Archive for June 2015
June 17th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases, and/or alcohol. It occurs in yeast and bacteria, and also in oxygen-starved muscle cells, as in the case of lactic acid fermentation. Fermentation is a process that has been used by humanity to preserve foods, changing chemical structure and taste, for millennia. Pickles, wine, beer, bread and much more are made using fermentation.
June 17th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Natural or synthetic? Can you tell? And, more important, does it matter? A definition by the FDA: From a food science perspective, it is difficult to define a food product that is ‘natural’ because the food has probably been processed and is no longer the product of the earth. That said, FDAhas not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives. However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances. We have discussed this subject many times, but it keeps re-appearing in emails and questions. Probably as a result of…
June 17th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Solvents: propylene glycol, water and more A solvent is a liquid used to dissolve a powder, or, in a more precise definition from Wikipedia: “A solvent (from Latin solvō , “I loosen, untie, I solve”) is a substance that dissolves a solute (a chemically different liquid, solid or gas), resulting in a solution.” The solute dissolves because its molecules interact with the molecules of the solvent. Example: water will dissolve sugar but oil will not.