You’ve likely heard a million times that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Luckily, it’s also arguably the most delicious! On today’s show, we take a look at the ingredient responsible for perfectly spreadable fruit preserves. Next we debate the merits of baking with butter vs. oil. And finally, producer Rebecca Sheir visits Rise and Shine Bakery in Anchorage, Alaska, to learn how to make sourdough bread. Chemical Agent: Pectin.

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Show Clock

00:00 Opening Credits
00:31 Introduction
01:21 Chemical Agent: Pectin
03:34 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Butter vs. Oil
06:37 Feature: Making Sourdough Bread
11:00 Closing Credits

Credits

This show was written and researched by Audra Wolfe.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. Additional music includes “Big Butter and Egg Man From Way Down South,” by Yamomanem, and “Jazz Breakfast,” by Gecko 3.

This week’s image is “Sunny Side Up,” uploaded to Flickr by Phillie Casablanca.

The term molecular gastronomy can sound pretentious, but food writer Harold McGee describes it as “the science of deliciousness.” Learn more about the science of food (and deliciousness) in this week’s episode. First we take precautions by discussing Pepto-Bismol, in the event that an experiment in the kitchen goes wrong. Next we find out how to cook the perfect hard-boiled egg—and why it works that way. Finally join CHF’s Chi Chan and Jen Dionisio as they work with a recipe for chocolate mousse that requires only two ingredients—chocolate and water. (The photos shown here depict their experiment.) Element of the Week: Bismuth.

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Show Clock

00:00 Opening Credits
00:30 Introduction
01:14 Element of the Week: Bismuth
03:39 Mystery Solved! The Perfect Egg
06:28 Chemistry in the Kitchen: Making Mousse Without Dairy
11:04 Quote: Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
11:19 Closing Credits

Resources and References

For more on how to cook the perfect egg, an article about Hervé This in this February 2006 Discover article, Cooking for Eggheads.
If you’re intrigued by the concept of this week’s episode, check out the blog khymos.org, dedicated to molecular gastronomy and the science of cooking.
Also, check out Hervé This’s book, Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor on Amazon.com.

Credits

A special thanks to Chi Chan for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network. Additional music is “Happy Piano,” by Podcast Troubadour, “Big Hairy Momma,” by Al Phlipp and the Woo Team, and “Rust and Bones,” by Tom Caderet.

The photos this week were taken while Jen and Chi made chocolate mousse in the kitchen at CHF.

There are four fundamental qualities: time, length, mass, and temperature. All other units can be derived from them, but these four can’t be broken down any further. This week we focus on time—the measurement that orders our lives. Catalysts are something chemists use to speed up time; in other words, to make chemical reactions work faster. Ruthenium is an element that has recently become an important catalyst in organic chemistry. This week Chemistry in Your Cupboard explores the wonders of the pressure cooker. And finally, producer Eric Mack visits the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, to check out the world’s most accurate atomic clock (shown on the left). Element of the Week: Ruthenium.

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Show Clock

00:00     Opening Credits
00:32     Introduction
01:30     Element of the Week: Ruthenium
03:59     Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Pressure Cooker
06:20     The Atomic Clock
10:37     Quote: William Faulkner
10:51     Closing Credits

Resources and References

Check out the summer issue of Chemical Heritage for more information about green chemistry.
The 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded to Robert H. Grubbs, Yves Chauvin, and Richard R. Schrock.
Learn more about pressure cookers and their history.
More information about the NIST-F1 Cesium Fountain Atomic Clock.

Credits

This show was researched by Audra Wolfe.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided by the Podsafe Music Network. The music for the Element of the Week is “1 o’clock Martini Intro,” by Podcast Troubadour. After Chemistry in Your Cupboard is “The Wonder Clock,” by The Psycho Daisies. The music after the feature and under the quotation is “Tick Tock,” by Podcast Troubadour.

This week’s image is the NIST-F1 clock, which uses a fountain-like movement of cesium atoms to determine the length of the second so accurately that—if it were to run continuously—it would neither lose nor gain one second in 80 million years. Image copyright Geoffrey Wheeler Photography.

Please note: In today’s episode we have included more mature content than a typical show. 

A Valentine for our listeners, this show is dedicated to the chemistry of love. In today’s show, we explain why passion has always been associated with fire and how the stars can influence your love life. We will also look at the long history of aphrodisiacs, from Spanish fly to chilies to chocolate — but in a different way than one might expect. The Element of the Week: Fire.

And, as promised in the episode, special love recipes for you and your Valentine. Can you figure out which one we don’t recommend trying at home?

The Wolf
“…on the tail of this animal there is a tiny patch of hair which is a love-charm; if the wolf fears that it may be captured, it tears the hair out with its teeth; the charm has no power unless the the hair is taken from the wolf while it is still alive.”
From the Aberdeen Bestiary (a manuscript on animals), written in England around 1200. Aberdeen University Library MS 24, f. 17r.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany’s famous jasmine chocolate
• 4.5 kg ground and roasted cocoa beans
• fresh jasmine flowers
• 3.6 kg dry white sugar
• 85 g “perfect” vanilla pods
• 115 to 170 g “perfect” cinnamon
• 2.5 g grey amber

Place alternate layers of jasmine with layers of ground chocolate in a box, and leave to rest for 24h. Then mix together and add more alternate layers of jasmine and cocoa and proceed in the same way. Repeat the operation 10 to 12 times so that the cocoa really absorbs the scent of the jasmine. Then add the other ingredients and grind this mixture on a warm metate stone. If the metate is too hot, the aroma may evaporate.
From The Chocolate Museum.

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Show Clock

00:00    Opening Credits
00:32    Introduction
00:54    Element of the Week: Fire
02:45    Mystery Solved: Aphrodisiacs
05:46    Precise as Pastry
10:03    Quote: Robert Burton
10:31    Closing Credits

Resources and References

On fire: The Ancient Greek Esoteric Doctrine of the Elements, from John Opsopaus
On love and chemistry: Jen Muehlbauer, “The Chemistry of Love”
On Spanish fly: Poisonous Plants and Animals article from ThinkQuest
On pheromones: An informative entry on Wikipedia

Credits

Special thanks to Anke Timmermann for researching the show.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music was provided from the Podsafe Music Network, Andrew Chalfen, and The Bobs. The music for introduction to the Element of the Week is Fire, by Cyclops. At the end of the Element of the Week the music is Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, arranged and performed by The Bobs. The music for both the intro and the outro for the Mystery Solved segment is Super Size My Love, by Lima Charlie. The music for the quotation is Incidental Music 9, by Andrew Chalfen.

This week’s image appears in Giambattista della Porta’s De distillatione, book 9 (1608). Image courtesy of the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library at CHF. Photo by Douglas A. Lockard.