food

Science Says These are the 3 Best Cheeses for the Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich

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KS_LOGOs2_PopCultureChances are you know exactly what cheese you like on your grilled cheese sandwich. Maybe you enjoy a little stringy mozzarella, creamy american, or tangy sharp cheddar. Well, according to science, you’re wrong! The American Chemical Society has broken down the science behind the iconic melty sandwich – and it turns out it’s all about pH!

Picture perfect grilled cheese (Flickr: Serious Eats)
Picture perfect grilled cheese (Flickr: Serious Eats)

I was surprised to find out that acid levels dictate the ultimate ‘gooeyness’ of cheese. Cheeses with an acidity in the range of pH 5.3 to 5.5 — such as gouda, gruyére or manchego — are best for being heated up in a sandwich.

Too much acidity (or a very low pH), aka ‘sharper’ cheeses, can break down while melting leaving you with a clumpy texture. So, if you are trying to pick the right cheddar cheese, go with the more mild option.

The latest video from the YouTube series Reactions, hosted by the ACS, explains the chemistry of the perfect grilled cheese sandwich in-depth. You’ve got to check it out below! 😜

As for me? I’ll stick with american cheese and a whole lot of butter. It made me smile when I was 5 years old and it still makes me smile today.

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Crew Members on ISS Make History by Eating Salad: From Lettuce Grown and Prepared in Space!

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Krystian Science Space

Three crew members aboard the ISS made history this week when they snacked on a salad grown, harvested, and eaten IN SPACE! 🎉🍃

CREDIT: NASA
CREDIT: NASA

Published August 10th 2015 via YouTube by NASA Johnson – ‘That’s one small bite for a man, one giant leaf for mankind. Fresh food grown in the microgravity environment of space officially is on the menu for the first time for NASA astronauts on the International Space Station. Astronauts Scott Kelly, Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of Japan sample the fruits of their labor after harvesting a crop of “Outredgeous” red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth system on the International Space Station.‘

Crew Members on ISS Make History by Eating Salad: From Lettuce Grown and Prepared in Space!

A New Tasty Sensation Has Been Added to the Human Palate: Sweet, Sour, Bitter… FAT!

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KS HealthWhen we eat we have come to recognize a few basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and the newly recognized ‘umami.’ But, according to a new study from Purdue University, fat should be considered a sixth taste called ‘oleogustus’ – “oleo” being the Latin root word for oily or fatty, and “gustus” referring to taste. Fries

Whatever you do, make sure you don’t confuse the taste of fat with the creamy, smooth feel of fat.

“Most of the fat we eat is in the form of triglycerides, which are molecules comprised of three fatty acids… Triglycerides often impart appealing textures to foods like creaminess. However, triglycerides are not a taste stimulus. Fatty acids that are cleaved off the triglyceride in the food or during chewing in the mouth stimulate the sensation of fat,” said Richard D. Mattes, distinguished professor of nutrition science.

Mattes says fat itself has a generally unpleasant flavor, but low concentrations of fatty acids in food may add to their appeal just like unpleasant bitter chemicals can enhance the pleasantness of foods like wine, coffee, and chocolate. This mouth-watering revelation could possibly lead to better tasting food!

“The taste component of fat is often described as bitter or sour because it is unpleasant, but new evidence reveals fatty acids evoke a unique sensation satisfying another element of the criteria for what constitutes a basic taste, just like sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. By building a lexicon around fat and understanding its identity as a taste, it could help the food industry develop better tasting products and with more research help clinicians and public health educators better understand the health implications of oral fat exposure,” said Mattes, who studies the mechanisms and function of taste.

There are no familiar words to describe the taste of fat, which is why the 102 study participants monitored by Mattes had trouble placing it. They were given multiple cups of solutions each containing a compound that tasted salty, sweet, umami, bitter, sour, or fatty. They were then asked to sort the solutions into groups, often misplacing the fatty samples with the bitter group. Eventually, when asked to sort samples including bitter, umami, and fatty stimuli, panelists grouped the fatty acids together correctly.

The findings were published online in the journal Chemical Senses. Archer Fat GIF

A New Tasty Sensation Has Been Added to the Human Palate: Sweet, Sour, Bitter… FAT!

2015 Xtreme Eating ‘Winners’: Sad Day for Red Lobster, Sonic, and Cheesecake Factory – ‘Merica!

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KS HealthThe Center for Science in the Public Interest surveyed the menus of more than 200 restaurant chains in search of high-calorie, high-fat gut bombs. They found the drinks, meals, sides, desserts, and ridiculous combos that are unbearably high in calories, sugar, saturated fat, and sodium. Nine items topped the list – view them below! I’m embarrassed proud to admit one of my top guilty pleasure treats (#2) made the list this year. Eat up 😉

The full list of “winners” was published in the June issue of CSPI’s flagship publication, Nutrition Action Healthletter.

Xtreme Eating 2015 Winners!

‘It’s not easy to win an Xtreme Eating award. For starters, most restaurant meals pack around 1,000 calories, so anything in that neighbor-hood is a yawner. To stand out in the crowd, you’ve got to hit around 2,000 calories—an entire day’s worth of food—even if it’s just dessert.

But our winners have what it takes…a total disregard for the obesity epidemic and the coming diabetes tsunami. Of course, you can’t blame restaurants for that. That would be so unfair.’

#10) Red Lobster’s Lobsterita (890 calories) A 24 oz. Traditional Lobsterita (with its 860 mg of sodium). IMAGE: Instagram – Red Lobster
9) IHOP’s Chorizo Fiesta Omelette (1,300 calories) IHOP’s Chorizo Fiesta Omelette, which is loaded with spicy chorizo sausage, roasted peppers, onions and pepper jack cheese, then topped with a citrus chili sauce and sour cream and served with a fresh grilled serrano pepper…will have you holding your stomach. A 1,300-calorie sausage omelette alone would strike many as a tad on the heavy side. But this one comes with three buttermilk pancakes (or hash browns, toast, or fruit) for MORE added calories! IMAGE: IHOP website
8) Steak ‘n Shake’s 7×7 Steakburger (1,330 calories) The 7X7 Steakburger ‘n Fries (available from midnight to 6 a.m. on the “Up All Night” menu) squeezes seven beef patties between its buns. The 1,330 calories in the burger make the 240 calories in the small side of fries seem puny. But what’s puny about the plate’s 47 grams of sat fat and 4,570 mg of sodium? IMAGE: Steak ‘n Shake website
7) Outback Steakhouse’s 16 oz. Herb Roasted Prime Rib (1,400 calories) The 16 oz. prime rib is 1,400 calories alone. For sides, let’s say you get the dressed baked potato and the classic blue cheese wedge (it’s a “premium side salad,” so it’ll cost you a buck), and that you eat just half the loaf of bread and use just a light schmear of butter. The tab: 2,400 calories, 71 grams of sat fat (31⁄2 days’ worth), and enough sodium (3,560 mg) for today and tomorrow. IMAGE: CSPI website
6) Uno’s 6” Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza (1,470 calories) A Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza (“a small plate version of their famous Chicago Classic Deep Dish with sausage, mozzarel- la, chunky tomato sauce and romano”). IMAGE: CSPI website
5) The Cheesecake Factory’s Warm Apple Crisp (1,740 calories) Between the apples, “delicious crispy nutty topping,” two scoops of ice cream, small mountain of whipped cream, and caramel sauce, you’re looking at 1,740 calories—more than any cheesecake on the menu. In fact, you can eat TWO slices of the original cheesecake instead. Gross. IMAGE: Cheesecake Factory website
4) Dickey’s Barbecue Pit’s 3 Meat Plate (2,500 calories) With a whole 3 meat plate, including two sides, sweet tea, and a half cup of ice cream in a cone (and no re- fills), your meal comes to roughly 2,500 calories, 49 grams of sat fat and 4,700 mg of sodium (21⁄2 to 3 days’ worth of each), plus 29 teaspoons of (mostly added) sugar. It’s like having three Big Macs with five Vanilla Cones. IMAGE: Twitter – Dickeys
3) Sonic’s Large Pineapple Upside Down Master Blast (2,020 calories) “SONIC’s real, vanilla ice cream perfectly mixed with pineapple, salted caramel & pie crust pieces” comes in a 32 oz. cup topped with several inches of whipped cream. That’s for a large, which fires 2,020 calories at your midsection, and 61 grams (three days’ worth) of sat fat and 41⁄2 grams (two days’ worth) of trans fat (from the pie crust) at your arteries. And it comes with some 29 teaspoons of added sugar. One Master Blast has the calories of roughly four Dairy Queen Banana Splits. IMAGE: Sonic website
2) The Cheesecake Factory’s Louisiana Chicken Pasta (2,370 calories) The Louisiana Chicken Pasta, which weighs an impressive 1.5 pounds, comes topped with four slices of heavily breaded chicken. Add the New Orleans sauce (butter and heavy cream), and your plate is up to 2,370 calories (more than a day’s worth), plus 80 grams of saturated fat (a four-day supply) and 2,370 milligrams of sodium (11⁄2 days’ worth). IMAGE: Cheesecake Factory website
1) Red Lobster’s “Create Your Own Combination” (2,710 calories) For CSPI’s Create Your Own Combination at Red Lobster, they picked three shrimp dishes (Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut, Walt’s Favorite, and Linguine Alfredo). With french fries as the side, Caesar as the salad, and just one Cheddar Bay Biscuit, the total came to 2,710 calories, 37 grams (two days’ worth) of sat fat, and 6,530 mg (a four day supply) of sodium. IMAGE: CSPI website

 

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