Skill Builders

Skill Builder: Jeff Potter’s Yogurt Lab

Skill Builder: Jeff Potter’s Yogurt Lab

One of the great things about learning food science is the need to test everything. I say “need” because, in truth, it’s a lot of fun to geek out over the details and try various experiments that I wouldn’t normally try. Take yogurt. Everyone is familiar with it, but how is it made? Where does it come from? (Besides the store…) Making yogurt is incredibly easy, especially once you know some of the food science background. A bunch of different types of “friendly” bacteria chow down on the lactose sugars in milk, creating lactic acid in the process. This process, called fermentation, also changes the structure of the milk, turning it into a gel.

“Sous Vide” Cooking:  The Basics

“Sous Vide” Cooking: The Basics

“Sous-vide” is fashionable French for a method of cooking that involves longer cooking times at lower temperatures and reduced atmospheric pressures. It means, literally, “under vacuum.” Commonly, food is sealed in plastic vacuum bags and cooked at temperatures well below the boiling point of water for dozens of hours, although the particular parameters vary widely with the food to be cooked. The point, really, is that the equipment involved is capable of finer automated control of those parameters than your conventional range, oven, and/or microwave, and the quality and flavor of the natural ingredients can be vastly improved—without sacrificing safety—by using it.

Make: Live Episode 08: Brewing Beer & Coffee (preview video)

Make: Live Episode 08: Brewing Beer & Coffee (preview video)

https://cdn.stage.makezine.com/uploads/2011/05/xed1bk5mxjm Join us Wednesday evening for the next episode of Make: Live, our streaming show and tell! Ep08 is all about brewing- beer and coffee. Make: Live 08 – Brewing Beer & Coffee Wednesday May 11th, 9pm ET/6pm PT Watch at stage.makezine.com/live or on http://www.ustream.tv/channel/make-live Please join us in the UStream chat or mark tweets […]