From self-pollination to bogs, cranberries are a Thanksgiving classic with many fascinating botanical and genetic features

Here's why they're so important.

A Christmas tree is not only a second home to gifts but can also be a gift to your holiday menu if you know the right way to use it safely.

Researchers home in on phenolic flavonoids as culprit for headaches that come on soon after a glass or two

Watermelon wasn't always the sweet, juicy fruit we know and love today. In ancient times, people hated the taste of it for this important reason.

Here's a fermented take on a standard dairy product which offers up a rich caramelization and remains popular in Russia where it originated.

Laborfleisch wird produziert, ohne dafür Tiere töten zu müssen. Trotzdem wurde nun die Herstellung und der Kauf verboten.

A few groups of palm-like plants that were a favored food of grazing dinosaurs still exist today. Now researchers have discovered how.

The Whiskey Rebellion is a little-known but pivotal moment in the history of the American spirits industry. Here's how it spurred the rise of Kentucky bourbon.

We look at some of the notable food technology and market developments as well as the consumer trends that may shape NPD in dairy and dairy alternatives.

The world's oldest Italian restaurant is, unsurprisingly, situated at the heart of one of Europe's most history-dense cities: Rome. Here's it's story.

Study suggests considering all UPF products as bad for health is unwise.

Devices identify voice alterations associated with alcohol intoxication.

Reducing salt in food without compromising its quality is a huge challenge. Some review articles have been recently published on saltiness perception in some colloidal systems such as emulsions. Ho...

Meat eating may not have made us human after all, say paleoanthropologists

Nowadays, incrising global demand for milk and milk-derived products throughout the world has led to a massive growth of the dairy sector, and with it…

A vivid and positive food safety culture helps reducing the number of food safety related incidents and foodborne illness outbreaks, and thus helps fo…

Is this how the building blocks originated?

There’s recognition that AI needs to be used responsibly.

Bobtail becomes first living animal to have its odour scientifically detailed in hopes of combating wildlife trafficking.

Scientists have known about the ‘formose reaction’ for 160 years. New research shows how it could have played a key role in the creation of life.

University of Florida scientists have found ethyl vanillin—an aroma compound in many artificial vanilla-flavored food products—in a UF/IFAS-bred strawberry. This is a key finding for the food and ...

Kokumi is a beneficial feeling for the evaluation of food quality, and thus, preparing and understanding the taste properties of kokumi compounds are important for the flavor of food. N-acetyl-Val/Leu/Ile/Met/Phe/Trp/Tyr is a type of kokumi compound found in food and usually prepared by chemical reagents. In this study, we first prepared these six kokumi compounds using transglutaminase and protease A2SD in aqueous solution by using amino acids and acetic acid as substrates and evaluated their kokumi characteristics. HPLC and LC–MS were used to identify quantitative N-acetyl amino acids. Using Phe and acetic acid as substrates, transglutaminase and protease A2SD showed the highest yields for N-acetyl-Phe of 22.75 and 42.21%, respectively, under the optimal conditions. For N-acetyl-Val/Leu/Ile/Met/Trp/Tyr, these two enzymes showed the synthesis yield in the ranges of 2.22–20.12 and 0.75–12.91%, respectively. Six N-acetyl-amino acids were succesully enriched by ethyl acetate with a recovery over 50% and purity over 95%. Sensory evaluation found that N-acetyl-Val/Leu/Ile/Met/Phe are kokumi compounds that enhance sweet, umami, and salt tastes in 5% sucrose, 0.3% NaCl, and 0.5% sodium glutamate, especially N-acetyl-Val, with the salt- and umami-enhancing threshold values of 0.63 and 1.25 g/L, respectively. Therefore, transglutaminase and protease A2SD for the synthesis of partial N-acetyl amino acid might have the potential to be applied in food as a kokumi compound.

As a consequence of global climate change, acute water deficit conditions, soil salinity, and high temperature have been on the rise in their magnitude and frequency, which have been found to impact plant growth and development negatively. However, recent evidence suggests that many fruit plants that face moderate abiotic stresses can result in beneficial effects on the postharvest storage characters of the fruits. Salinity, drought, and high temperature conditions stimulate the synthesis of abscisic acid (ABA), and secondary metabolites, which are vital for fruit quality. The secondary metabolites like phenolic acids and anthocyanins that accumulate under abiotic stress conditions have antioxidant activity, and therefore, such fruits have health benefits too. It has been noticed that fruits accumulate more sugar and anthocyanins owing to upregulation of phenylpropanoid pathway enzymes. The novel information that has been generated thus far indicates that the growth environment during fruit development influences the quality components of the fruits. But the quality depends on the trade-offs between productivity, plant defense, and the frequency, duration, and intensity of stress. In this review, we capture the current knowledge of the irrigation practices for optimizing fruit production in arid and semiarid regions and enhancement in the quality of fruit with the application of exogenous ABA and identify gaps that exist in our understanding of fruit quality under abiotic stress conditions.

Fermented tea (FT) using a single Eurotium cristatum strain can produce a pleasant fungal-flowery aroma, which is similar to the composite aroma characteristic of minty, flowery, and woody aromas, but its molecular basis is not yet clear. In this study, solvent-assisted flavor evaporation and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry/olfactometry were applied to isolate and identify volatiles from the FT by E. cristatum. The application of an aroma extract dilution analysis screened out 43 aroma-active compounds. Quantification revealed that there were 11 odorants with high odor threshold concentrations. Recombination and omission tests revealed that nonanal, methyl salicylate, decanoic acid, 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, α-terpineol, phenylacetaldehyde, and coumarin were the major odorants in the FT. Addition tests further verified that methyl salicylate, 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, and coumarin were the key odorants for fungal-flowery aroma, each corresponding to minty, woody, and flowery aromas, respectively. 4-Methoxybenzaldehyde and coumarin were newly found odorants for fungal-flowery aroma in FT, and 4-methoxybenzaldehyde had not been reported as a tea volatile compound before. This finding may guide future industrial production optimization of FT with improved flavor.

An integrative endocrinologist explains whether the popular adaptogen Ashwagandha can reduce stress and anxiety.

Hydrogen is poised to accelerate the global energy transition as the industry exhibits steep learning curves and finds ways to produce the gas more efficiently and at lower cost, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Mannheim and Harvard Business School.

A study says that kids who often drink soda are more impulsive, have bad working memory, and may drink alcohol in the future.