Bringing food chemistry to life






         A blog about food and its components – feel free to comment

November 18, 2009

What we do – a selection of recent food chemistry related publications form Oregon State U.

Filed under: Uncategorized — rossand @ 10:33 am

I thought I showcase some of the research work done by my colleagues in the Food Science and Crop Science departments at

Where possible the titles are linked to the abstracts. Depending on where you are you might be able to link through to the full text.

This is not all of them, but it will do for now.

Effect of Various Types of Egg White on Characteristics and Gelation of Fish Myofibrillar Proteins
Journal of Food Science
Volume 74, Issue 9, Date: November/December 2009, Pages: C683-C692
Angela Hunt, Jae W. Park, Akihiro Handa

Antimicrobial Efficiency of Essential Oil and Freeze–Thaw Treatments against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica Ser. Enteritidis in Strawberry Juice
Journal of Food Science
Volume 74, Issue 3, Date: April 2009, Pages: M131-M137
J. Duan, Y. Zhao

Negative Roles of Salt in Gelation Properties of Fish Protein Isolate
Journal of Food Science
Volume 73, Issue 8, Date: October 2008, Pages: C585-C588
Y.S. Kim, J.W. Park

Storability of Antimicrobial Chitosan-Lysozyme Composite Coating and Film-Forming Solutions
Journal of Food Science
Volume 73, Issue 6, Date: August 2008, Pages: M321-M329
J. Duan, K. Kim, M.A. Daeschel, Y. Zhao

Journal of Food Science
Samanan Poowakanjana 1 and Jae W. Park 1 1 Authors are with OSU Seafood Research Center, 2001 Marine Dr. #253, Astoria, OR 97103, U.S.A.

Grape Skin and Seed Proanthocyanidins from Monastrell × Syrah Grapes

Alberto Hernndez-Jimnez, Encarna Gmez-Plaza, Adrin Martnez-Cutillas, James A. Kennedy

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2009 57 (22), 10798-10803

One Hundred Years of Progress in Food Analysis

Robert J. McGorrin

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2009 57 (18), 8076-8088

DNA Barcoding of Commercially Important Salmon and Trout Species (Oncorhynchus and Salmo) from North America

Rosalee S. Rasmussen, Michael T. Morrissey, Paul D. N. Hebert

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2009 57 (18), 8379-8385

Volatile Composition of Merlot Wine from Different Vine Water Status

Michael C. Qian, Yu Fang, Krista Shellie

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2009 57 (16), 7459-7463

Berry Integrity and Extraction of Skin and Seed Proanthocyanidins during Red Wine Fermentation

Fiorella K. Cerpa-Caldern, James A. Kennedy

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2008 56 (19), 9006-9014

A Comprehensive Genotype and Environment Assessment of Wheat Grain Ash Content in Oregon and Washington: Analysis of Variation

Craig F. Morris, Shuobi Li, G. E. King, Doug A. Engle, John W. Burns, and Andrew S. Ross

Cereal Chemistry 2009, Volume 86, Number 3: 307-312.

Relationships of Quality Characteristics with Size-Exclusion HPLC Chromatogram of Protein Extract in Soft White Winter Wheats

J. B. Ohm, A. S. Ross, C. J. Peterson, and C. F. Morris

Cereal Chemistry 2009, Volume 86, Number 2: 197-203.

Glutenin Macropolymer in Salted and Alkaline Noodle Doughs–

Y. L. Ong, A. S. Ross, and D. A. Engle; Cereal Chemistry

accepted on 26 August 09

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Hydrolytic Methods for the Quantification of Fructose Equivalents in Herbaceous Biomass
Volume 158 Issue  – 2: 352 – 361
Date  – 2009-08-01
Stefanie K. Nguyen, Supaporn Sophonputtanaphoca, Eugene Kim, Michael H. Penner
DOI  – 10.1007/s12010-009-8596-x



November 9, 2009

Things that caught my eye…

Filed under: food chemistry — rossand @ 3:25 pm

Ancient beer

From the “Sage of Discovery” a link about beer made with yeast extracted from 40 million year old amber.

http://sageofdiscovery.com/2009/11/02/fossil-fuels-offers-eocene-epoch-beer/

You can get it at http://www.fossilfuelsbrewingco.com/

Confirming one piece of the wisdom of Seinfeld via Neuroskeptic

As neuroskeptic asks “Are the benefits of coffee really due to the caffeine, or are there placebo effects at work?

See the result via this paper and Neuroskeptic’s summary…   Harrell PT, & Juliano LM (2009). Caffeine expectancies influence the subjective and behavioral effects of caffeine. Psychopharmacology PMID: 19760283

“What’s grosser than gross? How ‘bout a 100-mile long wad of E. Coli-infested mucus?”

From “From Mauka to Makai” A science blog for the masses.

http://maukamakai.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/marine-mucilage-ick/

These marine mucilages, that “From Mauka to Makai” reports, have been seen in the Mediteranean since 1729, and are apparently made up of the kinds of seaweed/algal polysaccharides we commonly use as food ingredients – algins, agar, carrageenans, except, as we might figure the polysacchardes mats are home to a teeming population of microbes, some of which are plenty unfriendly.

Danovaro, R., Fonda Umani, S., & Pusceddu, A. (2009). Climate Change and the Potential Spreading of Marine Mucilage and Microbial Pathogens in the Mediterranean Sea PLoS ONE, 4 (9) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007006

The polymer makeup of the mucilages was amply reported in the citation in the 1995 paper by Gary Leppard in “Science of The Total Environment” Vol 165 Pages 103-131 “The characterization of algal and microbial mucilages and their aggregates in aquatic ecosystems” an this actually gives a nice rundown on the interactions of the polymers for students of algal polysaccharides. http://tinyurl.com/yzuycg6 It is about 5MB and takes a while to load.



October 29, 2009

Teapots, fluid dynamics, and baked potatoes – but what are we to do with the buttery taste?

Filed under: Baking, Uncategorized, barley, food chemistry — rossand @ 12:56 pm
Tags: , , , ,

Beating the teapot effect

Authors: C. Duez, C. Ybert, C. Clanet, L. Bocquet

(Submitted on 17 Oct 2009)

Cyrill Duez’s team show that superhydrophobic surfaces stop the tea from wetting the inner surface of the spout and pretty much stop the dripping.

Richard Alleyne, science correspondent for the UK Telegraph newspaper, says this backs up the old adage that putting butter inside the spout stops the drip.

But no-one is saying what we should do with the buttery taste – maybe get used to it like the Tibetans have with tsampa (toasted barley flour, green tea, and yak butter) – see picture on the last page of the linked PDF file

Of course all this leads to some interesting side trips on the internet, this time to the web page of Lydéric Bocquet an the Liquids @ interfaces’ group at the Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée et Nanostructures, Université Lyon 1, and a link to a paper of his from The American Journal of Physics from 2007 called “Tasting edge effects“. The paper  backs a hypothesis that, to quote him, “the baking of potato wedges constitutes a crunchy example of edge effects” .  He goes on to say in the abstract- “A simple model of the diffusive transport of water vapor around the potato wedges shows that the water vapor flux diverges at the sharp edges… This increased evaporation at the edges leads to the crispy taste of these parts of the potatoes“.

All I can say is, thank goodness this happens and that baked potatoes have extra tasty edges, all a function of increased drying rates that speed Maillard browning.

FotoosVanRobin via Flickr

Coffee stains explained

And an hour later  – even more interesting things – like the paper 12 years ago in “Nature” that explained the nature [pardon the unintentional but awful pun]  of the rings in coffee stains via a flow from the interior of the liquid to the exterior, bringing suspended material with the flow and depositing it at the edge of the drying droplet. And coffee is a good example because oft he amount of dispersed but not dissolved material in the cup. It would be interesting to see if the effect is more pronounced with espresso than drip filter given the far higher level of suspended solids in an espresso cup.

Capillary flow as the cause of ring stains from dried liquid drops“  Robert D. Deegan et al

Nature 389, 827-829 (23 October 1997) | doi:10.1038/39827 – even folks without a full text subscription should be able to access the abstract via this link .

Who’da thought Nature would be interested in coffee stains – still,  the journos and editors, they probably live on coffee.


October 26, 2009

“Kernel Chemistry”

Filed under: Baking, barley, wheat — rossand @ 2:00 pm
Tags: , , ,

Oregon’s Agricultural Progress articles…

Articles about our wheat and barley breeding activities.

Kernel Chemistry – wheat

Barley world

barley 2 nodding small


October 23, 2009

Not food – but whales

Filed under: Uncategorized — rossand @ 12:17 pm

A new experience for me that’ll hopefully enhance the blog – a photo journalism workshop with National Geographic photographer Flip Nicklin

Telling stories with photographs – stay tuned for more.


October 16, 2009

Wow ! Alginate parfait

Filed under: Molecular gastronomy — rossand @ 11:37 am

Link sent by a former student – really amazing culinary art – and beautiful photography

http://luxirare.com/parfait/


October 6, 2009

Engaging students from the get-go

Filed under: Instruction — rossand @ 11:32 am
Tags:

Starting a class today – Food Polymer Science for graduate students.

Getting students engaged is a challenge – even at this level (MS & PhD candidates) – some of them are only doing the course for required credits. So what can we do?

Mano Singham in Liberal Education** rails against the traditional “rule-infested, punitive, controlling syllabus that is handed out to students on the first day of class“, claiming that what is missing is any mention of learning and any indication of the passion of the instructor for the subject matter [we hope the instructor has some passion]. Our formal syllabi here at Oregon State U do list anticipated learning outcomes, but what is missing is the first person-narrative of the instructors view of the subject in the context of food production, consumption, and we hope, the enjoyment of our food.

The Center for Teaching and Learning here at OSU has a summer workshop on a “living course” – a guide to creating a partially web 2.0 based class delivery mechanism. A key part of the development of a living course/syllabus was to create a first person course narrative as a welcome to students and as a way of bringing the subject to life from the start.

I have linked to the current course narratives for both the graduate food polymers course as well as my science of deliciousness course for any of you food science instructors out there who are interested. Comments are welcome.

FOOD POLYMERS narrative

FOOD CHEMISTRY – DELICIOUSNESS narrative

**Via TEACHING TIPS from the University of Hawaii’s Honolulu Community College.

Rye bread baked from a formula in Michel Suas’ “Advanced Bread and Pastry – A Professional Approach” from the San Francisco Baking Institute.


September 16, 2009

Others aren’t

Filed under: Uncategorized — rossand @ 1:19 pm

I am on vacation, but others are not…

A couple of good new posts at Khymos to keep you going.

http://blog.khymos.org/2009/09/11/too-many-new-books/

http://blog.khymos.org/2009/09/07/tgrwt-19-tomato-and-black-tea/


September 7, 2009

Agriculture is where [most] food begins !

Filed under: Uncategorized — rossand @ 11:37 am

…and we should remember that. Except for foraged wild mushrooms, or wild caught fish, or hunted game, or handpicked wild backberries that turn into delicious pies [courtesy of my wife] pies made with farmed wheat for the flour…

Follow the “savory images” link below to see Ag in Oregon at its most picturesque!

Savory Images

Featuring the bounty of Oregon agriculture—a reflection of the role Oregon State University’s agricultural research plays in sustaining our state’s rich farming heritage. The Savory Images photo exhibit opens August 2009 at the Murdoch Gallery at the LaSells Stewart Center at Oregon State University. It then begins a tour across the state and is available for month-long display during 2009-2010, free of charge“.

Photos are by award-winning photographer Lynn Ketchum and from the pages of the acclaimed magazine Oregon’s Agricultural Progress.

A wonderful exposition…

of the the variety and richness of agriculture and rural life in Oregon. The gallery is well worth a look. Lynn Ketchum works for Oregon State and has taken some shots in our labs. Look forward to more shots from Lynn of our bread and lab in the near future.

Mt Adams, Washington State from Gilliam County OR looking north across the Columbia River valley.

adamas small

Photo Atribution – me.


August 24, 2009

Coffee maker beer – spot the deliberate error

Filed under: Uncategorized — rossand @ 11:37 am

Malt is tricky, and sometimes gross. In my experience, the best you can hope for is vegemite, marmite, or some other yeast extract. If you have chocolate malt balls or some other malt based candy, those can be ground up and used as well”. Andrew Thaler

These “malt” sources don’t have active amylase enzymes – they at best would be an additional source of fermentable sugars and amino acids that would help yeast activity. They would not degrade the starch in the the processed cereals. The repeated extraction through the coffee maker would extract all [most of] the available simple fermentable sugars, a fair amount given that many of these cereals were probably steamed during processing with some thermal starch degradation. The dried fruits would be great sources of fermentable sugars, not just a flavor modifiers.

So what could he do to make this process somewhat more efficient?

If the ship’s bakery had malted barley flour – with active amylases that’d be best – that’s probably unlikely, the ship’s chef/baker would probably use a bread flour that would possibly have malted barley flour added at the mill. This is usually a vanishingly small amount of malt flour, because in breadmaking you only want extremely limited starch digestion for just enough fermentable sugars for the yeast. Adding some of the bread flour (check the label for the malted barley flour – e.g General Mills’ Better for Bread has it – just an example, not an endorsement) and maybe having longer period of digestion for the mash. This would mean that the coffee maker hotplate might be a bit warm and thermally kill the amylases so if you could keep the mash at about 60 deg C** this would maximize the beta-amylase activity and create a wort with the maximum fermentables possible with this crude, but brave, method.

**This should be possible on any modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

Thanks BarelyWorld


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