The Von Welanetz Guide to Ethnic Ingredients.1982 How to buy and prepare more than 1,000 foods from around the world. Comprehensive sections on the foods and spices of Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and regional America. 700 pages of foodie bliss. Great reference book. People of the world eat some strange stuff.
I am starting the 3rd book in the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It's highly recommended for anyone that is into character development in fantasy novels.
"Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."
At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
Had to go and look, just to find out what the heck bucatini was. I was torn between some kind of noodle, which it was, or a pirate themed rum based martini.
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Back in the mid to late 90's I bought a pound of perique from a farmer in St. James Parish, one Percy Martin. Still have most of it, packed in glass jars. It's the real stuff, not blended with other burley. Quite wonderful.
What a spot-on reflection of this week's events. Please, please, read this. For my friends on the Left, you'll appreciate the author's distaste for MAGA. For my friends on the Right, you'll appreciate the damage caused by fealty of many to The Donald.
For me, this article says so clearly some of the things that I've been trying to articulate for years, and much more. Thanks for posting this.
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
An article that claims that the yeast used during fermentation in the processing of green coffee can forestall the fading of flavors in stored green coffee.
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An article that claims that the yeast used during fermentation in the processing of green coffee can forestall the fading of flavors in stored green coffee.
The article further states that lower humidity puts the microbes in a sort of suspended animation, preventing them from consuming the nutrients in the green coffee and preventing or reducing the fading of flavors.
Then I remembered this. A study and James Hoffmann video that claims that storing roasted (not green) coffee at higher humidity using Boveda packs can prevent oxidation of the roasted coffee.
I'm just starting to wrap my head around the differences. The moisture content is basically the mass of the water content of the sample and is dependent on the size of the sample. If you have 100 grams of green coffee at 10% moisture level then 10 grams would be the moisture content.
Water activity is a ratio of the vapor pressure of the sample divided by the vapor pressure of pure (distilled) water. In food science the water activity measurement is important to keep track of to prevent spoilage and mold. I think the average water activity for good green coffee is 0.6.
If you have two materials stored together I believe that the one with the lower water activity will absorb water from the one with the higher water activity. I think of it like if you had a 62% Boveda stored with a 72% Boveda, the 62 would absorb moisture that the 72 would give off.
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In my rudimentary understanding, the WA of a given coffee also relates to its ability or inability to retain or lose moisture during roasting, so the pros want to know the WA in order to modulate roast parameters for the best/desired outcome. (which explains why my brain doesn't want to take WA into account)
Further reading leads me to believe that water activity is a measurement of the energy of the water in the substance and the higher the water activity, the easier it is for water to be given off by a substance. The greater the difference in water activity between two substances then more quickly the transfer of moisture should occur.
You can change the water activity of foods by adding salts, sugars, drying it, and freezing it.
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Thank you, Chris. I have noticed that older beans have a sporadic 1st crack, and the paper you cited suggested that as beans age water activity decreases. It wasn't clear to me whether that was due to desiccation or water activity or both. I noticed that some roaster soak the older beans before roasting but again, it is not clear to me whether it was to remediate one or the other deficit.
I've got plenty of old greens, maybe someday I should try roasting them with and without soaking them first to see what difference it makes. I don't have a water activity meter and the grain moisture meter I picked up doesn't seem to work well for coffee, but it was cheap!
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I found a Boveda podcast that talks about water activity and they equate water activity to rH in cigars. Interesting. I've found an independent reference to this on an FDA site here.
"Water activity is equal to equilibrium relative humidity divided by 100: (a w = ERH/100) where ERH is the equilibrium relative humidity (%). Relative humidity sensors of great variety are available for this purpose, including electric hygrometers, dewpoint cells, psychrometers, and others."
I've embedded the video but there's a lot of information in the link below. They start talking about the water activity tester around minute 7 in the video.
Here's some references to water activity and fungal growth in pipe tobacco.
I found it interesting that the tobaccos with higher sugar (Virginias and Orientals) have less water activity (available water) than tobaccos with lower sugars (Burley, etc.) at the same moisture levels. That FDA site did talk about adding salt and sugar to control water activity and help preserve food so that makes some sense. An AW reading of 0.75 is equated to a moisture content of 26.8% in the Virginia tobacco they tested and 19.4% in the Burley tobacco they tested.
Comments
New Brian Sanderson book I got from Santa
The Von Welanetz Guide to Ethnic Ingredients.1982 How to buy and prepare more than 1,000 foods from around the world. Comprehensive sections on the foods and spices of Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and regional America. 700 pages of foodie bliss. Great reference book. People of the world eat some strange stuff.
I am starting the 3rd book in the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It's highly recommended for anyone that is into character development in fantasy novels.
At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/12/2020-bucatini-shortage-investigation.html
Had to go and look, just to find out what the heck bucatini was. I was torn between some kind of noodle, which it was, or a pirate themed rum based martini.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
interesting read
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/unusual-meteorite-more-valuable-gold-may-hold-building-blocks-life
Back in the mid to late 90's I bought a pound of perique from a farmer in St. James Parish, one Percy Martin. Still have most of it, packed in glass jars. It's the real stuff, not blended with other burley. Quite wonderful.
http://www.reesefuller.com/articles/the-last-perique-farmer/
expectation and belief:
Abstract rules drive adaptation in the subcortical sensory pathway
https://elifesciences.org/articles/64501
Ugh, reminds me of the zen koan about the flag, neither the flag or the wind is moving, the mind is moving.
that's like my order from CP:
Status
Accepted
January 5, 2021 at 6:14 pm
Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
LEHIGH VALLEY, PA 18002
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/left-reichstag-fire-soft-totalitarianism-social-credit-system-live-not-by-lies/?fbclid=IwAR23ct2mApF9IsTuoBNuyHp0jDytCRMW2UMnM9dDyKa5odjm2tOPv9apUxQ
What a spot-on reflection of this week's events. Please, please, read this. For my friends on the Left, you'll appreciate the author's distaste for MAGA. For my friends on the Right, you'll appreciate the damage caused by fealty of many to The Donald.
^^^ 5-Star Awesome, @peter4jc . ^^^
For me, this article says so clearly some of the things that I've been trying to articulate for years, and much more. Thanks for posting this.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
I have the same exact status, right down too the timestamp.
Don't let the wife know what you spend on guns, ammo or cigars.
Sudden amnesia showed me the self is a convenient fiction
https://psyche.co/ideas/sudden-amnesia-showed-me-the-self-is-a-convenient-fiction
"Choppy Water" by Stuart Woods and "Masked Prey" by John Sanford.
http://christopherferan.com/2020/01/24/green-coffee-fade-and-cannibals-at-dinner/
An article that claims that the yeast used during fermentation in the processing of green coffee can forestall the fading of flavors in stored green coffee.
lol, apparently the censorbot doesn't like us mentioning b u t t h o l e
Scientists Have Described a Dinosaur's **** in Exquisite Detail
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-described-a-dinosaur-s-****-in-exquisite-detail
The article further states that lower humidity puts the microbes in a sort of suspended animation, preventing them from consuming the nutrients in the green coffee and preventing or reducing the fading of flavors.
Then I remembered this. A study and James Hoffmann video that claims that storing roasted (not green) coffee at higher humidity using Boveda packs can prevent oxidation of the roasted coffee.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/108201329800400109
Things that make you go hmm.
The Relationship Between Water Activity and the Maillard Reaction in Roasting
"Broken Prey" by John Sanford.
Interesting article but what is the difference between a bean's moisture content and its water activity.
I'm just starting to wrap my head around the differences. The moisture content is basically the mass of the water content of the sample and is dependent on the size of the sample. If you have 100 grams of green coffee at 10% moisture level then 10 grams would be the moisture content.
Water activity is a ratio of the vapor pressure of the sample divided by the vapor pressure of pure (distilled) water. In food science the water activity measurement is important to keep track of to prevent spoilage and mold. I think the average water activity for good green coffee is 0.6.
If you have two materials stored together I believe that the one with the lower water activity will absorb water from the one with the higher water activity. I think of it like if you had a 62% Boveda stored with a 72% Boveda, the 62 would absorb moisture that the 72 would give off.
thanks, Chris. So, does that mean it is a measure of how quickly the beans gain or lose moisture in an environment's relative humidity?
In my rudimentary understanding, the WA of a given coffee also relates to its ability or inability to retain or lose moisture during roasting, so the pros want to know the WA in order to modulate roast parameters for the best/desired outcome. (which explains why my brain doesn't want to take WA into account)
Further reading leads me to believe that water activity is a measurement of the energy of the water in the substance and the higher the water activity, the easier it is for water to be given off by a substance. The greater the difference in water activity between two substances then more quickly the transfer of moisture should occur.
You can change the water activity of foods by adding salts, sugars, drying it, and freezing it.
Excellent summation, Chris!
Thank you, Chris. I have noticed that older beans have a sporadic 1st crack, and the paper you cited suggested that as beans age water activity decreases. It wasn't clear to me whether that was due to desiccation or water activity or both. I noticed that some roaster soak the older beans before roasting but again, it is not clear to me whether it was to remediate one or the other deficit.
I've got plenty of old greens, maybe someday I should try roasting them with and without soaking them first to see what difference it makes. I don't have a water activity meter and the grain moisture meter I picked up doesn't seem to work well for coffee, but it was cheap!
I found a Boveda podcast that talks about water activity and they equate water activity to rH in cigars. Interesting. I've found an independent reference to this on an FDA site here.
"Water activity is equal to equilibrium relative humidity divided by 100: (a w = ERH/100) where ERH is the equilibrium relative humidity (%). Relative humidity sensors of great variety are available for this purpose, including electric hygrometers, dewpoint cells, psychrometers, and others."
I've embedded the video but there's a lot of information in the link below. They start talking about the water activity tester around minute 7 in the video.
https://bovedainc.com/cigar-podcast-box-press-episode-6/
Here's some references to water activity and fungal growth in pipe tobacco.
I found it interesting that the tobaccos with higher sugar (Virginias and Orientals) have less water activity (available water) than tobaccos with lower sugars (Burley, etc.) at the same moisture levels. That FDA site did talk about adding salt and sugar to control water activity and help preserve food so that makes some sense. An AW reading of 0.75 is equated to a moisture content of 26.8% in the Virginia tobacco they tested and 19.4% in the Burley tobacco they tested.
https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/fungi-that-attack-cellared-tobacco-research.61432/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/026530369090003P