Once your food has been grown and harvested (or slaughtered), you’ve got your core ingredients, ready to be eaten or processed one step further. The core to really understand what happens next though, is that you really understand those ingredients. Understand why they are the way they are. Make sure you’re able to compare ingredients, and understand why they’re different and, very importantly, understand what their role is in your specific application.
Previous step: all these ingredients started out at a farm! Next step: transform those ingredients, wherever necessary, into food through processing or cooking!
Once you’ve decided which of the many rice dishes you want to cook and once you’ve decided which specific rice variety to use, you’ve got another decision to make. How to cook your rice? And, just as importantly, should you…
This is a guest post by Karen Rutherford founder and editor-in-chief at the Cakedecorist. I was making cheesecake the other day and thought it could do with a strawberry sauce on top. So, I set out to boil down my…
The other day, having some rhubarb left and not wanting to make a rhubarb pie, cake or crumble (>90% of rhubarb recipes online seem to be for one of those!), I decided to try a rhubarb ice cream. I had…
This is a guest post by a fellow food technologist (in training), Shriya Kumar. She is currently working towards a Master’s degree at Wageningen University & Research and soon, a career in the food industry. Before you start reading this…
Ever unknowingly took a bite or big sip from a dish or a newly developed product and suddenly had your mouth on fire? Scrambling to find a glass of water (even though it doesn’t really help), some yogurt, a piece…
Have you ever bought a seemingly beautiful piece of meat for dinner, only to find out it turned out completely dry in your stew, or chewy when grilled? Is so, you’re not alone, choosing the right piece of meat for…
Have you ever substituted a black lentil with a green one? And did you also end up with mushy lentils that were supposed to go into a salad but seem more at home in a soup? In other words, did…
They stand right next to each other in the supermarket aisle. On the one side, beautiful plump, brown raisins. On the other, seemingly the same raisins, but of a yellow, some say golden colour. When buying them you can’t help…
This is a guest post by a fellow food scientist with ample experience in various categories of new product development: Nathan Silva. Feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn. What flavor is Mountain Dew? How does someone make a…
After boiling a pot of water and dunking in a fresh tea bag, that bright ,transparent water starts to turn into a golden yellow or brown. Fragrant smells start to waft into your nose. The warm cup is perfect to…
The smooth soft white, or slightly brown powder is one of the most common staples in stores around the world. With a little help from water and a few other ingredients, you can transform it into cakes, bread, muffins, cookies…
Have you ever noticed in stores that some peanut butters have a layer of clear liquid on top of the peanut butter? It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s chunky or not, some brands just do. Other brands though do…
