Guest post by Steven Du Paste, the Latin Late antiquity translation for the word Pasta. [3] Eating spaghetti and meatballs today typically involves boiling some dried spaghetti pasta and pouring on some pasta sauce from a jar. But have you ever wondered how to make these golden silky strands of noodles? To start off, we …
Guest post by Steven Du Creamistry – n. the science of creating ice cream using Liquid Nitrogen and not to be confused by the Ice Cream shop with the same name [4]. Ice cream does not seem complicated to make, but contrary to popular belief it is not as simple as just freezing cream and …
Guest post by Steven Du The flavor reaction. What makes bread crust brown and tasty? What makes the smell of searing meat so savory and delicious? How can grill marks and black crust on meats, supply such a flavor punch? Three words: the Maillard reaction. This simple reaction leads to thousands of flavonoids that impart …
If you’re living in Los Angeles, there is no doubt that you have noticed the surging popularity of plant-based foods in the dining landscape. Not only are restaurants blooming with new vegan menu options, but there is also a burgeoning growth of plant-based food products emerging in the food industry. Notable newcomers include veggie burgers …
As the peak of summer approaches, we here at Science & Food love to reach for one of our favorite frosty treats: the ice cream sandwich. Being true Science & Foodies, we started to wonder about this amazing composite material- how do you get the coexisting chewy cookie yet firm ice cream? We began to …
Yogurt is an ancient food that has been around for several millennia. One theory of the discovery of yogurt is that during 10,000 – 5,000 BC, when Herdsmen began the practice of milking their animals, they stored their milk in bags made of the intestinal gut of the animals. The intestines contain natural enzymes that …
The highly prized white truffle, Tuber magnatum, can easily cost a fortune. The coveted fungus can run up to $200 per ounce, and in December 2014, a 1.86 kilogram white truffle was sold for $61,000. With skyrocket prices for a small hunk of fungus, cheaper alternatives were developed for obtaining that14 distinct truffle aroma and flavor … Continue reading
To keep up with the national demand for apples, apple trees are not grown from apple seeds, but rather, spliced together from different sources onto a dwarf “rootstock”. This enables increased production of more uniform apples, but unfortunately also decreases genetic diversity among apple trees. Vulnerability to any one disease could decimate the entire apple … Continue reading
With Earth Day coming up on April 22nd, use this time to reflect on how the things we eat, and the choices we make surrounding what we eat, impact the planet. Continue reading
Tonle Sap Lake in the heart of Cambodia is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. The fish from these waters feed millions across Southeast Asia–or at least, used to. A combination of development, drought, and climate change has devastated the lake, threatening the livelihood of those who depend on this body of water. Climate … Continue reading
There are scientific discoveries that are the result of serendipitous accidents. The “most beautiful of plastics”, a popular polymer in the early 20th century made from a protein found in milk, was accidentally invented by a cat. Proteins, of course, are better known for their nutritional necessity than as a component in plastic buttons. With … Continue reading
Cooking, such as intensively heating a burger patty, is considered a form of food processing. Heating meats at high temperatures generates compounds such as benzene and polyaromatic hydrocarbons that are known to increase the consumer’s risk of developing cancer. Researchers in China found that grilling beef patties at extremely high temperatures produces carbon dots. Furthermore, … Continue reading
Studies investigating the chemical differences between organic and conventionally grown produce are difficult to carry out, in part because many factors cannot be ruled out, such as annual differences in weather and other environmental factors. A six-year study in onions shows that organically grown onions contain higher levels of phytochemicals. The authors of the study … Continue reading
With 2 billion avocados consumed in America every year, avocado production has to be able keep up. The majority of avocados sold in the U.S. are imported from Mexico, where the fruit is able to grow year-round. California, the biggest domestic producer of avocados, may someday be able to grow avocados all year. Researchers are … Continue reading
When one slice of a loaf of bread begins to grow fuzzy, green mold, do you throw out the whole thing or get rid of the affected parts and save the rest? Food safety experts weigh in on how to handle certain fungi found in your kitchen. In another bread scenario, when handed a whole-wheat … Continue reading
The schisandra berry, also known as the five-flavor berry, has been consumed in China in juices, jams, savory soups, and as medicine long before it was touted by Dr. Oz and became a superfood in the U.S. This berry is now back in the spotlight with increasing focus on conservation efforts surrounding the forest where it … Continue reading
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