Tag aroma

What’s in a cup of coffee? (part 2)

In my previous blog post about coffee I discussed parameters you can influence once you have purchased your precious beans. These were brew ratio, total dissolved solids, extraction yield, grind size, water composition, water temperature and filter material. This time…

Wonders of extraction: Oil

Brazilian chiles in oil (very nice with Moqueca!) Oils and fats are long molecules which are mainly non-polar and hence the opposite of water which is a polar molecule. Ethanol which has both a polar and a non-polar end falls…

Wonders of extraction: Ethanol

Extraction of cherries with ~45% ethanol in water Ethanol is a molecule with both a polar and a non-polar end, so it’s properties are somewhat in between those of water and oil (which will be the topic of the next…

Practical molecular gastronomy, part 5

5. Learn how to control taste and flavor. When invited over to friends for dinner, even before eating, you judge the food by it’s aroma, handing out compliments such as “It really smells nice”! Thankfully, nature is on the cook’s…

DJ for your nose: Aroma jockey Odo7

Erich Berghammer, also known as Odo7 [homepage, myspace] is an aroma jockey or AJ for short. He blows scents over his audience with huge fans and has stocked up a pantry with exotic spices, roots, leafs, oils, extracts and herbs.…

Ten tips for practical molecular gastronomy

In a recent survey 72% of chefs say they may want to experiment with molecular gastronomy in 2007. That’s an impressive number and considering the attention molecular gastronomy gets in media I bet many home cooks would want to experiment…

Odor recognition by shape or vibration?

Over Christmas I have been reading Luca Turin’s book “The Science of Scent”. This became a real eye-opener for me with regards to my understanding of how the sense of smell works. (BTW, Luca Turin was also featured in Chandler…