a real and possible fire source: Cheetos

Seems a little strange at first, but it shouldn't. The primary ingredient is corn meal, and yep, dried plant material will indeed burn. Add in some vegetable oil and there's your answer as to why this happens. Nothing unusual or unnatural about it, I don't think.

reply to post by zooplancton


I want to run out and buy multitudes of these now. First a few quick questions though...
1. Do they still burn if they are stale ?
2. Do store brands work as well or do they have to be the free to lay brand ?

reply to post by piercebitchone


I bought 3 bags, all fresh, but I burned one pile in wet dog bowl, so I bet they do burn stale. The cheaper brand burned just about as good as the name brand. Very little, if any difference.

The puffy ones burned the best.

The crunchy ones burned slower, and fizzled and popped like they were about to go out a few times, but they never went out.

I crushed some up into a powder, and they didn't burn as well. I expected them to flash and burn better, but it didn't happen. Of course, they were lying in a wet dog bowl, so maybe that is why?

If I get a chance today, I'm going to collect some sticks, spanish moss, pine needles, cheetohs, and my magnesium fire starter block, and see if I can use the cheetohs to help build an actual campfire. I'll video it and post it if I can!

When I first read the title i thought it said cheerios...lol. Was guessing you meant you had to leave the milk out before lighting it up!

In all seriousness though, there was a smaller snack food company where I used to live. I had a friend who used to work there, and had heard one day they needed to send some of a similar type thing....cheetos, or something like it to be scanned by a scanning electron microscope.

His initial though was what the hell do you need to see on snack food that it takes a scanning electron microscope for.
Turns out,,,the "preservatives" in them...are actually...a thin layer of plastic. It is listed in the ingredients..but can't remember the name. So I'm guessing it's the actual plastic that's burning...at least for long enough to let the rest of the cheetos catch fire.

I'm honestly not sure if that plastic is just a thin coating, or is actually thinly mixed all throughout the product itself.

Makes you wonder what other "snack foods" would fire up like this. Now all the experiments will begin...lol! What makes me queasy, now knowing this, is that we eat this stuff without thinking about how full of chemicals and unnatural additives our "food" has become.

yes indeed, 'Cheetos'

years ago i demonstrated to my young kids that some of the junk food they ate was definitely junk...

i put a flame to a 'Cheetos' curl, it stayed lit like a slow burning candle... and i asked my kids if they thought
food that burned with a flame was good for their stomach.

They never really stopped eating 'Cheetos', but at least they never picked up the habit of scarfing 'Twinkie'(s)
(they went to public high-school where they learned that kind of stuff)



re:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie
The Twinkie is an American snack cake made and distributed by Hostess Brands

Good Grief!!!
Now you tell me.
My son, daughter-in law and sweet grandsons were visiting from Louisiana and I bought
the two year old a bag of his fravorite treat....cheatos!!

Originally posted by grumpydaysleeper
Good Grief!!!
Now you tell me.
My son, daughter-in law and sweet grandsons were visiting from Louisiana and I bought
the two year old a bag of his fravorite treat....cheatos!!

reply to post by zooplancton


Pringles burn green

reply to post by zooplancton


Thank you for this info, zoo. Appreciate the share.

It is nice to know this and I will definitely pass the info on. Am sure it will come in quite handy.

Also, I didn't realize they were ''petrolelum'' based and that it would work on the other chips as well, So thank you .

Uggg...at what we put into our bodies though. Nope, I won't be eating Cheetos anymore.

Too, I think it outrageous that this poison is even allowed into our foods! But It is only one of the MANY.
What's happened?! I can't believe these companies are allowed to get away with it.
Had to vent there, sorry.

Please do keep them coming. One can never have ENOUGH info , imo!

SnF!

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by zooplancton

 

Awesome! I've been playing with this all day, LOL! No 20 min burn, just 2 or 3 min per ceetoh, but easy to start and nice warm fire! I like the puffy better. Easier start and better flame.

I'm gonna make a tutorial video tomorrow with my magnesium block, cheetohs, and a basic little teepee fir. This is pretty cool.

did you try the crunchy kind? I'm not kidding, they burn for over 15 minutes. seriously.
if I can get home at a decent hour tomorrow, I'll film one.

Originally posted by piercebitchone
reply to post by zooplancton

 

I want to run out and buy multitudes of these now. First a few quick questions though...
1. Do they still burn if they are stale ?
2. Do store brands work as well or do they have to be the free to lay brand ?

edit on 15-1-2012 by piercebitchone because: two very enthusiastic thumbs up

I've only tried fresh crunchy kind. and they were Cheeto brand. not trader joe's or the like.
enjoy!

reply to post by getreadyalready


this is awesome! excited to hear your report back. love the enthusiasm!

I would of never thought of burning Cheetos - thanks for the tip.

It's primarily the cooking oil that burns - the Cheeto is the wick.

Cooking oil is used for floating candles. Take a glass of water, pour a thin layer of oil and punch a wick through piece if foil shaped to float an keep the bottom of the wick in the oil.

Originally posted by vor78
Seems a little strange at first, but it shouldn't. The primary ingredient is corn meal, and yep, dried plant material will indeed burn. Add in some vegetable oil and there's your answer as to why this happens. Nothing unusual or unnatural about it, I don't think.

so they are ok to eat?

I do hope that this nice lady does not smoke in the bath.

@o.p thats an incredible find and well worth knowing
also my son is now banned from eating snacks of that kind
if its that flammable i dont want him ingesting such garbage

Originally posted by Thurisaz
so they are ok to eat?

I'm not going to accuse them of being health food, but if you're asking me if the fact that they'll burn would stop me from eating them, no, taken alone it would not. Its really not much different than burning the dried leaves in your yard in the fall, or when the farmers where I live burn off the rice fields every year after the harvest. Most plant material will burn when its dried out. Or put another way, I've got a bag of them in the cabinet right now and this isn't going to stop me from eating them if I want.

Most anything will burn if you get it hot enough. I'd guess that most dried foods like these probably will, too.

I wish i never found this thread, now im going to buy a bag of cheetos and lit them up. lol

Originally posted by Thurisaz
wow...but what the hell is in the cheetos to make them burn like that? and even more of a worry is that we eat them.

it sure as hell aint cheese
anyway, youd be surprised whats in them, trust me you dont wanna know.