14Nov 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Pressure Cookers Cook Hotter and Quicker – The Ideal Gas Law

Chemistry, Food
[caption id="attachment_22958" align="alignright" width="480"] Modern 8.5 quart steel pressure cooker[/caption] Your time is limited. Besides, you are concerned about tenderness and nutrition. So you are in the market for a pressure cooker. But you are just a bit curious about how and why they work. And you are not certain which one to buy. Meats and Vegetables Water ordinarily boils at 212° Fahrenheit (100° Celsius). So food cooked in an open saucepan,1 whether by boiling or steaming, cooks at approximately that temperature. Using a Pressure Cooker In an open saucepan, water boils at atmospheric pressure, something over 14 pounds per square inch. However, when water boils in a pressure cooker, steam pressure is considerably higher. Now steam is essentially gaseous water. This brings to mind our high-school days and the…
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06Oct 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

What is Cream of Tartar? Why is It Used in Food?

Chemistry, Food
We know the tiny white cubes of salt we shake over our food is sodium chloride. We know the sugar we spoon into our cereal (assuming that's not already been done for us) is sucrose. But what in the world is cream of tartar, and how why to we put that in our food? Chemical Structure Cream of tartar is a by-product. What is it a by-product of? The fermentation of wine. It often settles out in the cask and sometimes in the bottle. Cream of tartar's common technical name is potassium bitartrate. Sometimes it is called potassium acid tartrate since only one of its two available acid groups is neutralized by potassium (red circle), leaving the other acid group unreacted (blue circle). See the diagram. Its acid group, is…
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26Sep 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Why Do Certain Artificial Flavors Taste Better Than Others?

Chemistry, Food
Whether it is candy, a cake, or ice cream, I've heard statements of preference given for one particular fruit flavor over another. What is it that turns some people on to certain fruits, while turning them off to others? How is it certain artificial flavors taste better than others? The People Factor Of course, there is personal preference. But if a large enough group of people who express their taste preferences is polled, and an overwhelming number of them agree they like or dislike a specific flavor, isn't it fair to suggest it is not just a matter of personal preference? Another Factor Then, too, what if those polled say they dislike a particular artificial flavor, but they enjoy its natural flavor counterpart? Why is that? The no-brainer answer must…
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21Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

What is Hydrogenation? How Does It Affect Vegetable Oils?

Food, Health
Hydrogenation is simply the addition of one or more molecules of hydrogen to a compound. When we speak of hydrogenation, we usually refer to the saturation (adding of hydrogen) of carbon-carbon double bonds to produce single bonds. Saturation / Unsaturation Organic compounds, most of the compounds containing carbon and hydrogen, can be saturated or unsaturated. In saturated compounds, all carbon atoms that are bonded to other carbon atoms are singly bonded, whereas in unsaturated compounds, some of these are double or even triple bonds. See the illustration for examples. But Why Hydrogenation? Whatever the actual motive(s) involved, the medical and commercial worlds decided butter should be replaced by a manmade product, initially called oleomargarine, and later margarine. In order to be "healthy" we are told it should be prepared from…
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10Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Super Health Foods Most Health Food Nuts Don’t Eat

Food, Health
Everyone living eats. Some love "junk food". Some are more judicious. We will discuss some super health foods even most health food nuts won't eat. Purpose of Eating Food. There are many reasons for eating food. For one thing, it stokes the furnace, that is it provides the needed calories to keep us going. It also contains sufficient nutrients to rebuild our bodies. And, it just plain tastes good. Well, most of it does. There are foods some of us avoid because we have to. There are foods some of us avoid because we want to. We could talk for hours about delicious junk food. But we're going to discuss the other kind. Health Food The shifting health/medical perspectives result in an ever-changing list of food identified as healthy-eating or…
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06Aug 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Cane Syrup, Regular and Blackstrap Molasses

Food, Health
Although there are a host of sweet syrups produced in the U.S. and other countries, molasses that finds its way to the table is derived made from the sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum. Curiously, sugarcane is considered a true grass! The juice of the sugarcane is extracted from the pulp in various ways. It is concentrated by boiling. Cooling yields an abundance of sugar crystals, sucrose. The remaining fluid is popularly called cane syrup. It is still quite sweet and was once popular in cooking. Another boiling and cooking yields additional sugar crystals. The remaining liquid is molasses. Upon removal and yet another boiling, a thick, dark, slow-pouring, not-so-sweet syrup results, called (you guessed it) blackstrap molasses. Nutrition in Blackstrap Molasses As is true of many other food items used in industrialized…
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28Jul 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

What’s the Difference Between Turnips and Rutabagas?

Food, Health
[caption id="attachment_20643" align="alignright" width="440"] Turnips - Image CCA 2.0 Generic License by thebittenword.com[/caption] There are two vegetables I'd always see at the grocery store as a child, though now I see them on a less regular basis -- turnips and rutabagas. They look a lot alike. Yet, they are different. How so? What's in a Name? The official or Latin names of the turnip and rutabaga are (you really do want to know, right?), Turnip: Brassica rapa var. rapa Rutabaga: Brassica napobrassica That doesn't tell us much, at least most of us. The first word is the same, Brassica. This word refers is the genus of a large group of plants, plants in the mustard family. They are sometimes referred to as cruciferous vegetables. In addition to turnips and rutabagas,…
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04Jun 2018 by Vincent Summers No Comments

Goiter, Seafood and Table Salt – What’s the Connection?

Food, Health
Times change. Travel is now common. Cross-country shipping is common. How does all of this fit in with our discussion concerning seafood, goiter, and iodized salt? Not long ago, I met a woman, a lovely older lady, who had a very large goiter encircling her neck. It was shocking and I felt so sorry for her. A month later I saw her following surgery and she looked perfectly normal! Many surgeries have come a long way. Nevertheless, what is the cause of goiter, and how do seafood and iodized salt come into the picture? What Causes Goiter This is not a medical article, per se, but touches upon the food chemistry behind the common, endemic variety of hypothyroidism.¹ In time, insufficient thyroid hormone secretion produces a goiter. The hormone lacking…
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22Apr 2018 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Why is My Potato Salad Mushy? Heat Capacity

Food, Physics
If you have a curious mind, you look at everyday matters differently. You ask yourself questions others do not care about. What is spider silk made of? What happens when water boils? Why do canned whole tomatoes look so perfect? Why are buttercups so bright? Are there dust storms on Mars? But now we ask: Since others make delicious potato salad, why is my potato salad mushy? The Challenge Potato salad is one of the most satisfying foods out there. It is low-cost and complements even simple meals. But it can detract from a meal if the potatoes are too hard, or if the potato salad is better called mashed potato salad. Such results obviously involve potato variety, size, and uniformity of the cut pieces. But more is involved. Temperature…
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11Apr 2018 by Vincent Summers 4 Comments

Cooking Onions: Flavor Chemistry Changes

Chemistry, Food
[caption id="attachment_21597" align="alignright" width="480"] M-m-m, Sweet![/caption] An onion, particularly a yellow or Bermuda onion possesses a strong, perhaps acrid flavor. And its aroma? You are likely to weep when you chop one! Yet, if you take that same onion and fry it, it can be just as fragrant and sweet as ever you could wish. What happened? It's a matter of chemistry. From Wild to Tame The flavor of a raw onion is the product of a number of complex organic substances. The ingredient primarily responsible for tear-ing, is (Z)-propanethial-S-oxide. This compound, a lachrymator (tear-producing gas), is produced when onion cell walls are broken by slicing and chopping. Does frying result in a decrease of this chemical, resulting in sweetness? Does this compound decompose on frying to producing the sweetness?1…
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