Food Science

People have been pickling vegetables, cucumbers specifically, since the time of Cleopatra. Why the cucumber and why is the pickle always served with your deli sandwich?

By Muriel Vega

Craft beer is big business. And breweries are banking on non-alcoholic beer as their new cash cow. But how do they brew beer without alcohol?

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

The expression "the cherry on top" is supposed to refer to a very good thing. You may think differently once you learn how maraschino cherries are actually made.

By Alia Hoyt

If you love mushrooms, why not grow them at home? It's easy if you have a mushroom growing kit.

By Muriel Vega

It's marketed as an alternative to refined sugar. But is coconut sugar really a healthier option?

By Sharise Cunningham

Amateur mycologists abound and do-it-yourself mushroom growing kits are all the worldwide rage today. Find out how you too can get started growing your own edible mushrooms.

By Jeremy Glass

It is raw beef, after all, so there's a natural tendency to shy away from eating steak tartare. But don't be afraid. You can eat it.

By Jeremy Glass

It's not cream. And it's not creamy. But it is handy and inexpensive, and it'll give your food 'oomph.'

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

Is that pepper too hot to handle? See where it falls on the Scoville scale.

By John Donovan

Honey has been used as medicine for millennia and, in this century, the old remedies seem to be holding up to science.

By Jesslyn Shields

The Maillard reaction is the scientific process that makes your steak (and other foods) taste and smell delicious. So, how does that work? We'll explain.

By Jeremy Glass

Carmine, a natural red dye also known as cochineal extract, is indeed made from the crushed bodies of the cochineal bug. And it provides the color for many of the foods we eat.

By Katie Carman

Baking soda and baking powder are both leavening agents, but they work differently in batters and doughs. So, in a pinch, can you substitute one for the other?

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

We know wine collectors age their wine. But what about beer? There's a movement of beer enthusiasts dabbling in aging beer, too. Do the same rules apply?

By Stephanie Vermillion

String cheese is a super popular snack with kids and adults. And it's stringiness can be a bit baffling, too.

By Meg Sparwath

Sassafras has a long history of culinary, medicinal and aromatic use, but safrole, a toxic compound found in its essential oils, has been banned by the FDA because of its potential carcinogenic properties.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Citric acid is added to everything from food to medicines to cleaning supplies. Although it occurs naturally, it's mostly manufactured from black mold. But does that mean we need to be worried?

By Alia Hoyt

Ice cream made with insect milk? A start-up in South Africa hopes you'll say, "Yes please!"

By Nathan Chandler

Grocery store tomatoes are all but flavorless anymore. A group of scientists is out to bring the ripe, red taste of summer back.

By Shaun Chavis

Female chickens lay eggs whether they've mated with a rooster or not.

By Jesslyn Shields

Which do you prefer?

By Loraine Fick

Craving some sugary sweet cotton candy? Then reach for these grapes instead. You'll be shocked at how much they taste just like the spun stuff.

By Shaun Chavis

Nothing goes better with a cup of coffee than a sweet cupcake. But do you crave the two together or does that cup of joe actually make you hungry?

By Shaun Chavis

People are passionate about coffee, and every connoisseur has an opinion about what to do when hot coffee goes cold. Reheating coffee's complicated.

By Jesslyn Shields

You may love the burn of food that's triple Thai hot, but do your poor taste buds?

By John Donovan