food science : NPR

Now A Test Can Tell If Your Pricey Cup Of Cat Poop Coffee Is Fake

A civet cat eats red coffee cherries at a farm in Bondowoso, Indonesia. Civets are actually more closely related to meerkats and mongooses than to cats. Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images hide caption

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Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images

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Now A Test Can Tell If Your Pricey Cup Of Cat Poop Coffee Is Fake

September 3, 2013 • The world's most expensive coffee can cost $600 a pound, and it comes from — there's no delicate way to put it — civet poop. But how do you know if what you're shelling out for is the real deal? Chemists have come up with the world's first cat poop coffee test.

The Cotton Candy Grape: A Sweet Spin On Designer Fruit

The Cotton Candy grape looks and smells like a regular green grape. But the taste will evoke memories of the circus. Courtesy of Spencer Gray hide caption

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Courtesy of Spencer Gray

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The Cotton Candy Grape: A Sweet Spin On Designer Fruit

August 6, 2013 • Grapes that taste like cotton candy? No, it's not a GMO experiment but rather the result of good old-fashioned plant-breeding techniques. One scientist has already brought these sweet treats to the market and hopes our grape choices will one day be as varied as our apple choices.

The white egg yolk at left, seen next to a yellow yolk, may seem strange, but it's just a result of the chicken feed used, scientists say. Junko Kimura/Getty Images hide caption

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Junko Kimura/Getty Images

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Help! My Egg Yolks Are Freakishly White

July 17, 2013 • If you think deep yellow yolks are an indicator of higher nutritional value in eggs, think again, scientists say. Egg yolks come in a rainbow of colors — from pale white to red orange or pink. They may look strange, but they're still good for you.

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The Science Of Twinkies: How Do They Last So Darned Long?

July 10, 2013 • When Twinkies hit the stores again on July 15, their shelf life will be nearly twice as long as it used to be: 45 days. (We were surprised it wasn't longer.) There's a whole lot of food science employed to help the creme-filled cake defy the laws of baked-good longevity.

Science In A Scoop: Making Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

The Smitten Ice Cream shop in the Hayes Valley of San Francisco serves fresh ice cream with one novel ingredient: liquid nitrogen. The shop is located inside of a repurposed shipping container. Alan Greenblatt/NPR hide caption

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Alan Greenblatt/NPR

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Science In A Scoop: Making Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream

April 17, 2013 • The days of made-to-order ice cream are far from over in San Francisco. A small shop that operates out of an old shipping container uses liquid nitrogen to freeze ingredients together in about a minute for an ultra-fresh, ultra-smooth treat.

Dunking Science: Do Cookies Really Taste Better Dipped In Tea?

When chef Heston Blumenthal was a kid, he wondered why people loved to dunk their biscuits into tea. Courtesy of the University of Nottingham hide caption

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Courtesy of the University of Nottingham

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Dunking Science: Do Cookies Really Taste Better Dipped In Tea?

March 21, 2013 • With a high-tech gadget, scientists can measure how much flavor is released from foods while we're eating. One British chef uses the device to figure out why we love to dip biscuits into tea. A quick plunge really does make the cookie yummier.

Fruit Fly Nose Says Steer Clear Of Deadly Food; Human Nose Not So Reliable

Now we know why we'll never see a common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) sitting on a beet. Jan Polabinski/iStockphoto.com hide caption

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Jan Polabinski/iStockphoto.com

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Fruit Fly Nose Says Steer Clear Of Deadly Food; Human Nose Not So Reliable

December 6, 2012 • Although we can usually smell when food goes bad, humans just don't have the fruit fly's direct path from nose to brain that alerts it to food poison. But the detection of this pathway could someday lead to more research that could help us develop better bug repellants.

Introducing Microgreens: Younger, And Maybe More Nutritious, Vegetables

Brendan Davison grows 11 kinds of microgreens, including arugula and basil, at his Good Water Farms in East Hampton, N.Y. Lindsay Morris hide caption

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Lindsay Morris

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Introducing Microgreens: Younger, And Maybe More Nutritious, Vegetables

August 30, 2012 • Researchers have conducted the first scientific analysis of nutrients in trendy seedlings known as microgreens. They found that most microgreens have higher levels of nutrients than their mature counterparts.

High-Tech Shortcut To Greek Yogurt Leaves Purists Fuming

A supermarket's dairy case with shelves of yogurt. Benjamin Morris/NPR hide caption

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Benjamin Morris/NPR

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High-Tech Shortcut To Greek Yogurt Leaves Purists Fuming

July 19, 2012 • Greek yogurt sales are booming in the U.S., and some companies are turning to new technology to get in on it. But some Greek yogurt purists who compete with those companies for market share say the products are not the same.

High-Tech Shortcut To Greek Yogurt Leaves Purists Fuming

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'Nature's Barcode' Tells The Story Of Foods' True Origin

Some extra-virgin olive oil is adulterated with lower-priced, lower-grade oils and artificial coloring along the supply chain without retailers or consumers ever knowing. Matthias Schrader/AP hide caption

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Matthias Schrader/AP

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'Nature's Barcode' Tells The Story Of Foods' True Origin

April 3, 2012 • As recent food mislabeling scandals show, a food's true identity and origin often get lost along the supply chain. Enter the "optical stable isotope analyzer," a device that could provide a lot more certainty about a product near the end of its long journey to the consumer.

Into The Wild Science Of Sourdough Bread-Making

Margaret Palca in her bakery in Brooklyn, N.Y. Chris Eichler for NPR hide caption

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Chris Eichler for NPR

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Into The Wild Science Of Sourdough Bread-Making

March 21, 2012 • Joe Palca told his sister, a baker in Brooklyn, N.Y., about a way to make sourdough bread using "wild" yeast starter. But she had a problem: It was sourer than she liked. Was there any way to wrestle it back from its acrid extremes?

Most Of Us Just Can't Taste The Nuances In High-Priced Wines

Research suggests that most of us don't or can't taste the subtleties of fine wines. iStockphoto.com hide caption

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iStockphoto.com

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Most Of Us Just Can't Taste The Nuances In High-Priced Wines

March 6, 2012 • Do you buy that $100 Malbec, or will the $15 bottle fit the bill just as nicely? New research suggests your biology may help determine whether you can really taste a difference.

Most Of Us Just Can't Taste The Nuances In High-Priced Wines

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Astronauts may have a particular affinity for Tabasco sauce in space because their sense of smell and taste is distorted. John Rose/NPR hide caption

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John Rose/NPR

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Why Astronauts Crave Tabasco Sauce

February 23, 2012 • Why do astronauts lose their sense of smell in space, and what's this got to do with their preference for fiery condiments? No one is sure, but NASA food scientists have some plausible ideas.

Why Astronauts Crave Tabasco Sauce

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Deception Diet: How Optical Illusions Can Trick Your Appetite

The Delboeuf illusion makes one dot appear larger than the other. But they're the same size. Your brain is misled by comparing the dots to the surrounding circles. Washiucho/Wikimedia Commons hide caption

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Washiucho/Wikimedia Commons

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Deception Diet: How Optical Illusions Can Trick Your Appetite

January 28, 2012 • Everything from the size of your plate to the color of your food may be telling you to eat more than you actually need. The good news is you can use psychology to your advantage, if you learn a few tricks of the trade.

Swiss cheese-maker Ernst Waser lets the whey drain off from the skimmed cheese curd through the cheesecloth. GAETAN BALLY/KEYSTONE /Landov hide caption

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GAETAN BALLY/KEYSTONE /Landov

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Waste Whey? Some Say No Way.

January 13, 2012 • Over the years, dairy producers and food scientists have found a multitude of uses for whey, the byproduct of cheese-making. Now, German scientists have found a way to turn it into plastic.