Why are truffles so expensive? They are very rare and very difficult to grow. What is a truffle? The truffle is the fruit part of a fungi, and it is similar to the top part of a mushroom. A truffle is a type of fungus that grows around the roots of some trees. They are […]
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Norman Ernest Borlaug was known as the father of the Green Revolution because of the new strain of wheat he developed and the millions, possibly billions, of people he saved from starvation. He is said to have saved more lives than any person who has ever lived. There have been numerous agricultural revolutions over human
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Is palm oil bad? It depends. It is bad in terms of health and environmental costs, but it is good because it has more oil than other crops and provides an income for people who would otherwise be living in poverty. What is palm oil? It is made from the fruit of the African oil
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What is tea? It is a drink made from pouring hot water over tea leaves, which come from the camellia sinensis shrub. There are many different kinds of tea available today, but most of them are not technically “tea”. It is a commonly held belief that a “tea” is a drink made from pouring hot
Why is artificial sugar sweet? Because they have molecules that fit into the sweetness receptors in our taste buds. We have about 8000 taste buds on our tongues, although we cannot see them. The tongue is covered in tiny lumps called papillae. The taste buds are inside these papillae. Taste buds are made up of
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Why are some people lactose intolerant? Because their body doesn’t make enough of an enzyme called lactase. Milk is a liquid produced in the mammary glands of most mammals. It is made of 87% water with the remainder made up mostly of fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. The proteins act as an emulsifier because
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When did ultra processed food start? Technically, humans have always processed food, but the modern style of processed food came into being in the middle of the 20th century. The literal definition of processing food is to “perform a series of mechanical or chemical operations on food in order to change or preserve it.” That
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What is the difference between a herb and a spice? Herbs are the fresh part of the plant and spices are the dried root, stalk, seed, or fruit. Herbs and spices have been used for thousands of years. People have used them to flavor food and as medicines. They are both different from vegetables because
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What vegetables came from the New World? There are many, but potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, chili, cacao, peppers, and vanilla are good examples. The foods that came from the New World into Europe ended up changing world cuisine in surprising ways. In the end of the 15th century, Spaniards and other Europeans first reached
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Why are emulsifiers used in processed food? They help different compounds to combine, and they make foods less sticky and easier to eat. What are emulsifiers? Their basic job is to combine two compounds that wouldn’t normally be able to hold together. An obvious example is oil and water. If you tip olive oil into
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