Industry News

THE NEW YORK TIMES - Salsa has emerged as Mexico's most misunderstood culinary export. In Paris, Mexican restaurants make it with minced cornichon pickles and ketchup; in Japan, with green shishito peppers and Kewpie mayonnaise; in American factories, with corn syrup and red bell peppers. On its global journey, salsa as it is actually made in Mexico often became lost. Salsa is a cornerstone of the Mexican kitchen, a contrast for a repetitive diet of corn, squash and beans. Just as French cooks understand that béarnaise sauce suits some dishes, hollandaise others, Mexican cooks know salsas have different qualities and functions. Brilliantly flavorful salsas, made in the classic way, have become much easier to find in New York. Chefs create salsas that go way past "red or green" and "mild or hot." They highlight the green, herbaceous flavors of fresh chilies and the raisiny sweetness of dried; they use heat judiciously, to contrast the richness of meats like house-made chorizo or braised veal tongue; they let some salsas rest overnight to soften their flavors and make others to order to emphasize the snappiness of the ingredients

FOOD NAVIGATOR - Palm and sunflower oil may allow formulation of non-dairy based ice cream with low rates of melting and good structural properties, says new research from Canada. A blend of highly saturated palm kernel oil and monounsaturated high-oleic sunflower oil containing 60 to 80 per cent solid fat was found to produce the best results, according to new results in the Journal of Food Science that could help manufacturers select "appropriate fat blends for nondairy-fat ice cream"

THE NEWS RECORD - Despite national accreditation, the University of Cincinnati is eliminating the CULINOLOGY program in the College of Applied Sciences. The program will be axed at the end of the 2009-10 school year with only current UC students finishing the program. The culinology program is the first program of its kind in Ohio and third in the United States. The culinology program is ranked in the top 10 in the United States by the RESEARCH CHEFS ASSOCIATION. In the last three years, culinology students have placed first twice and second once in the National Culinology competition, which pitted UC against various other colleges

FOOD NAVIGATOR - Marinating beef in green tea-containing product may reduce the levels of potentially cancer-promoting compounds, according to a study from Portugal. According to researchers from the University of Porto, the green tea-based marinade reduced levels of heterocyclic amines by up to 75 per cent. Heterocyclic amines, formed during the frying or grilling of fish and meat, are reported to promote carcinogenesis in humans

THE BALTIMORE SUN - Popcorn, the classic movie theater treat, has gotten so glammed up that it is making cameos on menus in high-end restaurants. Cooked in duck fat and adorned with truffle oil and truffle sea salt at a North Baltimore bistro. Spiced up with sriracha and tossed into a spinach salad in a Canton eatery. It even pops up in a Cuban ceviche.

THE NEW YORK TIMES - As more American home cooks with roots in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean chime into the national culinary conversation, condensed milk is getting a lot of love. In regions like these, where dairy-making might be difficult, expensive or untraditional, the stability and reliable sweetness of condensed milk has earned it a lot of fans. Condensed milk has a very different chemical profile than fresh, and behaves accordingly. It will not curdle in the presence of acid, like regular milk would (that's why it's used for Key lime pie). The sugar crystals in condensed milk will not clump together and harden (this is called seizing), making it useful for candies like fudge

THE WASHINGTON POST - When it comes to the prized bellota ham from Spain, it is easy to understand why everyone talks about the nuts. Acorns, a staple in the menu of the local pigs, are said to be the secret behind the ham from the Iberian black-footed pigs, or pata negra, which many consider the best ham in the world. The flavor is what most people are referring to when they talk about the bellota, and the general assumption is that you taste the acorns. That is wishful thinking more than anything else. Here is the real secret of the bellota ham and its nutty flavor. The production is restricted to a few, mostly narrow, valleys, in which are found certain naturally occurring airborne fungi and bacteria that are now embedded in the curing sheds themselves. For months, in fact, the hams are completely covered in black fungus. It is the unique fungal curing -- more like cheesemaking than conventional meat curing -- that makes bellota so unlike almost any other cured ham

THE NEW YORK TIMES - Labor-saving bread books are nothing new, but the current crop includes several by respected professional bakers, and a consensus that kneading just isn't necessary for good homemade bread. Most proclaim the virtues of doughs that are too wet and sticky to knead, nothing like the resilient doughs of the past. What happened to the idea that prolonged kneading works a dough's gluten proteins into alignment, making it more elastic and capable of rising higher into a lighter loaf? Is it really true that less work can make better bread? Experiments show that wet, unkneaded doughs can make very good bread. Manipulating them for 10 to 15 minutes usually didn't affect the results. Firm doughs do benefit from a few minutes of kneading, but only because it helps mix the flour evenly with the smaller proportion of water. Prolonged kneading didn't make much difference in the finished loaves. Michel Suas, founder of the San Francisco Baking Institute, recommends choosing recipes under 75 percent hydration: a weight of water that is 75 percent or less the weight of the flour

MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY - Mississippi State and Mississippi University for Women have formally moved ahead with a joint CULINOLOGY degree, which was approved Thursday by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning, at its regular monthly meeting. Culinology is a course of study combining food science with the culinary arts. MSU's longstanding food science, nutrition and health promotion department provides academic preparation for careers such as food scientists, nutritionists and health educators, among others. MUW's Culinary Arts Institute, which has earned national recognition, immerses students in food preparation techniques, menu development and business skills, among others. The new degree program created from the two merged academic areas becomes one of only 12 in the nation

HEALTHDAY NEWS - Good news for those looking for tasty ways to potentially improve their odds of staying healthy: baked rhubarb may help fight cancer. Researchers found that baking British garden rhubarb for 20 minutes dramatically boosted levels of anti-cancer chemicals called polyphenols. Previous research has shown that polyphenols selectively kill or prevent the growth of cancer cells

THE WASHINGTON POST - Bison has a reputation of being dry and tough, much like lean, grass-fed beef. Bryan Voltaggio recommends adding fat -- olive oil, or fat rendered from the bison itself -- to keep the meat moist. Cindy Wolf's advice is simple: "Don't overcook it. If you like your meat well done, don't buy bison." Peter Smith might have the best solution for ensuring that bison doesn't become dry from overcooking: Serve it raw. His current repertoire includes a paper-thin, deep red carpaccio, drizzled with arugula and carrot oils and sprinkled with smoked sea salt. The raw meat is arranged like petals around a mound of seared bison tartare, the raw meat mixed with sweet mustard seed "caviar" and pickled hot peppers. Overcooking aside, most chefs will tell you that you can do anything with bison you can do with beef

NEWSWISE - Colored chickpeas have significantly higher antioxidant qualities than the regular cream and beige color varieties, according to a new study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists. Researchers from the Volcani Center in Israel looked at 17 lines of chickpeas ranging from black, red, brown and green to rubiginous, gray, yellow and beige. The chickpeas were separated into seed parts and ground into a fine power for analysis. Results indicated that colored chickpeas contained up to 13 times more polyphenols , up to 11 times more flavonoids and up to 31 times more antioxidant activity than beige chickpeas

NEWSWISE - The addition of rosemary extract to ground beef actually reduces cancer-causing agents that can form upon cooking, according to a recent study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists. Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are mutagenic compounds that form when meat and fish are cooked at high temperatures - especially meats that are grilled, pan-fried, broiled or barbecued. Kansas State University researchers Kanithaporn Puangsombat and J. Scott Smith investigated the idea that reducing the amount of HCAs in meat cooked at high temperatures would reduce the associated health risks

NEWSWISE - Food scientists found that boiling shrimp for 10 minutes may reduce allergenic properties of total shrimp extracts, according to a new study in the Journal of Food Science, published by the Institute of Food Technologists. Researchers from Jimei University in Fujian China and the Agricultural Research Service in New Orleans, LA examined shrimp extracts from both raw and boiled shrimp, which were ground and then freeze-dried. The research showed that boiling shrimp may decrease the presence of antibodies that cause an allergic reaction

THE NEW YORK TIMES (Saturday) - Ferran Adrià, the Catalan chef who for two decades has been the leading catalyst and inspiration for avant-garde cuisine, has decided to permanently close his restaurant El Bulli, considered by many to be the world's greatest, and to replace it with an academy for advanced culinary study, Mr. Adrià said in an interview on Friday

LOS ANGELES TIMES (Blog) - Scientists from the University of Missouri have come up with a soy substitute for chicken that seems to mimic the real thing. Leading the effort is Fu-Hung Hsieh, a professor of biological engineering and food science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the College of Engineering. Many soy-based meat substitutes are basically flavored, colored and/or textured to somewhat resemble steak, sausage or ground beef, but this one is more similar to chicken, with the same stringiness found in the cooked flesh. That, said Hsieh in a news release, in part came from adding extra fiber to get that particular quality

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - For years, so-called molecular gastronomy, an avant-garde culinary movement best known for its gels and emulsions and its wild chemical experiments with food, has teased the palates of diners. With Spain's Ferran Adrià -- often regarded as the founding father of the movement -- announcing recently he will shut down his restaurant El Bulli in 2012 for a couple of years to revisit his approach to cooking, the state of molecular cuisine is once again brought to the forefront. Both Mr. Adrià and his British counterpart Heston Blumenthal, have distanced themselves from the term molecular gastronomy. Will molecular gastronomy define the new generations of chefs? Jun Tanaka, a British Japanese chef, doesn't think so. "Chefs will move away from molecular gastronomy. Things will go back to being more about the produce, about things being natural"

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE - The day when restaurants will serve garlic grasshoppers or beetle larva skewers is getting closer in Costa Rica, where scientists are "growing" insects for human consumption. Entomologist Manuel Zumbado's research into this alternative food source is inspired by practices in Africa, where insects have long been part of people's diet. Costa Rica is a perfect breeding ground for the work. The food diversification program at the National Biodiversity Institute in Santo Domingo de Heredia, a small city close to the capital San Jose, looks into indigenous insect species. Esperanzas, a large grasshopper species with long antennae that abound in Costa Rica's forests and rural areas are "far more savory than shrimp" when seasoned with garlic, according to Zumbado

ANDERSON INDEPENDENT MAIL (South Carolina) - Aubrey Coffee, a lecturer in the department of food science and human nutrition at Clemson University, will appear on the TLC competition series "Ultimate Cake Off" in an episode airing at 10 p.m. Monday. Coffee's role is to construct the delicate sugar figurines that will adorn the cake. "I love to play with sugar and I love to teach," she said. "Reality TV cooking shows are entertainment, but they also educate. They have generated great interest in the field of CULINOLOGY, one of the emphasis areas in food science that we teach here at Clemson." The CULINOLOGY program, approved by the RESEARCH CHEFS ASSOCIATION, is part of a new field that combines culinary arts and food science

THE INDEPENDENT (UK) - After years of enthusiasm for "molecular gastronomy", with its battery of gels and emulsions, many leading chefs are turning back to focus on ingredients and where they come from. A number of Michelin-starred chefs at this week's Madrid Fusion, an annual gastronomy fair, said they were now looking to take more care in sourcing their ingredients - by getting to know the producers, for example