We all know that plastic waste is a problem - most of it ends up in landfills, it litters wide swaths of the ocean, and microplastics are found in the blood of 97% of Americans. Researchers at Southern Illinois University (SIU) Carbondale have an ingenious solution for getting rid of excess plastic: turn it into protein-rich cookies. Their team discovered a way to turn polyethylene terephthalate (aka PET) into a protein by using microbes. The resulting substance is mixed with fiber, starches, and sweeteners, then molded with a 3D printer into edible bites. No word on taste yet, because the university is working to get approval for them to be eaten.
Do you sometimes feel you are addicted to your phone? You are in good company, as Yotam Ottolenghi recently confessed to having a phone addiction. His antidote to too much screen time? Cooking, of course. The chef believes that “ old-school cooking, putting the screen aside, going into the kitchen, bringing out some ingredients and because you are engaged with the ingredients, you tear yourself away from your phone and you just have time for yourself – I think that is very precious." He also talks about his latest cookbook, Ottolenghi Simple Too.
Ube has become a popular ingredient in everything from drinks to ice cream to baked goods. Its vibrant purple hue and sweet, nutty flavor are a knockout combination. The Philippines is a major exporter of the purple yam, but it recently imposed an export ban on fresh ube, making it harder for some countries to fill growing demand. Officials say the ban is necessary because there isn't enough planting material left with the rise in exports.
In another story about the intersection between food and science, researchers are looking into way to use fermentation to produce milk that requires 96% less land than conventional dairy production. The process uses "genetically modified yeast or bacteria to produce the same proteins found in cow’s milk," but without the saturated fat. That means no butter can be made with this milk (bummer).
Cocoa prices have see-sawed up and down over the past couple of years, crashing 70% from an all-time high, then rebounding significantly, but far from the high. Consumers have not noticed a corresponding dip in prices of chocolate candies, however, as the those prices have consistently gone only in one direction: up. Why? Sara Nelson of Real Balanced explains that futures pricing, along with the prices of other ingredients in the candies, kept the retail price from following the commodity price.