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 … Continue reading
Author Archives: Science & Food
Fungus Fraud & Piperine History
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
Apple Orchards & Apple Washes
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
Earth Day & Sustainable Diets
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
Liquid Nitrogen Gastronomy
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 … Continue reading
Fish Scarcity & Canola Crops
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
Protein Plastics & Protein Supplements
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
Burger Nanomaterials & Chicken-free Chicken
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
Organic Onions & Tear-free Onions
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
Perennial & Seedless Avocados
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