The Science of Food

Bitter tastes quickly turn milk chocolate fans sour

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Dark chocolate lovers can handle a wider range of bitter tastes before rejection compared to milk chocolate fans, according to Penn State food scientists. In a test of bitterness rejection levels in chocolate, people who prefer milk chocolate quickly detected -- and disliked -- milk chocolate with a bitter substance added to the candy, according to Meriel Harwood, a graduate student in food science. Dark chocolate fans had significantly higher tolerance to the added bitterness than people who like milk chocolate. In some cases, you may be able to detect a change in the taste of your food, but that might not necessarily lead to disliking the product," said Harwood. "However, almost immediately, people who preferred milk chocolate indicated they tasted something different and they didn't like it." [MORE]

Read about cocoa, chocolate, and confectionery research at Penn State Food Science here!

Penn State's creamery: From the cow to the cone

Penn State ice cream from the Creamery! It's a tradition for generations of Penn Staters and their guests. But there's more than meets the eye, or the mouth, for that matter. Every cone of "Peachy Paterno" or cup of "Death by Chocolate" begins with cream provided by cows at Penn State's dairy barns only a mile north of the creamery store. [Video]

Seniors, rejoice, there are cool jobs

By Samantha Kramer
Penn State Collegian Columnist

I have a secret to reveal. A very old secret, one that’s happened every year at Penn State — long before Graham Spanier ever picked up a washboard and even before JoePa’s specs were in style.

We, the seniors, the next graduating class at Penn State, are old.

Alas, ’tis true, and it’s something that 21-year-olds all over the nation are beginning to realize. Some turn to friends in their time of need. Some refuse to believe their fate, and try to deny their inevitable old-ness.

But it’s too late. We’re already doing our own laundry, making our own food, washing our own dishes, or paying other people to do all the above.

So before we become the next Van Wilder sequel, I have good news: Having a job is cool. It’s the next big thing, and everybody’s doing it. Plus, hello, it’s 2011 — they have jobs for everything now.

So while we say goodbye to our summer tans (or in my case, burns and freckles) here’s a few refreshing ideas to remind you that you don’t always have to stick to a 9-5 office job.

Food Scientist

Okay, I’m a little biased here because my mom works as a food scientist at M&M Mars. But come on, you’re getting paid to make candy. Not to mention the freebies that come along with it (all the free company food you want, plus the newest goods that’s not in stores yet).

Whether you go into research and development and create new recipes, or into sensory and get paid to eat and drink (if you’re really thinking, you’ll go into the brewery business as a beer taster) a degree in AgSci will get you far.

Fortune Cookie Writer

Yep, those bad boys don’t write ............etc, etc.

Vitamins may hitch a protected ride on corn starch

University Park, Pa. -- Vitamins and medications may one day take rides on starch compounds creating stable vitamin-enriched ingredients and cheaper controlled-release drugs, according to Penn State food scientists.

The technique may offer drug and food companies a less expensive, more environmentally friendly alternative in creating, among other products, medications and food supplements.

In a series of experiments, researchers formed pockets with corn starch and a fatty acid ester to carry oil soluble vitamins, such as vitamin A and vitamin C, into the body, according to Gregory Ziegler, Penn State professor of food science. [MORE]

Ursula V. Lay Ma, John D. Floros, Gregory R. Ziegler.Effect of starch fractions on spherulite formation and microstructure. Carbohydrate Polymers, 2011; 83 (4): 1757 DOI: [ Download article]

 

Freakonomics Radio: Waiter, There’s a Physicist In My Soup

In the first segment of a two-parter about food and food science; it’s also about why we eat what we eat, and how that may change in the future. The first episode takes a look at the “molecular gastronomy” movement, which gets a big bump in visibility next month with the publication of a mammoth cookbook called Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Its principal author is Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief technology officer of Microsoft who now runs an invention company called Intellectual Ventures.

In Part 2, we get out of the kitchen and take a broader look at the past, present and future of food science. (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen live via the link in box at right or read the transcript here.) First, we hear from John Floros, a food scientist at Penn State who co-authored a paper on the history of food science. (Special thanks on this episode go to the Institute for Food Technology.) He explains why we have Napoleon Bonaparte to thank for canned food. He also explains why anyone who’s alive today might want to thank a food scientist.

Student Stories: Education, internships readied her for awesome career

Growing up in the little town of Summerdale, Pa., near Harrisburg, Brianna Hrusko never suspected that she would land a job most would envy, or that her job would take her around the world.

It was not until an older coworker at a high school job heard Hrusko enjoyed cooking and science and recommended she look into food science that she gave the notion a thought. The advice culminated in her enrollment in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. [MORE]

Student Stories: Food Science grad started with Kellogg internship

If breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, then Agnes Lim is a very important person.

The Penn State Food Science major, who graduated from the College of Agricultural Sciences last spring, landed two internships with the Kellogg Company, the world's leading producer of cereal and other nutritious breakfast foods, in the fall of 2008 and summer of 2009. [MORE]

Summer camp designed for aspiring food microbiologists

When you think of summer camp, you might envision activities such as volleyball, swimming, hiking, and arts and crafts. You probably wouldn't imagine food microbiology and searching for clues to the cause of an outbreak of foodborne illness. Still, that was the focus of a camp that was held for students in grades seven to nine at Penn State's University Park campus in late June as part of the "Science-U" series of science-oriented camps. "Food

Science: The Microbial Menace," which attracted 21 campers, was guided by faculty and staff from the University's Department of Food Science.

Read the full story here 

Food science departments see an increase in applications

Food Science Focus Evolves as Enrollment Thrives

In the 1980s, the microwave oven prompted the creation of new food products, and in the 1990s and early 2000s, consumers’ desire to prepare their food in seconds prompted the creation of off-the-shelf, ready-to-eat products. These trends demonstrate how food science has been influenced by the times.

So it is only natural that the recent spotlight on food—a number of food recalls and food safety issues in the news, the added popularity of the Food Network, and society’s generally piqued interest in food—would lead to a greater interest in the area of food science and increased enrollment in food science education programs across the country.

“Food in general is getting a lot more attention today than it did 10 or 15 years ago,” John Floros, PhD, head of the food science program at Penn State University, told Food Quality. “People are talking about their food in a way that I never heard people talk about food before.”

According to Dr. Floros and other food science department heads across the country, the last three to four years have seen an increase in food science enrollment, partially attributable to society’s increased interest in food [MORE].

Discover Food Science at Penn State University

Mushrooms - A Good Source of Vitamin D

The Problem... Vitamin D Levels Are Too Low In Millions Of US Children, Latest Analysis Confirms.

ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2009) — Millions of children in the United States between the ages of 1 and 11 may suffer from suboptimal levels of vitamin D, according to a large nationally representative study published in the November issue of Pediatrics, accompanied by an editorial.[MORE]

A Solution... Light-zapped mushrooms filled with vitamin D - Bringing 'shrooms out of the dark packs them with sunshine nutrient 

Mushrooms may soon emerge from the dark as an unlikely but significant source of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin that helps keep bones strong and fights disease. Researchers found that a single serving of white button mushrooms will contain 869 percent the daily value of vitamin D once exposed to just five minutes of UV light after being harvested.[MORE]

Similar to the way that humans absorb sunlight and convert it to vitamin D, mushrooms contain a plant sterol–ergosterol–that converts to vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Check out the resources below for more information on vitamin D.

The American Mushroom Institute (AMI) has information on Vitamin D and the latest research on increasing the amount in mushrooms here. 

And here's the data from Penn State University...Post-harvest Vitamin D Enrichment of Fresh Mushroom.