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THE NEW YORK TIMES - In the latest step in science's never-ending quest for tinyness, researchers at Northwestern University have made edible nanostructures. "It tastes like starch," said Ronald A. Smaldone, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern, speaking of the material, made with a sugar, a salt and 190-proof grain alcohol. The Northwestern nanostructures are cheaper and easier to make than previous metal-organic frameworks, which are generally synthesized out of petroleum products. And they are edible, which could appeal to people who like very small portions, or to experimenting chefs like Wylie Dufresne, who is the owner of the restaurant WD-50 in Manhattan. When told about the edible nanostructures, Mr. Dufresne, known for high-tech culinary creations with unusual textures, said he was intrigued by the possibility of inserting stronger flavors in the hollow pores

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - Benjamin Scheibehenne, a psychologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, realized that dark restaurants -- where sight-impaired waiters serve customers their meals in a total blackout -- could provide a great setting for an experiment about how visual cues influence the way people estimate portion size and evaluate hunger. The outcome was a new study published online August 13 in the journal Appetite, which suggests that an accurate judgment of satiety depends more on what we see with our eyes rather than what we put in our stomachs. Darkness changed how the participants judged their own feelings of hunger and how much dessert they ate. In the light, participants who had regular-size portions ate an average of 12 fruit sticks, whereas those who had supersize portions ate an average of eight fruit sticks. But in the dark, portion size lost its relevance. Those diners who had consumed supersize portions in the dark ate an average of seven fruit sticks, whereas those who consumed regular portions ate an average of eight fruit sticks-hardly a large difference.

FOOD NAVIGATOR - Scientists from the University of Calabria in Italy report that adding pentosans to wheat flour could enable the production of dough with tailored properties, as well as overcoming the problem of flour variability. Water soluble pentosans are a major non-starch component of flour. Pentosans are seen as a promising functional ingredient - potentially affecting the rheological and mechanical chatacteristics of flours and therefore showing potential for the use as a modifier in the production of speciality flours. It was also found that the addition of solubilised pentosans decreases the network strength at low temperatures, but increased it at higher temperatures. This effect was modified by increasing the pentosan levels, with a reduction in network seen at intermediate temperatures (between 50°C and 70°C). Spray-dried pentosans appeared to be strongly modified by the drying process, and consequently a reduction in both network strength and extension was seen – suggesting they could be useful to reduce the strength of flours, making them more suitable to be processed.

LOUISVILLE BUSINESS FIRST - Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University have arranged a transfer agreement between the two state institutions that allows Ivy Tech culinary students to move directly into the Purdue University Food Science program when entering their junior year. The Ivy Tech Culinology program will be an additional specialty option in the associate of science degree in hospitality administration, according to a news release. "We are excited about partnering with the RESEARCH CHEFS ASSOCIATION and Purdue University to offer the first qualified educational program for CULINOLOGY in Indiana," said chef Jeffrey Bricker, program chairman for Ivy Tech's hospitality administration program, said in the release

INSIDE INDIANA BUSINESS - Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University are launching a new transfer agreement. The CULINOLOGY specialty will offer graduates the option to move directly into Purdue's Food Science program as a junior, creating a "two-plus-two" transfer degree. CULINOLOGY is the integration of culinary arts, food science and technology practiced by Research Chefs who help to define the future of food. Ivy Tech says its Indianapolis campus will be the first to offer the specialty

FOOD NAVIGATOR - Vegetarian protein options have come a long way from the once-ubiquitous lentils and tofu as food scientists have stepped up to the challenge of creating innovative meat substitutes. While popular meat alternatives include soy, wheat and Quorn, there are a number of emerging opportunities in the meat substitutes market. Researchers at specialty hydrocolloids firm CP Kelco have been experimenting with ways to make patties from vegetables like sweet potatoes, for instance, that do not burn on the outside or fall apart before they are cooked on the inside. Speaking at the RESEARCH CHEFS ASSOCIATION conference earlier this year, food scientist at CP Kelco Ted Russin presented his work with hydrocolloids that enable vegetable patties to form a Maillard crust

FOOD INGREDIENTS FIRST - National Starch Food Innovation has invested in a state-of-the-art new demonstration kitchen facility at its Manchester office to enhance the company's CULINOLOGY expertise in the UK. Demonstrating National Starch Food Innovation's global Culinology expertise, the opening of The Concept Kitchen coincides with the recent appointment of Janet Carver, Culinology Group Leader to elected president of the RESEARCH CHEFS ASSOCIATION – the leading professional community for food research and development in the United States. Carver's election marks the first time a representative from a speciality starch supplier has held this prestigious post

THE WASHINGTON POST - Not much can go wrong when making ice cream and sorbet in a bag: There are no machines that need to be assembled or cleaned or that can otherwise conspire against you, no advanced technical skills to learn or preparation times to keep track of. Fill a large sealable plastic bag with ice and salt. Fill a smaller, food-safe plastic bag with an ice cream mixture or sweetened juice. Cradle the smaller bag inside the larger one and seal. Shake for a few minutes. Eureka! You have the freshest, softest, most perfect ice cream or sorbet. And, unlike kitchen-based ice cream making, this technique is best when performed outdoors: under a tree, on the beach or while hiking far from civilization

FAST COMPANY - With flavors that range from zesty taco and fiery habanero, to sizzlin' picante and cheeseburger (seriously), who hasn't pondered what culinary mastermind is behind Frito-Lay's wild-tasting chips and snacks. Stephen Kalil, executive research chef at the Frito-Lay Culinary Innovation Center, is "tasked with bringing culinary excellence" to the snack factory and integrating that with excellence in food science." "We're leveraging a discipline that we call CULINOLOGY," he told Lay's lovers in a recently released video. According to the experienced corporate chef, CULINOLOGY is a blending of the culinary arts and food technology that enables Frito-Lay to bake the best damn flavors out there

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE - Mushrooms are among the many foods thought to play an important role in keeping the immune system healthy. Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded scientists have conducted an animal-model and cell-culture study showing that white button mushrooms enhanced the activity of critical cells in the body's immune system. The results of the study suggest that white button mushrooms may promote immune function by increasing production of antiviral and other proteins that are released by cells while seeking to protect and repair tissue

THE NEW YORK TIMES - Water is a useful flavor enhancer, exactly because it dilutes other ingredients and can change their balance for the better. Weak cocktails can be more aromatic than stronger drinks, and you can make tastier coffee by brewing it with less ground coffee and more water

LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR - Amanda Vuu, a 20-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student, is halfway toward her bachelor's degree in CULINOLOGY -- a relatively new field that blends the science of food with culinary arts. UNL and Metropolitan Community College in Omaha were the first two-year and four-year institutions in the nation to offer a program in culinology approved by the RESEARCH CHEFS ASSOCIATION. Today, 10 colleges in the United States offer an RCA-approved culinology program

REUTERS HEALTH - According to a new study, a gel made from chia seeds may work as a substitute for eggs or oil to reduce the fat content of cakes. Led by Dr. Rafael Borneo, a researcher at the Center of Excellence in Products and Processes Córdoba in Argentina, the study's authors experimented with cake recipes that substituted 25 percent, 50 percent, or 75 percent of the original recipes' eggs or oil for a gel made from chia seeds and water. Substituting 25 percent of a cake's oil with chia gel cut down on its calories (317 versus 335 per piece) and fat (8.7 grams versus 10.7 grams) compared to the original, Borneo and his colleagues report in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association

THE WASHINGTON POST - A fresh-tasting salad of varied greens is one of summer's most magnificent offers. And it demands so little of us. Although many of the things we do in the kitchen are complex and fraught with uncertainty, salad seems to be a worry-free endeavor. There is little or no measuring of ingredients, no catastrophe that looms if you do not keep track of time or temperature. Salad is just a bunch of leaves, perhaps with vegetables or something more substantial, such as cheese, thrown in, tossed with a dressing. Here is where it gets complicated: Salad hates dressing, and dressing hates itself. Although most of us would never think of washing salad with detergent, the dressing ingredients we most commonly use have much the same effect. Sprinkle a little lemon juice or vinegar on a salad leaf, and watch it wilt. Even more dramatic is the effect of oil, the other principal ingredient in most dressings. You would think that oil would protect the poor, fragile leaves; instead, it helps dissolve the waxy outside. It seeps into the interior, leaving the leaf unprotected, slowly drained of moisture. That does not mean we should stop using oil or vinegar or change the way we make salad. We just need to understand the principles at work; otherwise, we may inadvertently ruin perfectly good food

THE NEW YORK TIMES - Everyone knows the barbecue mantra "low and slow:" cook tough cuts of meat over low indirect heat for hours and hours until they fall off the bone and melt in the mouth. However, ribs should not be cooked on a standard-size domestic for more than a couple of people. It's a simple matter of real estate. Home grills work reasonably well for slow-cooking compact cuts like the shoulder, but they can be too cramped for flat cuts that take up a lot of surface area. There's not enough room for large amounts of meat to keep a comfortable distance from the high direct heat of the gas flames or coals. A hybrid approach to ribs works well -- them low and slow in the oven and then give them a brief finishing hit of high heat or smoke on the grill

THE NEW YORK TIMES - A book by chemist Eric Block -- "Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and the Science" -- was published earlier this year. Most helpfully for the cook, Dr. Block sorts out the different kinds of allium flavors and how they evolve on the cutting board and stove. If you're using onions or garlic or chives raw, in a dressing or salsa, either chop them just before serving or rinse the chopped pieces thoroughly. Water removes the harsh aging sulfur compounds from the cut surfaces, so you'll taste only the fresh ones. If you're heating garlic or onions or their relatives, then cooking whole or coarsely chopped bulbs will moderate their flavor. Crushing or grating will intensify it. Crushing can also diversify the flavors that alliums contribute to cooked dishes. If you're counting on alliums to give depth to stews or braises or stocks, then chop them finely or crush or purée them. Dr. Block also gives an intriguing preview of new alliums just over the horizon

LET'S MOVE (Blog) - On Saturday, hundreds of chefs from over 37 states gathered on the South Lawn of the White House in support of the "Chefs Move to Schools" program, a part of the First Lady's Let's Move! Campaign to end the epidemic of childhood obesity. Our kids face a serious health challenges, and a major component of that is what they eat. Small lessons like helping to teach a child how broccoli or cauliflower grows, or how to make a salad, or demonstrate a basic cooking skill that results in a delicious sweet potato can help put young people on the path of making healthy choices for years to come

THE HUFFINGTON POST - June 5th marked possibly the largest activist gathering of chefs in recent memory. They came together not to look at new equipment or taste new products, but to join around the 'hot potato' issue of school food and commit to making a change. The event, initiated by First Lady Michelle Obama and publicized by Share our Strength resulted in close to 1,000 chefs gathering at the White House lawn to launch her initiative 'Let's Move', whose aim it is to end childhood obesity within a generation

TIME MAGAZINE - This spring, scientists at the University of Missouri announced that after more than a decade of research, they had created the first soy product that not only can be flavored to taste like chicken but also breaks apart in your mouth the way chicken does: not too soft, not too hard, but with that ineffable chew of real flesh. When you pull apart the Missouri invention, it disjoins the way chicken does, with a few random strands of "meat" hanging loosely

THE WASHINGTON POST - In the world of cooking, vanilla is a synonym for enigma. We love it, but we don't quite know why. Vanilla's complexity and multidimensionality make it one of the most sought-after and copied spices. But its use is still fairly limited. We add it to sweet dishes to emphasize their sweetness. And that's about it. We should not stop there. Vanilla also can be used in savory dishes. Try it with pork, for example, and you might find that it is a natural pairing, in many ways much more rewarding than a sweet one