Dear Matt,

A chemist I know who actually works in the food industry told me that the "natural butter flavoring" used in movie theatre popping oil and in microwave popcorn is butyric acid. I'm reading the dictionary right now and it says that butyric acid is "either of two isomeric acids having the formula C4 H8 02 [sorry I can't do subscripts here], esp. a rancid liqud occurring in spoiled butter." I don't know where you would find butyric acid, but if you like the taste of movie theatre popcorn, maybe you could just let your butter sit out at room temperature for a few days to allow the butyric acid to develop.

Marilyn