Month: January 2025

by Johnny Drain This series is about oxidation, rancidity, and aging butter. In Part 1 I gave some background about butter, rancidity and the cultural context for eating aged butter. In this second part, I’ll explore the science of oxidation in fats and the safety of eating them. I’ll then describe the results of my work on culturing butters with unusual sources of bacteria in Part 3 and on aging butters in Part 4. The Hidden Role of Fat Quality in Appetite Control Before we get started, it’s important to note the benefits… The complex chemistry behind fat oxidation and rancidity shows us how different types of fats affect our hunger and satiety levels. Fresh butter contains around 4% butyric acid, a short-chain fatty acid that in small quantities contributes positively to flavor profiles and is naturally found in fermented foods like cheese. These short-chain fatty acids play a crucial … Read more

by Johnny Drain This series is about oxidation, rancidity, and making aged butter. In this first part, I’ll give some background about butter, rancidity, and the cultural context for eating aged butter. In the second part, I’ll explore the science of oxidation in fats and the safety of eating them. I’ll then describe the results of my work on culturing butters with unusual sources of bacteria in Part 3 and on aging butters in Part 4. The Hidden Role of Fat Quality in Appetite Control As mentioned in part one, before we get started, it’s important to note the benefits… The complex chemistry behind fat oxidation and rancidity shows us how different types of fats affect our hunger and satiety levels. Fresh butter contains around 4% butyric acid, a short-chain fatty acid that in small quantities contributes positively to flavor profiles and is naturally found in fermented foods like cheese. … Read more

by Josh Evans It was in the heart of winter of 2013, just after solstice. Guillemette and I took up to Nordskot in Norway, above the Arctic Circle, to visit our supplier Roderick Sloan for the first time. The sun would not rise, per se—more approach the horizon asymptotically from below, hover for a while under the glow, and descend again. There was, for a few hours if there was also luck, some light, and none of it direct. Sometimes we used our brief day out on the water, checking sites, scouting new ones. Others we spent walking the wet heath, fishing with the kids at the fjord’s inlet, and stumbling upon things surely known to others but not, at that time, to us. The birch bud was the primary one. Birch trees surround Roddie’s property. As we walked through the brush we would absent-mindedly pick a twig, a leaf, or in this … Read more