The fascinating thing about the microbes living in our gut is that they actually outnumber the number of cells in our body. And with that variety, you cannot deny that gut microbes must be important for our well-being. They are contributing at least something. However, we are still in the process of unraveling all the […]
Homemade Nutella
One, if not the best, things that you can put on bread is Nutella. Admitted, it is even better without bread. Just a spoonful of pure smooth hazelnut and chocolate delivered directly into your mouth. I tried a lot of other hazelnut/chocolate spreads and none could match Nutella. So I was surprised to find an […]
Cognac (brandy) making in three steps
Cognac is one of the most recognizable high society drinks. It is really not hard to imagine important looking people in an antique furnished room, sitting on leather couches, discussing important things and drinking cognac from nice rounded glasses that they delicately warm in their hands. Well, drinking brandy I should say, although this dispels […]
Flower candy
The simple candy that I made was so perfectly crystalline it practically begged to be decorated. It needed something to be trapped inside it, something that would make it even better and would shine from the inside. And what better way to do this than to capture some real flowers together with their subtle taste […]
Caffeine from coffee, tea, matcha, mate, guarana and soft drinks – is there any difference?
There are many natural sources of caffeine. The problem is that it is called by different names. Either because people want to sound more special (especially when advertising their product) or they simply don’t know. Guaranine, theine, and mateine are all the same substance – caffeine. They just differ in their plant of origin: guarana, […]
Japanese chestnut pumpkin
During my stay in Japan, I discovered a chestnut tasting pumpkin. It was fabulous! When I tasted it for the first time I could not believe what I was tasting. But the next bites reassured me that my senses were indeed working and I’ve immediately fallen in love with the taste. To my surprise, the […]
Chestnut beer experiment
Beer or similar alcoholic drink (e.g. cider) can be made from anything that contains starch, which is degraded by enzymes to simple sugars during the brewing process. If you consider sources of starch readily available in nature, chestnut is a viable option. It grows in forests all over the temperate climate in the Northern Hemisphere […]
Cream cheese tomato and salted fish sandwich
The main problem with our food is that if we do not eat it fast enough it goes bad. The time when it goes bad differs, but in the end, everything turns inedible. Except maybe my Lembas (or Lembas 2.0). Anyway, how to prolong the edibility of our food is an eternal quest but today […]
Simple hard candy – how to make it at home
In my piece about fudge I explored one end of sugar/water mixtures used for fudge making. These mixtures are said to be at the soft ball temperature since you can freely knead the sugar mass if you cool it down. At the other spectra of useful sugar/water mixtures is so-called hard crack temperature, used for […]
Fudge and sugar crystals science
OVERVIEW Besides heavenly taste fudge is a great example of crystals and crystallization process. It shows how the main thing in creating a sweet is the process, not the ingredients. When you put in the basic ingredients (primarily sugar) and follow the procedure, everything is great. But if you miss a step in the procedure […]