Unintentional Kitchen Science

So I was reheating some cold polenta (cornmeal mush - that is, maize meal) in the microwave. And a second or so after it started, there were HUGE bright flashes of light, burning smell, microwave making ominous sound ... !

I stopped it, of course. There were faint burn marks on some of the edges. (The polenta was very uneven in texture and thickness: it was home made, not one of those very compact, sausage-like commercial polenta logs.)

At my husband's request, I tried it again. Cue the fireworks and melodrama. The remaining polenta blob was pitched into the food waste pail (we have food waste recycling in our town).

The only thing we can figure out is that maybe this batch of stoneground cornmeal had a really good mineral content. One site notes that stoneground cornmeal can supply about 25% of your daily magnesium needs. And magnesium is very flammable. And other vegetable products can smoke and flame in the microwave, including fresh veggies that are thin, irregular, and contain lots of iron, such as spinach and kale (link to NPR article).

To end this on a fitting note: create plasma in your microwave with a grape!

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