Learn about the scientific discipline behind your favorite foods at HowStuffWorks .
More Lifestyle Topics to Explore :
16 Types of Coffee to Fuel Your Next Caffeine Fix
What Is Boba? Everything to Know About Bubble Tea
Mezcal vs. Tequila: A Guide to Agave-based Spirits
13 Types of Bread: Challah, Sourdough, Rye and More
What’s the Difference Between Grits and Polenta?
What’s the Difference Between Basmati and Jasmine Rice?
Is Tomato Catsup the Same as Tomato Ketchup?
The Hottest Hot Sauce in the World and 16 Runners-up
Why Sriracha Is Everybody’s Favorite Hot Sauce
Get the Scoop on Our Ice Cream Quiz!
What Is Halloumi Cheese, and Why Is It Suddenly So Popular?
What’s the Difference Between Clarified Butter and Ghee?
Macaroon vs. Macaron: Differentiating Between Sweet Treats
Move Over Turducken. The Christmas PieCaken Is Here
Marzipan Is the Sweet Almond Treat You Need This Holiday
Discovering the Vibrant Flavors of Hungarian Cuisine: A Culinary Journey
Chow Mein vs. Lo Mein: Comparing Chinese Noodle Dishes
Stromboli vs. Calzone: Different Branches of Pizza Lineage
How Food Tasters Work
Top 5 Reasons You Know You Should be a Pastry Chef
How to Get Your Big Break into the Baking Business
What Is Imitation Crab Meat? Is the Crab Substitute Vegan?
It’s Nuts How These 6 Nuts Look Before Processing
What Are Hot Dogs Made Of?
10 Sweetest Apples to Bake, Make Applesauce, or Eat Fresh
The Hottest Pepper in the World Is Another Puckerbutt Creation
Scallions vs. Green Onions: What’s the Difference?
7 of the Hottest Peppers in the World
Where Does Vanilla Flavoring Come From?
Lemongrass Is a Prized Herb in Asian Cuisine
10 Flaming-hot Facts About Cheetos
Korean Street Treat Hotteok Is Like a Warm Hug
Is There Really a Difference Between the Left and Right Twix?
10 Types of Wine and What to Pair Them With
What’s the Difference Between Champagne and Sparkling Wine?
What’s the Difference Between Port and Sherry?
Learn More
People have been pickling vegetables , cucumbers specifically , since the time of Cleopatra . Why the cucumber vine and why is the pickle always served with your deli sandwich ?
ByMuriel Vega
Craft beer is big clientele . And breweries are banking on non - alcohol-dependent beer as their new cash cow . But how do they brew beer without intoxicant ?
ByJennifer Walker - Journey
The expression " the cerise on top " is supposed to refer to a very good thing . You may retrieve differently once you learn how maraschino cherries are actually made .
ByAlia Hoyt
If you love mushroom , why not grow them at dwelling house ? It ’s easy if you have a mushroom growing kit .
It ’s commercialize as an option to tasteful sugar . But is coconut sugar really a healthy pick ?
BySharise Cunningham
Amateur mycologist abound and do - it - yourself mushroom cloud grow kits are all the worldwide fury today . Find out how you too can get started growing your own edible mushroom .
ByJeremy Glass
It is in the raw beef , after all , so there ’s a natural tendency to shy aside from eating steak tartare . But do n’t be afraid . you’re able to eat it .
It ’s not cream . And it ’s not creamy . But it is handy and inexpensive , and it ’ll give your nutrient ' oomph . '
Is that pepper too hot to treat ? See where it fall on the Scoville scale .
ByJohn Donovan
Honey has been used as medicine for millennia and , in this century , the honest-to-goodness therapeutic seem to be holding up to science .
ByJesslyn Shields
The Maillard reaction is the scientific process that defecate your steak ( and other foods ) mouthful and smell delicious . So , how does that sour ? We ’ll explicate .
Carmine , a natural red dye also known as cochineal excerpt , is indeed made from the crushed bodies of the cochineal hemipteran . And it allow for the color for many of the foods we eat .
ByKatie Carman
Baking soda and baking pulverisation are both leavening factor , but they work otherwise in batters and doughs . So , in a emergency , can you substitute one for the other ?
ByMelanie Radzicki McManus
We know wine collectors maturate their wine . But what about beer ? There ’s a movement of beer enthusiasts dabbling in maturate beer , too . Do the same rules apply ?
ByStephanie Vermillion
chain cheese is a super democratic collation with kids and adult . And it ’s stringiness can be a bit baffling , too .
ByMeg Sparwath
Sassafras has a long chronicle of culinary , medicative and redolent use , but safrole , a toxic compound found in its crucial oils , has been banned by the FDA because of its possible carcinogenic place .
ByMichelle Konstantinovsky
Citric back breaker is sum to everything from food to medicines to cleaning supply . Although it occurs of course , it ’s mostly manufactured from disastrous mildew . But does that think of we ask to be worried ?
Ice cream made with insect Milk River ? A start - up in South Africa hop-skip you ’ll say , " Yes please ! "
ByNathan Chandler
Grocery memory tomatoes are all but flavorless any longer . A group of scientists is out to bring the ripe , carmine mouthful of summer back .
ByShaun Chavis
distaff chickens lay eggs whether they ’ve mated with a rooster or not .
Which do you prefer ?
ByLoraine Fick
Craving some sugary sweet cotton candy ? Then reach for these grapes instead . You ’ll be shock at how much they smack just like the spun material .
Nothing buy the farm better with a cup of coffee than a sweet cupcake . But do you crave the two together or does that cup of joe really make you thirsty ?
People are passionate about coffee berry , and every connoisseur has an vox populi about what to do when hot coffee tree go cold . reheat coffee ’s complicated .
You may love the burn of food that ’s triple Thai hot , but do your poor gustatory sensation bud ?
