New answers tagged food-chemistry
5
The Maillard reaction is also called the non-enzymatic browning reaction. The reaction occurs when there are reducing sugars and amino acids present. The reaction is controlled by solvent choice, time and temperature considerations.
When browning butter, certainly, the Maillard reaction is occurring. There may also be other reactions happening such as ...
3
I found that the color of honey depends on the presence of plant
pigments including carotene, xanthophylls, anthocyanins, flavonoids,
polyphenols, as well as amino acids and mineral salts
Yes, you are right about that. The color differences is due to the difference in levels of minerals, anti-oxidants, and other trace elements that are present. In ...
2
Giving a cursory Google e-book search gave me results particularly from old textbooks of 19th century:
Phosphate of soda (Sodium phosphate, $\ce{Na3PO4}$) - was sold under the name of tasteless salt
Sulfate of lime (calcium sulfate, $\ce{CaSO4}$) - it was named agustine because this salt was considered to have no taste. It was considered to mix with acids ...
1
The chemical answer is that everything that is not in its thermodynamically most stable state (for many elements that means maximally oxidised or reduced; depending on the element in question) can be transformed into something else under the release of energy. This excludes:
water
cations and many anions e.g. in salt
the carbon dioxide in fizzy drinks
gold, ...
2
All types of salts with names like Kosher salts, Himalayan pink salt, table salt, sea salt or iodized salt are mainly sodium chloride (NaCl). There might be trace element differences
hence a difference in taste.
The key information is missing from the accepted answer as well as the Wikipedia link. Kosher does not mean that the salt crystals are larger. ...
22
Substances that are gaseous down to, say, -10 are finite (and not very large) number.
Of these, we want:
Safe against ignition (so no hydrogen or gaseous hydrocarbons)
Not poisonous (phosphine, arsine, carbon monoxide - out!)
Not corrosive (chlorine, fluorine - sorry)
Without unpleasant smell (hydrogen sulfide is no-go)
Not related to processes of food ...
37
Not mentioned yet: nitrogen is entirely non-toxic, environmentally friendly, does not contribute to global warming or ozone depletion.
In very good approximation, nitrogen is just air with the oxygen removed that would oxidize the contents. The usual production process consists of liquefying air, distilling it, and then selling the gases separately. This ...
1
The reason to employ nitrogen in place of air, in addition to a cost advantage, is the fact that air contains oxygen, possibly water vapor, dust particles (containing trace amounts of transition metals) and even microbes (bacteria, mold spores,...) as well.
Upon warming with time, I would not expect that such a mix is a good inert medium to store/preserve ...
41
As Nilay Ghosh said, nitrogen is cheap. Very cheap. Neon is expensive. Argon is cheaper than neon, but considerably more expensive than nitrogen. Helium is also expensive and needs to be used wisely, for important things, e.g., cryogenics. And hydrogen! I can just see the ads: “Buy our chips: they are lighter than air! But avoid open flames and sparks unless ...
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