Wolfing Down Food Science

Send us Fan Mail In this “steamy” episode, we discuss the ways in which heat is applied in various ways to preserve food.  Want to know why organic milk has a longer shelf life than conventional milk?  Want to know why canning can actually improve the absorption of some nutrients?  Want to know why smoked foods have long shelf lives?  What kind of out of the box thinking can we do about microwave...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder why some foods are more sour than others or what people mean when they refer to acidity in coffee?  Acids preserve foods and add a lot to the flavor of food.  From tomatoes to coffee to whey protein beverages we discuss all about acids. Any off the tracks moments:  We get a little off track on Italian cuisine, the origins of tomatoes and noodles! Around 6 min. KEYWORDS...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2:  Whether it’s brewing beer or using fermentation to create pharmaceutical drugs, Dr. John Sheppard will tell us about the challenges of industrial scale fermentation and differences between beer brewing and drug production.  Oh yeah, and the NC State brewery. KEYWORDS:  brewing, engineer, biologist, saccharomyces cerevisiae, pharmaceutical 0:30 :  The ghost in the system m...

Send us Fan Mail Part 1:  Fermentation happens naturally.  Whether we get a delicious cheese or chunky, foul tasting milk depends on controlling the fermentation.  We will talk about how fermentation actually preserves food and has done so for most of human history.   6:24 Kieth explains his first fermentation experience 9:26 Pickling vs. fermenting 12:21 How to make homemade yogurt 23:32 Keith be...

Send us Fan Mail Whether the water in food is interacting with compounds in the food or not has a lot to do with preservation of food.  Listen to why some foods grow microorganisms, like mold, quickly compared to other foods.  Should you eat the food after it molds?  How do the cookies in an Oreo or the pastry in a Pop Tart stay crispy when it is next to a creamy filling? Any of the tracks moments...

Send us Fan Mail Introducing your hosts Keith Harris and Paige Luck, joined by student producer Teresa Risoli, talking all about food science in the brand new podcast, Wolfing Down Food Science.  It’s science you can eat! 2:34  :  Why another podcast about food? 4:30  :  Debunking myths about the food industry 5:00  :  Every store has 2 sides...3 sides, let’s talk. KEYWORDS: food industry, myths,...

Send us Fan Mail Is preservative a four letter word?  We find out what preservative means to a food scientist discussing the balance of food quality with safety through preservation.  Is a compound synthesized in a lab inherently bad for our health or do those same compounds occur naturally in our foods?  From bacon preserved with celery to 25 year old canned meat, the dose makes the poison. KEYWO...