A while ago I came across the article “Christmas gingerbread (Lebkuchen) and Christmas cheer–review of the potential role of mood elevating amphetamine-like compounds formed in vivo and in furno” (abstract from NCBI, free full text pdf download from publisher). The paper reviews a hypothesis proposed by Alexander Shulgin in a series of papers appearing in Nature in the 60′s. Shulgin noted that allylbenzenes and propenylbenzens found in many spices are “merely lacking ammonia to become amphetamines”. The author reviews the evidence that such substances may be converted in the body to psychoactive metabolites, but concludes that the evidence is equivocal at best. However, the author launches an alternative theory:

“… the formation of these compounds during the cooking process, what I have called “in furno.” Examination of the Lebkuchen recipe in Table 3 reveals chemical constituents that, when heated together in furno might plausibly result in some ammonia addition to the alkenylbenzene double bonds, which would lead to the presence in the Lebkuchen of 4-methoxyamphetamine (PMA) from (E)-anethole and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyamphetamine (HMA) from eugenol.”

But as the author prudently add: “Until the appropriate laboratory and clinical investigations are performed, it is merely a subject of speculation and fantasy.” Nevertheless is an entertaining paper to read, and I’m sure that this kind of “science triva” can cheer up discussions around the dinner tables in an otherwise dark December. And I must add that I really love the term in furno (i.e. in the oven, during the cooking/baking process) used alongside the more common in vivo and in vitro.

I’ve illustrated the proposed reactions in the scheme below. Anethole and eugenol are found in cloves/cinnamon and anise seeds respectively. Baker’s ammonia is known to chemists as ammonium carbonate, but also under names such as salt of hartshorn. It has a very strong smell of ammonia and upon heating it decomposes and releases ammonia which could possibly react with the allyl/propenyl groups.

[Found via the very funny NCBI ROFL blog]

The Canadian sommerlier François Chartier (he has an extensive website featuring several blogs, including a section named Sommellerie moléculaire) is out with a new book on food and wine pairing. It’s not just another (superfluous) book on the subject. As the title Papilles et molécules (= Tastebuds and Molecules, unfortunately not available in English) suggests there is some science involved. It turns out in fact that he has applied the principles of flavor pairing to food and wine. With help from Richard Béliveau from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Martin Loignon from PerkinElmer he has analyzed wines and food and comes up with the following suggestions for lamb, as described in the article “Chemistry-set wine pairing”:

Having roast lamb? Don’t waste it on an ill-advised red Bordeaux, the old standby trotted out by generations of sommeliers. Lamb’s characteristic flavour comes from thymol, an aromatic compound found in the oil of, yes, thyme. It’s also a flavour note associated with red wines from the southern Languedoc region of France, such as Minervois, Corbières or St. Chinian.

Other combinations mentioned in the article include:

rosemary – white wines from northern Alsace
pork – oaked red wines
curries – viognier
cinnamon – pinot noir, grenache, ice cider, oloroso sherry

François Chartier also introduces “bridge ingredients”. Mint, which goes well with sauvignon blanc, shares aroma compounds with parsley, fennel and tarragon. Based on this he theorizes that sauvignon blanc should also pair well with dishes based on these ingredients.

As far as I can see (with my very limited high school French) there are no links or references to all the other activities in the field: Heston Blumenthal’s pioneering of the concept together with François Benzi from Firmenich, the Food pairing website – not even to the TGRWT food blogging event Nevertheless it’s nice to see that the concept has now been applied to food and wine as well. As I don’t own the book yet I can’t tell whether François Chartier includes odor activity values in his discussion or not (but I certainly hope he does!).

Update: The book is now available in English as Taste Buds and Molecules: The Art and Science of Food With Wine.

As I mentioned in the post about the exciting color chemistry of nocino I picked some unripe walnuts last year in August when visiting family in Germany. These walnuts were in fact a little to ripe to make nocino from. Preferably the walnuts should be picked end of June when you can still push a knitting pin through the center. Mine were stone hard, but I decided to give it a try anyway, and it shure was worth the bottle of vodka! I checked a couple of recipes and found that many use cinnamon and cloves together with lemon (with peel). I figured I also wanted to try star anise and proceeded with two batches.

Nocino extracted with 45% ethanol
For extraction (> 3 months)
529 g unripe walnuts
385 g 60% ethanol
140 g water

Spices and sugar
4.0 g cinnamon stick
1.2 g star anis
1.2 g cloves
12 g lemon wedge
100 g sugar

Nocino extracted with 60% ethanol
For extraction (> 3 months)
481 g unripe walnuts
436 g 60% ethanol

Spices and sugar
0.8 g star anis
7.8 g cinnamon
12 g lemon wedge
100 g sugar

I covered the walnuts with alcohol in August last year and let them rest for almost 8 months (you can probably do with less, especially if you quarter the walnuts). I then removed the walnuts and added spices, lemon and sugar. After two days I removed the lemon wedge and approximately one month later I filtered off all the spices. As you can see from the pictures below the filter easily clogged. Using normal coffee filters I had to change them roughtly 4-5 times for each batch. I let the filtered nocino rest for some more weeks and then carefully decanted it into a glass bottle, leaving the newly set residue behind. If desired the nocinos can be diluted with water and/or vodka.

Precipitation in nocino extracted with 60% ethanol shown (upper left), filtering was slow (upper right) due to extensive clogging (lower left). A black film had also formed on the inside of the glass.

Nocino tastes marvellous, despite the motor oil like appearance during steeping! The difference between the two ethanol concentrations was less than I had expected. There was significantly more precipitation of black particles with the higher ethanol concentration. Both were however very drinkable! The only thing I might change the next time I attempt this is the amount of spices. I felt that the spices were perhaps a little too dominant and overpowered the walnut flavor, but the flavor was nice anyhow. Since I used walnuts that were a little too ripe it might be that less flavor was extracted, so I assume that my nocino is weaker compared to nocino made with the proper unripe walnuts. This might as well explain why the spices were a little too pronounced.

Update: Reading Elise’s comment below I realized that there was one thing I forgot to mention. Since the walnuts were picked late I could neither cut them in half nor pierce them. After extraction I tried to cut a little into the soft shell under which the black walnut shell is barely visible.

I’ve seen a recommendation to try nocino with strong cheese whereas others prefer it over vanilla ice cream. I’ve also come across two recipes for nocino ice cream so it’s a quite versatile liqueur!

I thought I’d do a twist on some chocolate cookies my Mom always makes for Christmas for TGRWT #13. I tried two versions with added caraway (and a litte bitter orange peel) – one where I omitted all the spices except cocoa and one where they were added together with all the spices in the original recipes.

Chocolate cookies with caraway
100 g butter
200 g sugar
350 g flour
30 g cocoa powder
3 g caraway
1 g bitter orange peel
1/2 t baking soda or baking powder
1 egg
3 T strong coffee

Mix all ingredients in the given order. If you have a cookie extruder (aka cookie press), extrude about 6-8 cm and form into a circle. Bake for about 10 min at 180 °C or until ready (Note that you really can’t tell if they’re done from the color!). Dust with powdered sugar.

The original recipe had the following spices:
1-1 1/2 t cloves
1-1 1/2 t cinnamon
1-1 1/2 t ginger
1-1 1/2 t star anise
1-1 1/2 t cardamom
1-1 1/2 t nutmeg
1-1 1/2 t bitter orange peel

(these teaspoons are not measuring teaspoons, but more like actual teaspoons!)

Verdict: In the stripped down version with only cocoa, caraway and some bitter lemon peel there you first notice the cocoa, then there is an aftertaste of caraway. I like caraway, so I was very pleased with the result. But my wife (who isn’t very fond of caraway) wasn’t particularily fond of them. Anyhow I think the 10:1 ratio of cocoa to caraway worked very fine. And the aroma brought back memories from the chocolate sauerkraut cake I made some time ago which was really delicious. With all the other spices present I wasn’t able to single out the carawa flavor, but it (probably) added to the overall complexity. I really recommend the recipe – even if you decide to omit caraway!