TheSnackHound

The following information is provided as a public service announcement and not as an endorsement of any said practices, nor encouragement to try this at home.**

I was typing away, and I heard out of the corner of my ear the dismebodied voice of Ted Allen talking about exploding grapes. Of course, as this was a subject of interest to me, I emerged from my office to see what it was all about. It was a show where this very idea was put through its paces. Of course, as you know from my post about Skittles, a show like this would have been a mere dare to my brother and I as kids.

Apparently, after further research, as I missed most of the segment, grapes do indeed go through a freaky metamorphisis in the mircowave.  Somehow, the liquid-like center of a grape does not agree with the technology.

On Wikihow, the subject was deemed so rediculous that regulars threatened to have it pulled.

One user replied:

I’ve done this before. It does not damage the microwave in any sort of way, and exploding is definitely the wrong word for what happens. All it is is the water in between the two grape halves is excited to the plasma state, and creates what appears to be a large fireball rising up through the microwave. However, there isn’t enough energy to sustain the plasma-state and by the time it hits the top of the microwave chamber, it will turn back into ordinary water. It’s not dangerous, and it is actually an interesting bit of a time-waster with good science behind it as well.

So, would anyone recommend actually intentionally doing this to make some sort of grape spread for cucumber sandwiches?   I would be afraid that the grapes would be in such a microwave induced altered state that it would be a secret ingredient for a potion in a classic horror film.  (There was no mention of Frankenfood grapes reacting differently) At least that’s my opinion.

The actual article writer states some words of wisdom:

This might not work on the very first grape you try. Try it plenty of times before giving up.

If it still doesn’t work, you may need to move it to a different spot in the microwave. Some microwaves have “hotspots” that are exposed to more energy than other spots, so you’ll be trying to find one of those.

The writer also instructs that it works best if you slice the grape slightly.

So, the actual intent was to “successfully explode a grape” and not really a word to the wise to help you AVOID IT.

Oh well, we have stopped using our microwave, but I imagine I am going to have to make sure my brother doesn’t read this because he’s going to see an unused microwave as something that just “calls” to him.

(**= I double dog dare you).