Super Bowl Food Safety

I'm a fair-weather football fan and only watch the Super Bowl when one of the teams is the Washington Redskins. When the Skins weren't playing, I'd watch it for the commercials. Super Bowl XVIII in 1984 was bittersweet: in the middle of the Los Angeles Raiders crushing the Redskins, Apple Computer's famous "1984" commercial, which introduced the Macintosh, aired.

Now the commercials are on the Internet almost as soon as they air in TV, so I can prune the roses and not worry about missing anything.

Super Bowl Sunday has become the most-watched US television broadcast of the year, and has become likened to a de facto US national holiday. It's also the second-largest U.S. food consumption day, following Thanksgiving. This week, we look at Super Bowl Food Safety. Thanks to Julie for finding this.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche (19th century German philosopher, 1844 – 1900)

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Super Bowl Party Food Safety

Olive Oil

There are approximately seven hundred olive varieties, or cultivars, whose distinctive tastes and aromas are evident in oils that are made properly, just as different grape varietals are expressed in fine wines. The best olive oils are made using a simple hydraulic press or centrifuge -- they are more like fresh-squeezed fruit juices than like industrial fats. The olives are harvested at the moment they begin to turn from green to black; ideally they are picked by hand and milled within hours, to minimize oxidation and enzymatic reactions, which leave unpleasant tastes and odors in the oil.

This week, a look at olive oil.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you will see." - Winston Churchill (British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, 1874 – 1965)

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Olive Oil

FDA History, Part 2

This week, we look at more of the history of the FDA, specifically about the 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Ever tried? Ever failed? No Matter, try again, fail again, Fail better." - Samuel Beckett (Irish author, dramatist, & novelist, 1906 - 1989)

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FDA Part 2

Tiny Specks of Misery

We've looked at virus versus bacteria and how it's not always easy to distinguish between infections caused by the two as the symptoms often feel the same (and are often self-inflicted collateral damage as your immune system returns fire). Viral infections tend to get better after the first few days, while bacterial infections get worse over time.

This week, a first-hand look at how a virus can do you in.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." - John Burroughs (US essayist & naturalist, 1837 - 1921)

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Tiny Specks of Misery

Digestion

The holiday season has passed and the New Year is upon us. We've left behind the carbohydrate-rich repasts and those once-a-year special treats that would leave a bull elephant with a lazy, lethargic feeling.

But how does food go from solid or liquid to energy for your body? It's all due to that incredible set of organs deep within you. This week, we travel the human digestive system from beginning to, um, end, from top to, uh, bottom, from teeth to, err, well, you know.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "It's time to start living the life you've imagined." - Henry James (American writer, 1843 - 1916)

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Digestion

Yeast

Although the principle tastes present in beer, wine or bread are the result of the raw materials used, the strain of yeast used can also add important flavors, good and/or bad. Considering the importance of yeasts, it's remarkable how little attention they get. Vines and grapes, hops and barley, and even flour are easy for us to understand because we can see them, and they get all the attention.

Yeasts, along with other microbes, are much harder for us visually dominated humans to get a handle on because of their microscopic size. If we want to have a proper perspective on things, imagine the sponge kettle in the Dough Mixing Room is the size of a small lake and yeast cells are the size of golf balls, capable of growing rapidly and dividing every half hour or so. Suddenly they don't seem so abstract.

This week, a look at yeast.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The weariest night, the longest day, sooner or later must perforce come to an end." - Baroness Emma Magdalena Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy (British novelist, playwright and artist of Hungarian origin, most notable for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, 1865 –1947)

The Story of Yeast

Winter Holiday Food Safety Quiz

It's the holiday season, so don't let your food safety guard down. Here's a quiz to make sure you're paying attention between those brandied egg-nogs.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "There is only one real deprivation, I decided this morning, and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most." - May Sarton (1912 -1995, American poet and novelist)

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Winter Holiday Food Safety Quiz