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But we are proud to say that Grant Alkin contributed 272 entries already.
If pumpkins are on your menu this Thanksgiving, be thankful that hundreds of years of human domestication has turned this once super-bitter squash into a sweet dessert. Furthermore, human intervention may have prevented gourds and squashes from extinction. As for reasons to be thankful for cranberries, scientific research shows that a compound within cranberries could prevent urinary tract infections.
Cranberries are harvested in late autumn, just in time to celebrate the holidays. Whether you prefer to enjoy cranberries in a jam, as a sauce from the can, juiced, dried, or fresh, there’s no denying that cranberries are festive. They’re tart, dark red, and pair really well with a turkey dinner (according to science).
At first glance, making kombucha sounds straightforward. After all, kombucha is fermented tea, which tells all you need to know about making it: take some tea and ferment it. Unfortunately, brewing kombucha is not that simple, as evidenced by the plethora of information and recipes found on the Internet. For those who have ever contemplated […]
Agricultural geneticist and self-proclaimed “craft beer fanatic”, Sean Myles began breeding hops plants that are resistant to mildew. Other breweries are now using traditional breeding techniques to breed hopes varieties with novel flavors, changing the craft beer game. For wine lovers, there’s Linda Bisson, a yeast geneticist at UC Davis working on the winemaking issue of […]
Craving some kombucha without the grocery store prices? Why not try brewing your own kombucha? As a fermented tea drink that is brightly effervescent, deliciously tangy, and slightly sweet, having some kombucha on hand could add a little spring to these cold seasons. On top of that, the brewing and fermentation involved in kombucha-making requires […]
Around autumn, students, teachers, and parents may have some big decisions to make. Private school or public? AP calculus or Art History? What to pack for lunch? Often, the answer to that last question is a bologna sandwich. Bologna is the archetypal American sandwich meat – salty, moist, and a bit mysterious. Bologna is a […]
In space, NASA astronaut Don Pettit uses candy corn for a zero-gravity candy corn demonstration that illustrates how surfactant molecules behave. In Germany, Café Gruen Ohr offers customers the chance to customize their own candy using a 3D printer.
Nutmeg is a key note in October comfort favorites such as pumpkin spice lattes and spiced bread. The spice is warm, sweet, and spicy, perfect for the gradually colder days of autumn. Take a closer look at nutmeg, however, and you might find a disquieting surprise. Are you prepared to take a whiff of nutmeg […]
Melted Cheese Frize [Photo Credit: Pittaya Sroilong] Whether you are making cheese fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, baked cheese bites, or homemade mac and cheese, choosing the right type of cheese can make or break these comfort foods. The key to all of these dishes is cheese that produces an even and homogenous melt. Cheeses […]
In the town of Reading, located in Berkshire, England, exists the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre, where tropical cacao plants are kept to prevent the spread of pests and diseases which threaten the world’s chocolate supply. Over at Technische Universität München, physicists have shown that molecular simulations can solve how the chocolate-making process turns bitter cacao […]