wike]

In article <2vej2a$e...@agate.berkeley.edu>, lh...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Louis
Hom) wrote:

> Does anyone know if those packing peanuts made from corn starch are edible?
> Are there any strange organic residues remaining from the puffing process
> or does it just involve some sort of superheated gas (e.g.,steam) extrusion?
> I've tasted a couple from a shipment of software (wouldn't trust it from a
> Sigma delivery) but I'm not sure it was such a good idea (healthwise).
> --
>

Although the cornstarch is edible, a small amount of detergent is used in
the manufacturing process to assist in "foaming" the mixture. It would
probably take a lot of peanuts to ingest enough detergent to make you sick,
but the detergent does give the peanuts a somewhat unpleasant taste.

[Jim Lew]

Louis Hom (lh...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU) wrote:
: Does anyone know if those packing peanuts made from corn starch are edible?

: Are there any strange organic residues remaining from the puffing process
: or does it just involve some sort of superheated gas (e.g.,steam) extrusion?
: I've tasted a couple from a shipment of software (wouldn't trust it from a
: Sigma delivery) but I'm not sure it was such a good idea (healthwise).

I don't know. But my question is, why would you bother??? I know, I know,
because they're there, *right* :-)

Jim

[Cynthia Corwin %IDK]

>: lh...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Louis Hom) writes
>: ->Does anyone know if those packing peanuts made from corn starch are edible?
>: ->Are there any strange organic residues remaining from the puffing process
>: ->or does it just involve some sort of superheated gas (e.g.,steam) extrusion?
>: ->I've tasted a couple from a shipment of software (wouldn't trust it from a
>: ->Sigma delivery) but I'm not sure it was such a good idea (healthwise).

My husband has taken to dipping the ends very briefly in water, then
sticking them together to make sculpture. (This started after he got
bored with watching them dissolve.) I don't know about the content but
I wouldn't eat them, on the you-don't-know-where-they've been premise.

Cindy Corwin
cor...@cgl.ucsf.edu

[Kiran Wagle]

ki...@connected.com (Marilyn J. Barney) writes:
>I got some of these "peanuts" in a book package the other day. I didn't know
>they were actually food starch until my children decided to play with them
>outside. They used their supersoakers (squirt guns) to soak the peanuts and
>found out they dissolved in water. Then one of them thought it would be

yep. of course, the folks who shipped your books KNEW that the
package wouldn't have ANY chance of getting wet/damp.

I sure wouldn't use water-soluble packing material.

>funny to feed one to the neighbors' dog (he eats just about anything)--the
>dog gulped it down and he's still alive. But I don't think I want to eat
>them, even though the kids thought that if you dyed them orange they'd look

I know I tried one once, but I don't remember if I swallowed or spit. :-)

Seemed like a silly thing at the time.

~ Kiran <gr...@netcom.com>

--
6216 41st Avenue Hyattsville MD 20782 301/779-0756 <gr...@netcom.com>

[Nate Zieske]

Cynthia Corwin %IDK (cor...@socrates.ucsf.edu) wrote:
: >: lh...@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Louis Hom) writes

I wouldn't recomend eating them sculpting is one thing but eating is
definately not good. I can't remember what they use to puff the starch
up but I do remember that it is toxic and a suspected carcinogen.

Nate

[seany...@gmail.com]

I used to eat them when I was a kid back in 1994. I just decided to eat another one now and then came online to check what I could find about them. Crazy that I found this site asking this question waaaayyyy back in 94. Man, what a better time it was back then.

[nasajel...@gmail.com]

nice

[Libor 'Poutnik' Stříž]

Dne 18/02/2018 v 02:45 nasajel...@gmail.com napsal(a):

> On Wednesday, July 6, 1994 at 4:36:42 PM UTC+1, Louis Hom wrote:
>> Does anyone know if those packing peanuts made from corn starch are edible?
>> Are there any strange organic residues remaining from the puffing process
>> or does it just involve some sort of superheated gas (e.g.,steam) extrusion?
>> I've tasted a couple from a shipment of software (wouldn't trust it from a
>> Sigma delivery) but I'm not sure it was such a good idea (healthwise).
>

> nice

It would be nice if shipping companies started
to use popcorn instead of Styrofoam. :-)
At least if the shipment was food.

--
Poutnik ( The Pilgrim, Der Wanderer )

A wise man guards words he says,
as they say about him more,
than he says about the subject.