HAVE A ZIGGY KIND OF DAY!!!

HAVE A ZIGGY KIND OF DAY!!!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Friday Facts From Sasha

Hi my pals, I hope you are all well and looking forward to a nice weekend. I am just a little bummed today cause it is raining all day and I want to play outside.


I couldn't find anything to do so I started researching some kitchen facts for Mommy. I would like to share them with you and I hope you find them useful.


Why do I cry every time I cut an onion?
A: Cutting an onion releases an enzyme called alliinase, which reacts with a substrate to produce a compound like sulfuric acid. This sulfuric acid gets in the nerve cell membranes of your eyes and causes you to form tears. The reason this occurs only after cutting is that the enzyme and the substrate are separated in different compartments of the cell. They come together only after cutting.
You can reduce this by chilling the onion, which slows down the enzymatic reaction.
- Irwin Goldman, horticulture professor in the UW-Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences 

Blah, blah, blah, I think its cause onions are bullies and they are mad cause they are getting cut up and cooked. 

Why do some recipes call for baking soda and others call for baking powder?
A: Baking soda's active ingredient is sodium bicarbonate. When it comes in contact with a mildly acidic liquid such as buttermilk, it gives off carbon dioxide gas. (You have probably seen those little bubbles if you have made buttermilk pancake batter.) Those little bubbles are needed to make pancakes fluffy.
The same bubbles would give muffins or cupcakes a light texture, but many of those types of recipes don't have any acidic ingredients to make the soda produce those wonderful gas bubbles. That's why many recipes use baking powder instead of soda. In addition to sodium bicarbonate, baking powder has an acidic ingredient that activates when the baking powder gets wet - like when it's mixed with liquid ingredients in a cupcake or muffin recipe.
- Susan Nitzke, professor Emerita and Extension Nutrition Specialist at UW-Madison 

Here is what I think, are you ready?? WHO CARES, just bake me some cookies, you can put whatever tastes good in them and I will eat them.


Why do cheese curds squeak?
A: Cheeses like cheddar and American are firm and elastic when they are very young, which allows them to stretch (a bit like an elastic band) and deform when they are being eaten (as we bite the curds). This creates some noise: i.e., the "squeak."
Milk proteins form the network in cheese, and after a few days of ripening, the texture of these proteins starts to change, the result of ongoing fermentation processes and internal changes in the nature of the bonding within milk proteins. With aging, the cheeses become less elastic. So during biting, they deform less and create less noise.
Best to eat them right after the cheese is made; the fresher the better.
- John Lucey, director of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research and professor of food science at University of Wisconsin-Madison



This one I like, cause I LOVE cheese curds(well any cheese). I want to know why they also squeak when they come out of me. Can someone explain that one??





Thats it for today, I hope you learned something on this rainy Friday. Have a great weekend!




Loveys Sasha

21 comments:

Angels Amber and Max DaWeenie and Mom said...

Oh, it rained here all day too. At least you did some good research on a rainy day. All I did was take a nap! :o)

Frankie Furter and Ernie said...

Sasha those look like my mom's Molassas Cookies... yes they do!

Now about that CHEESE... I think we should all have about 87 pounds of it in or cold boxes.. AND while on this delicious subject... THOSE were some FINE CHEESES that you sent to Remington. You certainly do know the way to a guy's HEART!!

The Daily Pip said...

My assistant always cries when she cuts onions ...I will have to have her try chilling the onions in cold water. Great tip!

Your pal, Pip

Oskar said...

It is a rainy ugly day. Thanks for all the facts. I must have my mom person find me some cheese curds, I've never had any!

Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar

Lorenza said...

Sasha!
I learned a lot today!
Thanks for sharing all those "cooking" things!
I hope you will have a sunny saturday!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Millie and Walter said...

Your post made me hungry...well except for the onions.

Cindy

Dachshund Nola said...

That's neat, Sasha!
Nola

Scooter said...

WOW Sasha, that was really interesting. We heard if you cut the onions under cold water you wont cry too. Hope that rain stopped!!

wags
Jazzi

Tweedles -- that's me said...

Hi Sashy
Thats too bad your day was rainy.
It was sunny here all day, and now it is raining.
It was all okay until someone outside knocked on our old farm house door, and we mommy was afraid to look outside.
Rain is better that boogey men!
love
tweedles

SquirrelQueen said...

Hey Sasha, sorry to hear about your rainy day but you sure came up with some interesting facts. We should mention we found your facts more interesting than the experts.

Those cookies look really good. We are going to ask our mom to bake some. Do you think she would put some nip in them if we asked.

Purrs,
Cindi Lou and The Kitty Krew

bichonpawz said...

Thanks for sharing all of that useful information with us! It's raining here too!!
xoxo Chloe and LadyBug

Molly the Airedale said...

What a very informative post, Sasha. Thank you! It's raining at our house today. booooooooooooooo

Love ya lots,
Mitch and Molly

Unknown said...

Wow! That sure was some great info! But now I am so hungry! Off to get some cheese!
Lovies, Miss Mindy

jessej said...

woof Sasha, these are great, i showed them to M and she said you are barkonderful for posting them- good job! thanks, jesse

My Mind's Eye said...

OMD Sasha.. Mom was just pondering those exact questions the other day.
I'm going to run like lightning to tell her Sasha my BFFF has the answers. Thank you
Hugs from your BFFF
Madi

2browndawgs said...

Hey Sasha,

Thanks for stopping by my blog to say "Hi". I am just now trying to catch up in my blog reading. Nice to meet a fellow Michigander! Very interesting kitchen facts.

Two French Bulldogs said...

forget the rain and cookies, what is going on with that cheese
Benny & Lily

Declan said...

You are just a mine of information! Deccy x

ShellePenn said...

Mom is mad that we didn't mention how much she loves your wonderful soft fur... we done told her it was bad manners to mention something so personal in our first post, but, she wanted to make sure you knew it.

Seriously, we want to apologize for our mom... just read our FIRST comment and ignore the ramblings of our demented mom. She needs coffee... or that bottle that has a name on it.. Jim or Jack or someone...

Milo and Dixie.

B.T.Bear (esq.) said...

I don't noe wat cheez curds ar but it is funny that they skweek wen they come owt! HAHAHA!

Scooter has been unhappy abowt the rain too. He wants to get owt an lie in the sun!

Achieve1dream said...

Great post Sasha! Very interesting. :D