Dichotomies in the kitchen
by Caroline Merk
by Caroline Merk
Sweet
Lemons are sour because they contain a lot of citric acid. Sour citrus has high levels of PH1 and PH5, proteins that drive the production of citric acid. All citrus is naturally sour; sweet varieties like oranges are the result of thousands of years of breeding.
Sour
Creamy
The results are in: Americans prefer smooth peanut butter. An estimated 205.35 million Americans consumed creamy peanut butter in 2014, compared to 67.75 million who consumed crunchy. One in three Americans is “extremely” passionate about their peanut butter texture.
Crunchy
The delicious morel mushroom is a perennial favorite for mushroom hunters. But beware of the false morel, Gyromitra esculenta. It contains the toxin gyromitrin, which causes nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain 4-6 hours after ingestion. It causes neurological symptoms in rare cases.
Toxic
Hot
Cold
Fizzy
Fizzy drinks fizz because they contain carbonic acid, a mixture of carbon dioxide and water. The carbon dioxide wants to reach normal levels of concentration, so it escapes to the open air when the drink is opened, creating bubbles.
Flat
Raw
Cooked foods become brown and delicious through a process called the Maillard reaction. Heat creates a chemical reaction between proteins and sugars, transforming the food. Make sure you’re cooking between 285 and 355 degrees! Any colder, and the reaction won’t occur; any hotter, and the food will burn.
Cooked
Spicy
Yes, spicy and minty are opposites! Spicy foods activate heat-detecting receptors in the mouth. Menthol activates the receptors that sense cold. The brain cannot tell the difference between hot and spicy, or cold and minty.
Minty
