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They stand right next to each other in the store: golden, or yellow, brown raisins. They seem identical, except for their color. Is that true? Is their color the only difference? And if so, why even are most raisins brown,…
Raisins are dried grapes, nothing more, and nothing less (most of the time). But, since grapes contain a lot of water, it requires some smart processing and proper quality control to make sure those grapes actually turn into raisins.
Orange, purple, green, or bright red. You can find fruits and vegetables of just about any color out there. Some of them are very stable. Others disappear easily, or can even change color. Want to control the color of your…
For some reason, staying up past midnight during New Year’s Eve and celebrating the new year has resulted in a lot of, once-a-year snacks all over the world. In the Netherlands, you’re bound to find a pile of oliebollen in…
Once you’ve peeled your banana, you’d better eat it. Leave it unattended for a couple of hours and you’ll get back to an unappetizing brown banana. Same for apples, pears, avocados, and plenty of other fruits (and some more vegetables).…
As a people, we seem to have managed to make alcoholic drinks from all sorts of produce. Grains are transformed into beer, or spirits (e.g. whiskey). Grapes are transformed into wine, pears into perry, and apples, into cider. Making an…
Every year in August/September our pear trees give us a good supply of pears. They’re not the pretties, but sure are tasty. We have two types: Conference and Doyenne du Comice and once they start coming off that tree we…
Fresh blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, they’re delicious and juicy. But, they’re also very seasonal and fragile. There’s a reason they tend to be sold in sturdy plastic containers, even a slight bruise ruins them. The presence of these brightly colored fruits…
There aren’t a lot of desserts that require quite minimum effort and still look highly sophisticated. Panna cotta though is one of the few desserts that does fall into that category. Made with as little as three ingredients (cream, sugar,…
Sugar definitely is one of the most complex and fascinating ingredients in the kitchen. It sweetens your food, but can also be used to create a whole lot of different textures and structures in your food! Sugar helps thicken a…
There are tons and tons of recipes for apple pie (such as our Dutch one). They use different crusts, different ingredient ratios, maybe some additional add-ons. There’s so much to choose from. However, most of these recipes fail to mention…
Only a few centuries ago, European (and likely many others) seamen died by the dozens during months long sea voyages to the East. Trips to the East, essential for European traders to get those beloved spices, fabrics and other trading…