Flavour - a new journal

Flavour is now looking for submissions!!

Flavour is a peer-reviewed, open access, online journal that publishes interdisciplinary articles on flavour, its generation and perception, and its influence on behaviour and nutrition. We seek articles on the psychophysical, psychological and chemical aspects of flavour as well as those taking brain imaging approaches. We take flavour to be the experience of eating food as mediated through all the senses. Thus we welcome articles that deal with not only taste and aroma, but also chemesthesis, texture and all the senses as they relate to the perception of flavour.

 Sounds like it will create lots of fodder for this blog (pun intended)!!

UK's cheapest meal - a toast sandwich

The Royal Society of Chemistry announced today that it has identified the cheapest meal you can make - a toast sandwich for 7.5p (about $0.12 Canadian).

Recipe: Toast a piece of bread  - cool to room temperature.  Place bread between two buttered slices of fresh bread and add salt and pepper to taste.

Great for invalids or the elderly back in the 1800s.

They have even offered a reward if anyone can make a cheaper meal that has as many calories!

Toast Sandwich recipe from Mrs Beeton's cookbook

Cyanide in fruit pits - how many are safe to eat?

The Art of Drink blogger, Darcy O'Neill, calculates how much cyanide can be produced in the human body by the ingestion of cherry and apricot pits: http://www.artofdrink.com/archive/research/cyanide-in-apricot-cherries-pits/

Cherry Pit Spit contest held at Blenheim Cherry Fest, 2009

http://ckdp.ca/2009/07/17/cherry-pit-spit-contest-held-at-blenheim-cherry-fest-photos-and-video/

Best to spit them out!!

In the "because you can" category...

Scott at Seattle Food Geek just wrote a post on zapping pickles, bacon and soy sauce with direct electric current: http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2011/06/video-electrified-pickles-high-voltage-bacon-shocking-soy-sauce/

Awesome photos!!

Meat stocks examined

Imagine doing a PhD in the kitchen? No, you don't get credits for cooking for the family or yourself everyday!

Martin Lersch from the Khymos blog just wrote an interesting post about a conference paper on meat stock. Pia Snitkjær studied meat stocks and how the cooking times and temperatures affected the outcomes.  The thesis is downloadable from here: http://curis.ku.dk/portal-life/files/32448394/PHD.0111.pdf

PhD Thesis

It may not give you a recipe for the "perfect meat stock" but it might give you ideas as to what effect temperatures and times will have on the flavours you are seeking!

I need these!!

Cool stocking stuffers for the chemistry cooks in your list!
Cookie cutters of test tubes and beakers!

Photo from Science lab cookie cutters

And to make the cool icing designs here is a wonderful blog with a great recipe for royal icing (the icing that gets really hard) and "flood"icing to fill in the colours:

Pioneer Woman - Decorated Christmas cookies

More good links to information

I'll put these on the side bar eventually too!

There is a new blog from the Royal Society of Chemistry that is highlighting the content of its newest journal, Food and Function.

This is the blurb about the new journal:

Food & Function is a new monthly peer-reviewed journal which provides a unique venue to publish work at the interface of the chemistry, physics and biology of food.

ScopeThe journal focuses on the interaction of food components with the human body, including:

• The physical properties and structure of food
• The chemistry of food components
• The biochemical and physiological actions
• Nutrition and health aspects of food  

Topics covered in the journal include, but are not limited to:

• The chemistry and physics of food digestion processes
• The relationship between the physical properties/structure of food and nutrition and health e.g. nutrient release and uptake
• Molecular properties and physiological effects of food components (novel ingredients, food substitutes, phytochemicals, bioactives, allergens, flavours and fragrances)
• Efficacy and mechanisms of bioactives in the body - including biomarkers
• Effects of food contaminants - including toxicology and metabolism
• Nutrient physiology/metabolism and interactions
• The role of nutrition and diet in disease   

It won't be an easy read for the non-scientist home cook but I'll try to glean some gems out of it for you!

The blog should be a bit more accessible.