Historical Importance of Prohibition

The Noble Experiment. The Volstead Act. The Eighteenth Amendment. Call it what you will, the amendment that would become the National Prohibition Act was passed by the House of Representatives on December 18, 1917. On December 5, 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment was ratified and repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, the first and only time in U.S. history that an Amendment has been repealed.

What happened in between? Innocent people suffered, organized crime grew into an empire; police and politicians became increasingly corrupt and disrespect for the law grew; and the per capita consumption of alcohol increased dramatically, year by year, while Prohibition was in place.

This week, a look at Prohibition.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Just beyond the next planet, just beyond the next star..." - Captain Jonathan Archer, Star Trek: Enterprise, “These Are The Voyages..."

Historical Importance of Prohibition

Panettone

It's not Christmas for me unless I have a panettone. A buttery mix of dried fruits, this labor intensive bread is best accompanied by coffee or liqueur. My grandmother used to make them when I was a child, mixing ingredients, allowing it to rise, resting, mixing and rising again and again.

This famous Italian bread has its beginnings in Milan, Italy. That much is certain. There are also a few legends which surround the history of this sweet holiday bread.

This week, a look at the origins, legend and history of panettone.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Like they say in the Temporal Mechanics Department, there is no time like the present." - Captain Kathryn Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager, “Endgame”

Panettone

A Wrinkle in Timekeeping

The trouble with time started a century ago, when Albert Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity demolished the idea of time as a universal constant. One consequence is that the past, present, and future are not absolutes.

Einstein’s theories also opened a rift in physics because the rules of general relativity (which describe gravity and the large-scale structure of the cosmos) seem incompatible with those of quantum physics (which govern the realm of the tiny). In short, the best way to think about quantum reality is to give up the notion of time -- that the fundamental description of the universe must be timeless.

The possibility that time may not exist is known among physicists as the “problem of time.” It may be the biggest, but it is far from the only temporal conundrum. Mankind has been adding "leap seconds" to coordinate time across the globe with atomic time, rather than rely on the variable rotation of the Earth. But are these leap seconds necessary?

This week, we look at a wrinkle in timekeeping.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Feelings aren't positive or negative Data, it's what you do with those feelings that becomes good or bad." - Counselor Deanna Troi , Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Descent Part 1"

Timekeeping

Chocolate Supply Threatened by Cocoa Crisis

Cocoa can only be grown close to the equator, mostly in West Africa, and farmers there lack incentives to replant the trees as they die, as cocoa trees take three years to mature. Combined with a drought in that area, crops being destroyed by two mysterious diseases that have scientists baffled and ever-more gluttonous choco-habits, and you've got a shortage. Indeed, the price of chocolate has doubled in the last six years.

Says John Mason, founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council: "In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won't be able to afford it."

This week, a look at why a chocolate revolution may be at hand.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs...unless good is very, very careful." - Doctor Leonard McCoy, Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Omega Glory"

Chocolate Supply Threatened by Cocoa Crisis

Momentum

We've all heard the expression, "When it rains, it pours." Conversely, when things are going well, they seem to get better. This is the Law of Momentum at work. The Law states: "When you are down, the universe works to keep you down. When you are up, the universe works to keep you up."

What exactly is this mysterious Law of Momentum? What makes up the mechanics of this force? How exactly does it work? The force of momentum simply exists as a result of our own mindset. We have it available to us at all times, but we must tap into it. The force of momentum is neutral; we make it positive or negative by our attitude. In other words, we make our own luck.

This week, a look at momentum.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Everyone's trying to...look out for us. Protect us from ourselves. But in the end, all that matters is how we feel...and what we do about it. Because either way, we're the ones who have to live with the consequences." - Jadzia Dax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Rejoined”


Momentum

5 biggest Thanksgiving food myths debunked

The tradition of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving is steeped in myth and legend. The Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving began at some unknown date between September 21 and November 9, most likely in very early October. Few people realize that the Pilgrims did not celebrate Thanksgiving the next year, or any year thereafter.

Regardless of when it may have been back then, we celebrate it now on the fourth Thursday in November by opening our mouths, inserting turkey and taking a nap. Life is good, isn't it?

This week, a look at the 5 biggest Thanksgiving food myths debunked.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Doctor, I am well aware of human characteristics. I am frequently inundated by them, but I've trained myself to put up with practically anything." - Commander Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Trouble With Tribbles"

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5 Biggest Thanksgiving Food Myths Debunked

Avoid Foodborne Illness during the Holidays

The fall and winter holidays are opportunities to visit friends and family while enjoying homemade foods. Holidays present unique food safety challenges, so cooks should plan ahead to ensure that holiday foods are safe.

No one wants an unexpected guest at the dinner table, especially Sal Monella or any of his friends.

This week, ways to avoid foodborne illnesses during the holidays.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "I’ll never understand this obsession with accumulating material wealth. You spend your entire life plotting and scheming to acquire more and more possessions until your living areas are bursting with useless junk. Then you die, your relatives sell everything and start the cycle all over again." - Odo, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Q-Less"

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foodsafetyinfosheet-nov19-09_0

Concrete

Concrete derives it's meaning from a Latin word that mean "to grow together". It was a logicians' term for centuries until the meaning began to expand in the 1600s.

We say something is concrete if it possesses physical existence, capable of being experienced by the senses; the opposite of abstract. Abstract words such as love, peace, and steadfastness are used to express ideas or emotions, while concrete diction is used to refer to particular persons, places, and objects.

Concrete is now best known as a construction material made of a mixture of cement, sand, stone, and water that hardens to a stone-like mass. The first usage of concrete for a building material made from cement did not occur until 1834.

This week, a look at concrete.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "We were a great society not so long ago when honor was earned through integrity and acts of true courage, not senseless bloodshed." - Kolos (a Klingon lawyer), Star Trek: Enterprise, "Judgement"

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Concrete

Fireplaces

Everybody loves a roaring fire in the winter – the picture is immortalized on holiday cards, and the smell of wood smoke evokes the season for many people.

But can a wood-burning fireplace really heat the house? Will you save money by stoking the flames? What about that smoke filling the air? Get the facts before you pile on another log.

This week, a look at fireplaces.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already. Too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!" - Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek VIII: First Contact

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Fireplaces

Washroom

During a break while attending the annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists in Dallas in 2000, I sat in a chair that turned out to have a view of the sinks in a men's bathroom. The details escape me now, but easily 50% of those who went in did not wash their hands before leaving.

These were men in the food industry, where we practically burn it into a person's memory to always wash your hands. Perhaps they all went in to straighten their ties or check their teeth, but we all know better.

Are the odds stacked against the average Joe or Josephina if professionals can't get it right? This week, a look at washing your hands...or not.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you oughtta go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." - Q to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Q Who?"

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Washroom

The Darker Side of e-mail

Like the telephone or the TV, e-mail is a technology so embedded in our lives, we think nothing of it. Both help and hindrance, on one hand it is the original "killer application" of the Internet and on the other it's a spam-spewing slave-driver.

We are used to hearing about the negative side of the balance-sheet, about e-mail's addictive nature and the unnecessary stress it injects into the modern worker's life, but we downplay these problems because it is so incredibly useful.

This week, with e-mail well into middle age (the first emails were sent in 1965), we take a look at what we know about the darker side of e-mail.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Damn it, Bones, you're a doctor. You know that pain and guilt can't be taken away with a wave of a magic wand. They're the things we carry with us, the things that make us who we are. If we lose them, we lose ourselves! I don't want my pain taken away! I need my pain!!" - Captain James Kirk, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

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E-mail

The Surprisingly Cool History of Ice

In 1805, two wealthy brothers from Boston were at a family picnic, enjoying the rare luxuries of cold beverages and ice cream. They joked about how their chilled refreshments would be the envy of all the colonists sweating in the West Indies. It was a passing remark, but it stuck with one of the brothers. His name was Frederic Tudor, and 30 years later, he would ship nearly 200 tons of ice halfway around the globe to become the “Ice King.”

This week, a look at the surprisingly cool history of ice.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "There are always alternatives." - Commander Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Galileo Seven"

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The Surprisingly Cool History of Ice

Savory

Satureja is a genus of aromatic plants of the family Lamiaceae, related to rosemary and thyme. There are about 30 species called savories, of which Summer savory and Winter savory are the most important in cultivation.

This week, a look at savory.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you or would you like to break some more furniture?" - Counselor Deanna Troi, to Commander Worf, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Birthright"

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Savory

Food Fraud

Acting on an informant's tip, in June 1973, French tax inspectors barged into the offices of the 155-year-old Cruse et Fils Frères wine shippers. Eighteen men were eventually prosecuted by the French government, accused, among other things, of passing off humble wines from the Languedoc region as the noble and five-times-as-costly wine of Bordeaux. During the trial it came out that the Bordeaux wine merchants regularly defrauded foreigners. One vat of wine considered extremely inferior, for example, was labeled "Salable as Beaujolais to Americans."

It's not just that bottle of vino you need to wonder about. False origins/composition/etc. has been documented in fruit juice, olive oil, spices, cheese, vinegar, spirits and maple syrup, just to name a few.

Caveat emptor, indeed. This week, a look at food fraud.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Have you ever known me to do anything foolish?" - Captain Jonathan Archer, Star Trek: Enterprise, "Rogue Planet"

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35869978-Food-Fraud

Buy Local, Act Evil?

A University of Toronto study suggests people who buy green are more likely cut moral corners elsewhere, that buying green is tantamount to a free pass for commensurate bad behavior in other areas of their lives.

I beg to differ, as I don't feel the need to cut someone off in traffic on the way home from buying compact florescent light bulbs or mock the eco-celebrity crowd and their use of "carbon offsets" as a method to justify their eco-hypocrisy.

This week, can buying local may you act evil?

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: Kirk: "My God, Bones, what have I done?" McCoy: "What you had to do; what you always do: turn death into a fighting chance to live." - Doctor Leonard McCoy to Admiral James T. Kirk while witnessing the destruction of the Enterprise, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

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Buy Local, Act Evil

Stomach versus Brain

Scholars have understood the different motives for eating as far back as Socrates, who counseled, "Thou shouldst eat to live, not live to eat."

Nowadays, scientists are using sophisticated brain-imaging technology to understand how the lure of delicious food can overwhelm the body's built-in mechanism to regulate hunger and fullness, what's called "hedonic" versus "homeostatic" eating.

This week, it's stomach versus brain. May the best organ win.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When every logical course of action is exhausted, the only logical course that remains is inaction." - Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Star Trek: Voyager, "Twisted"

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Stomach vs Brain

Coffee's trained tasters know their beans and brews

We've looked how the smell of freshly brewed coffee can help relieve stress, why coffee is a bitter brew, how diesel can be made from from coffee grounds, and how coffee was one of the six drinks that changed history.

The world of coffee has as much complexity and diversity as the world of wine. Many different steps and processes go into creating the perfect coffee bean and the perfect cup of coffee.

This week, a look at coffee's trained tasters, their beans and brews.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "There are creatures in the universe who would consider you the ultimate achievement, android. No feelings, no emotions – no pain. And yet, you covet those qualities of humanity. Believe me, you're missing nothing. But if it means anything to you...you're a better human than I." - Q to Commander Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Deja Q"

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Coffee's Trained Tasters Know Their Beans and Brews

5 Things That Will Make You Happier

In the last few years, psychologists and researchers have been digging up hard data on a question previously left to philosophers: What makes us happy? Researchers have studied people all over the world to find out how things like money, attitude, culture, memory, health, altruism, and our day-to-day habits affect our well-being.

The emerging field of positive psychology is bursting with new findings that suggest your actions can have a significant effect on your happiness and satisfaction with life.

This week, a look at five things that will make you happier.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "...the things love can drive a man to – the ecstasies, the miseries, the broken rules, the desperate chances, the glorious failures and the glorious victories." - Doctor Leonard McCoy, Star Trek: The Original Series, "Requiem for Methuselah"

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5 Things That Will Make You Happier

A Lesson in Food Product Dating

How many of us have cleaned a cupboard, refrigerator or freezer and tried to remember when we bought a food buried in the back? On closer inspection of the food's product dating information, you may have had even more questions.

Understanding how food-product dating works might not be a subject you've lost any sleep over. But it has probably been a source of confusion that's resulted in some perfectly good food being thrown in the garbage or poured down the drain.

This week, a lesson in food product dating.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "One can begin to reshape the landscape with a single flower, Captain." - Spock to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Unification, Part II"

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A Lesson in Food Product Dating

Why A Calorie Isn't Just A Calorie

The calorie is a unit of energy, first defined by Professor Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat. In most fields its use is archaic, having been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule. However, in many countries it remains in common use as a unit of food energy.

Some countries use the food calorie, which is equal to 1 kilocalorie (kcal), or 1,000 calories. In the context of nutrition, and especially food labeling, the calories are large calories approximately equal to 4.1868 kilojoules (kJ). The kilojoule is the unit officially recommended by the World Health Organization and other international organizations.

No matter how you count them, they are important. This week, a look at calories.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Judging by the pollution content of the atmosphere, I believe we have arrived at the latter half of the 20th century." - Captian Spock, when the HMS Bounty arrives in 1986, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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Calories

Don't Forget To Eat Your Greens

Greens can be eaten a number of ways, including raw, steamed, stir fried, or even baked. Doesn't matter how you eat them, just make sure you do.

This week, how eating your greens can save your life.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." - Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Commander Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Peak Performance"

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Don't Forget to Eat Your Greens

Eye Glasses

I've worn glasses to correct my far vision since I was 12, and recently finally gave in on bifocals to also correct my near vision. Very few people have perfect eyesight. More than half of us need glasses to correct a vision problem some of the time, if not all of the time. At least I'm in good company.

This week, a look at a brief history of corrective lenses.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Change is the essential process of all existence." - Commander Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

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Glasses

Sorting Out The Cold, Sweet Treats

Is gelato the same as ice cream? Not exactly – it’s all about the air, or lack of it. Is sorbet the same as sorbetto? Yes, one word is French and one is Italian; but sherbet is slightly different – it adds milk.

This week, we close out our salute to ice cream with a look at ice cream and its close relations.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Your Honor, a courtroom is a crucible. In it, we burn away irrelevancies until we're left with a pure product - the truth, for all time." - Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Measure of a Man"

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Glossary of Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts

The History of Ice Cream Part 3

This week, part 3 of the history of ice cream.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Maybe it's not the destination that matters. Maybe it's the journey." - Ensign Harry Kim, Star Trek: Voyager, "Endgame"

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History of Ice Cream Part 3

The History of Ice Cream Part 2

This week, part 2 of the history of ice cream.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Regret is one of the strongest emotions and one of the saddest." – Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker, Star Trek: Enterprise, "Fusion"

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History of Ice Cream Part 2

The History of Ice Cream Part 1

One the heels of Dairy Month, it's...National Ice Cream Month. Like I needed a reason to have ice cream.

This week, part 1 of 3 on the history of ice cream.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "In any case, were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." – Captain Spock
"Or the one." – Admiral James Kirk, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

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Fun Dairy Facts

We wrap up our look at Dairy Month with some Fun Facts about Dairy Products.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "You either live life fully, face to the wind, with skinned knees, bruises and all or you turn your back to it all, wither away and die." - Captain Christopher Pike, Star Trek: The Original Series, “The Cage” (unaired pilot)

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Dairy Facts

A Brief History of Yogurt

My first job in the food industry was in product development working with dairy applications. The largest amount of my time was spent developing fruit bases for use in yogurt, so that dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk holds a special place in my heart.

This week, a look at a brief history of yogurt.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "They say time is a fire in which we burn; right now I'm running out of time." - Dr. Tolian Soran, Star Trek VII: Generations

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Yogurt

Cattle Throughout History

Where do dairy products come from? Cows, of course. Cattle have come on a long journey with us, from pastoral times to settled agriculture, from the New World to post-industrialism.

Cattle have shaped human societies for millennia, figuring prominently in the lives and imaginations of the cave dwellers of Paleolithic Europe, the farmers of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and 19th-century Australia, South America, and the American West, to name but a few.

This week, we continue celebrating Dairy Month with a look at cattle throughout history.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Laws change depending on who's making them, but justice is justice." - Odo, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “A Man Alone”

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Cattle Throughout History

A Brief History of Milk, Part 2

I'm old enough to remember milk in glass bottles delivered to the door of our house. Now many dairies are putting milk in glass bottles instead of wax paper or plastic. It has been estimated that one glass bottle can save 40 plastic jugs from ending up in a landfill.

Everything old is new again, I guess.

This week, part 2 of a brief history of milk..

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "You will never come up against a greater adversary than your own potential, my young friend." - Dr. Paul Stubbs to Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Evolution"

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A Brief History of Milk Part 2

A Brief History of Milk, Part 1

Can you imagine a world of cookies without milk, biscuits without butter or burgers without cheese? I know I can't; and if you feel the same way, this is your month to celebrate. June is National Dairy Month, a time to be thankful for the delicious and nutritious dairy products and the people responsible for providing us with them.

In the past we've looked at butter, unpasteurized milk, cheese and more cheese. What's left, you ask? Plenty.

This week, part 1 of a brief history of milk.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want." - Commander Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series, “Errand Of Mercy"

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A Brief History of Milk Part 1

Handling Food Safely on the Road

Vacation
All I ever wanted
Vacation
Had to get away
Vacation
Not meant to spend it sick from poor handling of food

Okay, so the hit song by the Go-Go's really didn't use those exact words. But who wants to be sick from food you packed for a trip that was mishandled?

This week, a look at handling food safely while on the road.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is as important as how we’ve lived." - Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek VII: Generations

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Food Safely Road