This week in stores, when you spend $60, you’ll receive a Mystery Coupon for a free brie, $10, $25, or $50. NOT BAD! But you won’t know what you win until you open the envelope. Hence, the mystery.
In the spirit of mystery, we made a Facebook post of the Great Food Mysteries that have been nagging us for many a meal. These were real curiosities of ours, for which we had no answers.
Well wouldn’t you know it, Lou Cypher, a customer of our Birmingham, Alabama store, went through and demystified each and every comestible conundrum. Thanks, Lou! Here are those amazing answers in full:
1. Cocoa solids contain alkaloids such as theobromine and phenethylamine, which have physiological effects on the body. It has been linked to serotonin levels in the brain.
2. Yeast converts the fermentable sugars present in dough into the gas carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to expand or rise as gas forms pockets or bubbles.
3. The bacterium Proteus on the dog’s paws.
4. Agitating the milk damages membranes surrounding the globules of fat, allowing them to conjoin, producing butter. Adding acidity to milk in combination with the enzyme rennet cause it to coagulate, producing cheese.
5. Sulfur compounds contribute to the smell and taste of garlic. Allicin has been found to be the compound most responsible for the “hot” sensation of raw garlic. The process of cooking garlic removes allicin, thus mellowing its spiciness. Allicin, along with its decomposition products diallyl disulfide and diallyl trisulfide, are major contributors to the characteristic odor of garlic. When eaten in quantity, garlic may be strongly evident in the diner’s sweat and garlic breath the following day. This is because garlic’s strong-smelling sulfur compounds are metabolized, forming allyl methyl sulfide.
6. SGLT1 receptors on the tongue transport sugars into cells only when sodium is present.
7. Honey can spoil if exposed to excess humidity. The key to preservation is limiting access to humidity. In its cured state, honey has a sufficiently high sugar content to inhibit fermentation. If exposed to moist air, its hydrophilic properties will pull moisture into the honey, eventually diluting it to the point that fermentation can begin.
8. You poop it out the next day.
9. As onions are sliced or eaten, cells are broken, allowing enzymes called alliinases to break down amino acid sulfoxides and generate sulfenic acids. A specific sulfenic acid, 1-propenesulfenic acid, formed when onions are cut, is rapidly rearranged by a second enzyme, called the lachrymatory factor synthase or LFS, giving syn-propanethial-S-oxide, a volatile gas known as the onion lachrymatory factor or LF. The LF gas diffuses through the air and eventually reaches the eye, where it activates sensory neurons, creating a stinging sensation. Tear glands produce tears to dilute and flush out the irritant.
10. Certain compounds in asparagus are metabolized, giving urine a distinctive smell due to ammonia and various sulfur-containing degradation products, including various thiols and thioesters. These compounds originate in the asparagus as asparagusic acid and its derivatives, as these are the only sulfur-containing compounds unique to asparagus.
And because you read this far, follow this link back over to Facebook, like our page and get a $5 off coupon!
