Food
Short articles about food, one idea in each.
- Why popcorn popsEvery popcorn kernel is a tiny pressure cooker. Heat turns a little water inside it to steam, until the hull gives way and the inside turns to foam.
- Why cutting an onion makes you cryA whole onion doesn't sting. The tears come from a chemical reaction that starts the moment the knife breaks its cells, and ends in your eyes.
- Chilli heat is a trick played on your heat sensorsCapsaicin, the compound that makes chillies hot, doesn't burn anything. It switches on the same nerve sensor that warns you about real heat.
- Why cutting an onion makes you cryThe sting isn't in the onion until the knife goes in. A chemical defence, a gas that drifts up, and a few tricks that actually work.