Food Science
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The chemistry happening in your kitchen.
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Chilli isn't hot: capsaicin trips the heat alarm on your tongue
A chilli is exactly as warm as the room. There is no heat in it at all. The burn comes from capsaicin, a molecule that pries open TRPV1, the gate in your…
Stale bread isn't dry: its starch has quietly turned back into crystals
Bread left on the counter turns hard and crumbly, and it looks like it dried out. It mostly didn't. In 1852 Jean-Baptiste Boussingault showed that bread sealed…
Why popcorn pops, and why some kernels never do
A popcorn kernel is a tiny, sealed pressure vessel. Its hard shell traps water inside the starchy core until heat turns that water to steam, and pressure…