Cilantro and Stink Bugs

Yesterday I was on the phone with my parents, and my mom told me that stink bugs (which have heavily populated the east coast) smell like cilantro. My dad thought she was crazy. I did some research into it this morning, and it turns out that the main scent factor in both stink bugs and cilantro is an unsaturated aldehyde. I couldn't find the structure for the aldehyde in cilantro, but it makes sense that they would have similar smells. I've also heard of people that are not bother by the smell of stink bugs. I suspect that they are the same people that enjoy cilantro.

Cheese Day

Today we had two visitors to class: Amy Reis from Art of the Table, a store owner from East Grand Rapids who sells cheeses, and Barbara, from the Dancing Goat Creamery, a local cheese production facility. We learned about the basic process of cheese making and then got to try twelve unique samples.

I was particularly interested in how easy cheese making is for a small scale farmer. Furthermore, being able to take care of the goats so well translates into better tasting cheese.

Only four ingredients go in to cheese making: milk, bacterial cultures, rennet, and salt. Variation in flavor comes also from the way the cheese is aged.

As so far all other products have been better when prepared by an expert with focus on the details (coffee, bread, and, based on smell, beer), I was excited for cheese day. it turns out, however, that I don't really appreciate cheeses very much. Out of the twelve samples we had, there was only one that I liked, and I'm not sure if I actually liked it, or if I only liked it in comparison to the other samples. Still, this was an educational experience, and now I can actually claim that I don't enjoy Blue cheese, as opposed to just guessing I don't like it based on the smell.

The twelve cheeses we tried included cow, goat, and sheep cheeses. The cow cheeses were my preferred cheeses today, although i had never tried goat or sheep cheese before.

I think part of what may have turned me off to the cheeses was the texture. Maybe I would have preferred them with something, but very soft cheeses by themselves have, to me, an uninviting texture.

Some highlights from todays cheeses included Merze Tate, Effie Mills, Buttermilk Blue, Cashel Blue, and Humboldt Fog.

Merze Tate came from Dancing Goat Creamery and was my preferred cheese of the day. It was a mild cheese that was dense enough not to warrant a spoon.

Effie Mills was another cow cheese from Dancing Goat Creamery. It smelled like mushrooms and tasted like the smell of stuff rotting in a forest on a wet day. Not awful, but kind of strange for a cheese.

Humboldt Fog, a goat cheese, smelled like dirty socks and had a very powerfully sour taste. I was most horrified by its texture, which was like a less chunky version of cottage cheese.

Buttermilk Blue was another cow cheese. This blue cheese smelled awful and strong, and I immediately regretted putting it in my mouth, as the flavor was not better than the smell. Still, my mind was blown by my new understanding of how strong cheese can be, as well as a newfound understanding of human's willingness to stretch the limit for what constitutes food.

Cashel Blue, disturbingly enough, managed to take Buttermilk Blue to the next level. It smelled exactly like a cow farm. My one hope was that it didn't taste the same way. Much to my horror, it did - the cheese tasted exactly like a cow farm smells. And it is at this point that my fundamental understanding of cheese breaks down. I heard discussion of the flavors of nuts and fruits in this, one of the best cheeses imaginable. I really like the concept of this cheese, but the reality was disappointing.

Well, in conclusion, today was a fun day. Barbara of the Dancing Goat Creamery was very knowledgeable and fun to listen to. I much more appreciate cheese as an art than I did before, and I'm glad I tried something new. But with that said, I'll keep eating half a pound of cheap Meijer cheese every week.

Chili, Cheese pre-class

Our exercise for class today was to make a variety of chili and salsa. Ingredients available to us were black beans, fresh tomato, diced tomato, several fresh peppers of differing spiciness, onion, garlic, cilantro, cumin and salt. From there we were given essentially free rein for what to do.

For our chili we chose to wing it rather than follow a specific recipe. We added half a can of diced tomatoes and half a can of beans, as well as some onion and part of a clove of garlic. Then we added some green pepper that wasn't spicy, and one very spicy slender green pepper that may or may not have been a habanero. I'll attempt to identify the pepper next time I'm at the grocery store.

We also added some salt and cumin, as well as a bit of chili seasoning another group brought. We then cooked it for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

The chili turned out well in that it tasted good, but poorly in the 'chili' department. We didn't have that classic chili taste, which I think is partly from not having meat or cheese, and, from talking to other groups, I think we should have added more cumin. The flavors had blended well, and I was very pleased with the spicy kick at the end of a spoonful.

Our salsa really just tasted like onion, pepper, and tomato - but when we combined our chili into our salsa, we had delicious salsa.

There were two other groups that made chili that I got to try. Neither was as spicy as is my preference, but they had more of a 'chili' taste which I attribute largely to more cumin. My favorite of the two also had many more beans, proportionally.

This was an excellent exercise - I learned that making chili is actually reasonably easy, and I may do it myself in the future.

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Salt is added to cheese to preserve the cheese and intensify the flavor.

Rennet is an enzyme from a cow's fourth stomach that is used to curdle milk, turning it into curds and whey. The enzyme can now be cultivated artificially in bacteria.

Cheeses are typically aged for weeks to months to years, depending on the variety.

I currently don't have any cheddar cheese, and will update my blog when I can give a more detailed account of what cheddar smells like.

Mall, Chili pre-class

Today our class took a field trip to Woodland Mall in order to observe how consumers are marketed to - in other words, how do stores attract customers?

We entered the mall on the south side by the food court. As we walked by the various food vendors my nose was assaulted with many different scents, from a vague frying smell, to a pizza smell, and finally the hot pretzel smell. The vendor Sensational Salads had an Istanbul Bazaar-esque food display in their case, showing a bright array of vegetables. Otherwise, the food pavillion was surprisingly bland.

Next we entered American Eagle, which had a noticeable scent of leather and denim. An employee stated that they spray clothing with their brand scent three times per day (if they remember) but I do not know if the AE scent is identical to the leather and denim that I smelled. In the back of the store there was a TV and some seating room. Another feature of AE which held true for all other clothing stores I visited was that the dressing rooms were near the back - presumably, a shopper serious enough to consider buying something gets drawn by more merchandise they may be interested in.

Adjacent to AE was the Buckle, another clothing store. The most interesting feature of this store was the display - essentially all merchandise could be seen from the entrance of the store, as there was a clear path from the front to the back. Along the walls there were racks of clothes, and each article of clothing was lit by its own light, causing the eye to be drawn to the side displays. Buckle didn't seem to have any particular smell.

Yankee Candle Company could be smelled from about fifty feet away from the entrance of the store (a scent radius only rivaled by Hollister, I think). The smell was simultaneously spicy, fruity, sweet, and soft, probably owing to the variety of scented candles in the store. The store itself, though smell, was set up to be visually interesting, as color seemed to play a large role in where candles got positioned. Furthermore, the layout of the store seemed cramped and caused the shopper to walk around little displays.

Williams Sonoma, a cooking store, surprised me by having a very pleasant but thankfully not overpowering smell. Due to the sweet, spicy nature of the smell my initial assessment was that something was cooking - and it turns out I was right. An employee said that they try to always be cooking something in order to make the store smell more pleasant. The lighting worked very well with the shiny cooking equipment in the room - light bouncing off of pots and such was pleasing to the eye, and drew me towards products that I really wasn't even interested in.

Aeropostale was the only store that really surprised me, as it smelled both strongly and downright awful. The overwhelming scent smelled like cheap rubber, and I think it may be given off mainly from the flip-flops in the room. The smell reminded me almost exactly of Old Navy.

Next, we went in Banana Republic. The store, as opposed to Buckle, had lots of nooks and crannies for various sections of clothing, causing the shopper to wander seemingly aimlessly throughout the store. The music here was much calmer and quieter than other stores so far.

Following Banana Republic we went into Tradehome Shoes. This store had two obvious features. First, it smelled strongly of leather. I'm not sure if the scent came from the shoes themselves or if it was added artificially. Second, there were signs advertising sales all over the place. Together these two effects made a convincing case that I ought to buy shoes.

Next was The Body Shop, which was a little store not dedicated to auto repair, but rather to lotions and body washes and such. There was a powerful smell of sweet fruit emanating from the store. Clever use of mirrors, color, and lighting made the store visually interesting as well.

Forever 21, a clothing store for females, was our next stop. There was no distinct scent that I picked up. The only standout feature of the store was that it seemed to use whites rather than colors to light up specifically. This made the store seem more urban and upscale to me.

Lastly, we stopped at Hollister. The smell of So Cal, as the specific Hollister scent is known, was monstrously powerful from well outside the store. But, to be honest, I don't blame that scent for wanting to escape. An interview with an employee revealed that she would expect customers to feel uncomfortable sometimes in the store. The reason for this, she explained, was that the store was very dark except for what they deliberately chose to light up. Specifically, the only things lit up were the only things the customer is meant to look at. Light is used to draw customers to sale items, for example. Furthermore, she explained to us, Hollister deliberately tries to appeal to the senses. I was surprised to learn that the playlist is actually quite varied, ranging from high-energy modern music through slower, older music. Rather than having any central air system responsible for the Hollister scent, employees just spray it all over the clothing throughout the day. She said that some times other scents are obvious. Hollister sells a variety of scented projects, and when lots of people test a product in a short period of time, that smell can overwhelm So Cal. In my experience, Hollister was the only store where the scent changed noticeably - in one area, the store smelled like a beach, and I picked up another unknown fragrance in the girls' section.

Hollister had effectively removed itself from the mall, as the entrance forces shoppers around a corner through which they can no longer see the mall. The various nooks and crannies, darkness, and sounds further disorient the customer and cause him or her to essentially forget the rest of the mall is out there. Surprisingly, Hollister doesn't seem very focused on selling clothes - it's as if they are selling a concept more than a reality, and how that can be profitable, I haven't a clue. Regardless, Hollister wins in terms of being an all-out assault on the senses. As I write this, two hours after having left the store, I can still smell the Hollister scent all over myself. I hate the fact that it is calming and pleasant; I despise myself for starting to like the Hollister scent - but I have to conclude that the scent marketers from Hollister have really achieved a victory.

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Capsaicin is part of the vanillin family, and has a long tail including a polar amide group. Capsaicin is not water soluble and has no fragrance. Capsaicin's non-water soulble nature means that it can't be washed away in water, so drinking water doesn't stop the burning sensation it gives. Instead, drinking milk (which has fat in it) is a good strategy to reduce the burning.

A Scoville Heat Unit (SHU) is the amount of parts of sugar water it takes to neutralize the burning sensation caused by capsaicin.

Pungent molecules have an electron deficient region.

Capsaicin has "moderate to poor efficacy" at pain reduction.

Dihydrocapsaicin adds two hydrogens to the double bond in capsaicin, while homocapsaicin has inverted stereo chemistry at the second carbon from the end of the tail.

Capsaicin has both anticancer properties and DNA destructive properties.

" It has been reported that capsaicin or dihydrocapsaicin inhibits obesity by enhancing energy

expenditure and reducing body fat accumulation in animal experiment." Xiu-Ju-Luo, et al, 2011

Bread, Marketing pre-class

Today we had a visitor from Wealthy Street Bakery who brought in a few bread and pastries for us to try. The bread was cooked with a focus on using high-quality ingredients and not using any preservatives. Thus, the breads were delicious.

As I developed a cold over the weekend, my sense of smell is greatly diminished. I was therefore not able to pick out many nuances in the aromas of the breads.

The first bread I tried was the French bread. It had a hard crust with a dense interior, and a light, soft smell. The flavor was not very strong, but had an excellent 'bread' taste. for lack of a better descriptor. The bread was just slightly sweet. This turned out to be my favorite bread, as the texture and flavor were both very enjoyable.

Next I tried the whole grain bread. This bread also had a hard crust and dense interior, although this bread was more dense than the French bread. However, I did not like the whole grain as much because the smoothness of the interior of the bread was broken up by some crunchier material. I think it was nuts, but it could have been grains. I was surprised by the flavor - usually I don't like the flavor of whole grain breads very much, but this bread was very rich and didn't taste like health food.

Third, I tried the sourdough bread. The smell was a little bit sharp. The density was intermediate compared to the other two, and again there was a distinct, hard crust. The bread appeared to have more hole in it than the whole grain bread. The flavor, sadly, was not very strongly that of a sourdough bread, which is to say, the bread was not very sour.

Then we moved on to trying some pastries. I was a big fan of the croissant, which was very buttery and flaky, a little sweet, and soft and chewy in texture. In my way of thinking, it was a perfect croissant.

Finally, I had an almond Danish. As an aside, I don't like Danishes any more. I used to, but in 2008the summer camp I worked at got shut down due to E. Coli. The staff were not allowed to leave, and as the source of the E. Coli had not been identified, we (the staff) were forced to survive on prepackaged Smuckers PB&J sandwiches and Danishes for a week. So, back to Danishes. I tried the almond Danish, and was surprised at how good it was. The texture was wonderful - thick and fluffy. The pastry was sweetened excellently. Still, I don't really like almond flavoring, so I didn't really like the pastry.

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Smell marketing is certainly effective. I have bought food for this reason before. Specifically, I have bought a Soft Pretzel from Auntie Anne's before - this company certainly benefits from having a strong smell presence in the mall.

I also hear from my sister, who is going to a culinary arts school, that they deliberately pump the smells from their bakeries into the streets outside. As they are not on an isolated campus, but rather in a downtown urban area, this is an effective strategy for driving purchases.

What about non-food items? I know stores such as Hollister strive very hard to maintain a certain scent - but I am not sure this actually makes people want to buy stuff, or if it's just a 'hip' thing to do.

Although I was aware of scent marketing, I am surprised by its scope - both the breadth of non-food applications and the availability of scent systems to spread a specific scent.

In terms of ethics, I think it is alright as long as the chemicals causing the scent are not harmful in the quantities in which they get inhaled. In terms of the Hard Rock Hotel, for example, is it safe for guests to stay in the hotel for several days? And what about employees that work there? I know that the 'new car smell,' for example, was shown to be unhealthy.

Also, what if the scent is perceived as gross? I don't really enjoy smelling that fry scent of McDonald's, but maybe other people do. But if I lived next to Cinnabon store, I might be very pleased. The problem with banning 'gross' smells is that people have different sensitivities and preferences. Maybe there is some maximum amount of smell that could be generated compared to the property of the establishment.

I think that consumers are ultimately responsible for their actions. Understanding that scent marketing is occurring helps diminish the effects of scent marketing. Furthermore, although scents create responses before we are truly aware of them, I do not see this as fundamentally different from other forms of advertising. Advertising, as a whole, exists to tweak our mentalities. Sure, scent marketing might be a little more extreme, but society has already decided that advertising is acceptable.

Marketers attempt to reinforce the brand image of a store. So, for example, they play pop music in a trendy store.

Istanbul's Grand Bazaar is effective due to it's visual appeal, its appeal to smell, and the ability to taste products. I think visually modern stores are already appealing, although decreasing packaging dramatically seemed to work well in Istanbul. Tasting products depends on the type of product being sold, but already in malls or even at Meijer there is regularly an employee giving out samples of food. In modern supermarkets the appeal to smell is largely untapped, but I suspect that will change.

Lush is successful because it has implemented these lessons in order to appeal to the customer.

Stores can target specific demographics based on the specific sounds they play and scents they use. Research must go in to determining what, specifically, fits the demographic most successfully.

Slow music encourages shoppers to slow down, while bright displays entice the shopper to come nearer. Thus, a display in the back of a store can help shoppers linger. Seating areas also play a role in helping people stay longer.

In regards to the Forum in Las Vegas, it's not just designed to cause the consumer to lose track of time. Based on personal experience, it's actually quite hard to leave the Forum - clever usage of one-way escalators and disorienting angles makes it akin to the Minotaur's Labyrinth. Finally, when you do escape, there are advertisements for things to go do right away.

Chocolate, Bread Pre-Class

Today in class after learning more about chocolate we got to sample many different varieties, as each class member had brought in a particular type of chocolate that they liked. After receiving instructions on the proper way to eat chocolate, I found I was able to appreciate the flavors much more.

I brought a 70% Cocoa Lindt Dark Chocolate bar, and this was may favorite out of the twelve samples that I tried. The texture was nice and smooth, and the bar broke crisply. A fairly strong smell was being given off, and the flavor was excellent - it was a little bitter, but had many layers of flavor.

My second favorite chocolate was the one at the front of the classroom with the Chili in it. The chili really caused the other flavors to pop out, and provided an enjoyable spiciness to the chocolate as well. Again, the texture was very favorable.

My third favorite chocolate was the other at the front of the room, and 85% Cocoa dark chocolate. As with the Lindt, there was a strong smell, and the chocolate provided many flavors. However, the chocolate was a little more bitter than my preference.

As a whole, I came to appreciate dark chocolate much more. Although I had known I liked dark better, having so many samples showed why: the dark simply impart many more flavors. The milk chocolates all tasted the same to me (except the ones that had other additions, such as nuts, to the chocolate). With the milk chocolate, sweetness was the overwhelming flavor, and texture seemed to be the only real differentiator in quality.

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Yeast is a single-celled fungus that reproduces asexually. Many different varieties of yeast exist and are useful for a variety of functions (such as beer making or ethanol production). For bakers, several types of yeast are available. Active dry yeast has yeast cells encapsulated in other dead cells for protection, while instant yeast has smaller capsules. Rapid rise yeast causes dough to rise more rapidly, but may diminish the flavor of the bread.

The function of yeast in bread is to break down sugars to form CO2, causing the bread to rise. The type of yeast used also effects flavoring. Without sugars, the yeast have no food source.

Kneading bread causes gluten to form. This is necessary for the bread to take on a uniform texture and consistency. Furthermore, the gluten formation causes little pockets to form which later trap the CO2 formed by the yeast, allowing the bread to have the light, fluffy consistency.

Gluten is a combination of two proteins, prolamin and glutelin. Failure to digest gluten triggers an autoimmune response that may damage the villi of the small intestine, as well as causing a host of other health issues.

Sourdough bread is made with a combination of yeast and the Lactobacillus bacterium. The bacterium also helps break down sugars, and is largely responsible for the sourdough taste. A sourdough starter is simply a culture of the yeast/bacteria that is kept alive continuously, and can be applied to baking application over and over again. The starter is necessary as one must have living bacteria to make the sourdough bread.

Injera is made from teff flour, and the flour/water mixture is allowed to ferment for several days prior to cooking.

Pita bread is unique due to the extra-hot temperature at which it is cooked (700 degrees Fahrenheit), which causes unique bubbling and pocket formation.

Naan bread is kneaded extra-long and then cooked at very high temperatures in a clay oven.

Beer, Chocolate pre-class

Today a local beer expert, Andrew Van Til, came in to class to teach us about beer and the brewing process.

The main important ingredients in beer are the malt, hop, yeast, and water.

The malt comes from a grain, typically barley, but other grains (such as wheat) may also be used. Malts give the beer its sweet flavor, and vary the color of the beer from light to dark. Various roasting processes of the grain also give the malt different characteristics.

Four grain samples were passed around. They tasted like grape nuts, or unsugary cereal in general. The roasted malt tasted similar to roasted coffee beans from yesterday.

Two beers were passed around the room that were brewed with special focus on the malt. The scents were strong, with the first beer being a bit sweeter. The second beer had a smoky, salty, meaty scent, largely due to the malt being smoked during the roasting process.

The next important ingredient in beer is the hops. Hops are the flower of a vine, and are responsible for the bitter flavoring of beer. They work naturally as a preservative for beer. Hops have flavors fairly specific to the regions in which they are grown, and thus are an important part of the flavor of local beers. Hops also convey a number of herbal, fruity, woody, or grassy flavors and scents.

Several varieties of hops were passed around; they possessed grassy and citrus-like scents, which ranged from pleasant to awful. I tried a leaf from one of the hop varieties. At first, there was a strong, not unpleasant citrus flavor. Then, very rapidly, an extremely intense bitter flavor hit my tongue, a flavor which I found extremely repulsive. Thus, I spit out the leaf.

Two more beers were passed around for smelling, these two brewed with an emphasis on the hops. These smelled a little more like citrus, as well as smelling more grassy and woody. I did not like these as much as the malt-emphasized beers.

Yeast is the next important ingredient. Its function is to consume the sugars in the malt, which it then turns in to CO2 and alcohol. To beers were passed around that had been brewed with a focus on the yeast, they had a scent reminiscent of cloves and bananas, and were apparently more sour than the other beers, although we did not get to taste them.

Water is another important ingredient, the specific mineral content and pH changes the outcome of the beer. We did not try any beers that demonstrated a particular type of water.

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Cocoa production:

Tree flowers--> produces pod --> ripens --> pod gets harvested --> pods get opened and the beans get scooped out --> fermentation --> dried --> roasted -->shell is removed from kernel -->the kernel is ground and the chocolate liquor is extracted --> various additions or processing to form particular variety of chocolate.

In order to determine the relevance of the findings, one needs to determine the average amount of flavanols that are normally consumed by an individual. If they already consume enough to receive a health benefit, the findings are relevant. If the individual must increase his or her chocolate consumption to unhealthy levels to receive the benefit, the findings are not relevant.

Other foods might impart this benefit if the specific flavanols include (-)epicatechin. Simply having flavanols is not enough to be helpful.

Supermarket chocolates probably have little benefit.

The flavanols probably come from a long roasting process, as flavanols give a bitter flavor.

Six 190 calorie chocolate bars are excessive for one person per day. The health benefits of flavanols are not that significant, and, with a healthy diet, chocolate is probably an unnecessary - especially because other foods and beverages are sources of flavanols. Chocolate, for the most part, is pretty empty calories, so having nearly half of one's daily calorie needs from chocolate is certainly too much.

For a 25% increase in skin protection the amount of flavanols needed equates to about 100g of chocolate per day.

Some misconceptions about chocolate in regards to health are that nearly any dark chocolate imparts the health benefits of flavanols, and that the heart-healthy aspect of dark chocolate comes from antioxidants.