Today (19th January) is apparently National Popcorn Day, so what better time to look at the chemistry behind it? This graphic takes a brief look at some of the compounds that give popcorn its flavour and aroma, as well as what makes it pop!
If you’ve ever made a curry, you’ve likely used turmeric – you may even have some in your kitchen right now. It’s probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about doing chemistry, but there are actually some pretty neat chemistry tricks you can do with it! In this post, we take a look at these, as well as the plethora of health benefits commonly attributed to the yellow spice.
With a week to go until Halloween, it’s time to get carving pumpkins! Before you do, check out this graphic on the chemistry of pumpkins I made for C&EN previously (you can download the graphic on their site here). Stay tuned for more Halloween-related chemistry over the coming week!
In this month’s installment of Periodic Graphics in C&EN, we’re talking canning chemistry. When you’re canning vegetables and making chutneys, why does the acidity matter, and what’s the importance of temperature in the canning process? This graphic takes a brief look – see the full graphic over on the C&EN site.
With blackberry season approaching, here’s a quick graphic looking at blackberry colour chemistry. Posts have been a bit few and far between over the last week or so as I was off at ACS Philadelphia (post on that to come shortly), but the pace will be picking back up again this week!
It’s cherry season in the UK, and the cherry trees are currently heaving under the weight of both sweet and sour cherries. Here we take a look at the chemical differences between the two, and why cherry stones are poisonous.