[Arvon]

And the answers are....

THE FOOD QUIZ
(Answers from yesterdays quiz)
1-a) Light cream is heavier. "Heavy" and "light" refer to the fat content, not the weight. Heavy cream contains a higher percentage of milk fat (36%) than light cream (15%-18%), but since fat is lighter than water the other major component of cream increasing the percentage of fat reduces the percentage of water, lowering the overall weight.

2-c) The air in a jet plane in flight is lower in pressure and less humid than what most people are used to, which affects the way food tastes. The low pressure impairs the passengers' sense of taste by reducing the volatility of the molecules that give food its odor and taste. Low humidity causes people to become dehydrated, especially if they've been drinking alcohol or coffee both are diuretics that cause your body to eliminate water. So it's not unusual for an airline to add extra seasoning, with the exception of salt, which would further increase the body's need for water.

3-c) The oils that irritate your eyes when you chop an onion have the same effect on your tastebuds and your sense of smell: they irritate your taste and smell receptors slightly, and in this "raw" state the receptors are more sensitive than they would be otherwise.

4-a) Air is whipped into ice cream as part of the manufacturing process, and it's not uncommon for manufacturers of cheaper brands to whip extra air into their ice cream, reducing the amount of actual ice cream in the container and lowering its weight. So if you want to try a new brand of ice cream but aren't sure how good it is, compare its weight to the same size container of a brand you're familiar with. If the unfamiliar brand weighs as much or more, it's likely to be similar or even better in quality.

5-b) Botanists consider only the "ovary" of a plant the part that contains the seeds to be the fruit; so technically speaking, pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, and even corn are all considered fruit. Any other part of a plant that is edible the leaf, root, stem, and so on is considered a vegetable.

6-a) It's true apple seeds contain trace amounts of cyanide, as do apricot and peach seeds. But the amount of cyanide in a single apple seed is so small that it would take hundreds of seeds to amount to a lethal dose. And even if you ate that many seeds you'd probably survive unharmed, because the husk of an apple seed is so hard it's indigestible, even if it's been cooked. The apple seeds and the cyanide they contain would pass through your body completely intact.

7-b) Many people incorrectly believe that freezing food more than once makes it unsafe to eat. This myth dates back to the late 1920s, when frozen food pioneer Clarence Birdseye stamped the words "DO NOT FREEZE" on his packages of frozen foods. He feared that if people mishandled his products by repeatedly thawing and re-freezing them, they'd blame the resulting poor quality on his company, which might harm sales. Some people mistakenly interpreted Birds-eye's warning to mean that re-freezing food is dangerous.

8-b) The most vitamin-rich part of the potato is the pulp just beneath the skin. When you peel a potato, you invariably remove some of the pulp in the process; that's why it's a good idea to cook potatoes with the skins on whenever possible.

9-c) Coffee beans from the port of Mocha in southwestern Yemen had lots of acid but not much flavor; beans from the port of Java in Indonesia had lots of flavor but not much acid. A well-rounded cup of coffee requires both acid and flavor, and it eventually occurred to people that blending the two types of beans would result in a better-tasting cup of coffee than was possible with Mocha or Java beans alone.

10-b) Marinades usually contain acids that tenderize meat. But in the process of tenderizing, they also degrade its ability to retain moisture, which makes the meat drier when cooked. So why bother marinating meat in the first place? It's a tradeoff the tenderness and the flavor obtained by marinating the meat more than makes up for the loss of moisture...at least according to people who like marinades.