Why do foods turn brown when we cook them?
Hi, y'all. For this month's rerelease, we're going to go back in time to November of 2019 in the before times, pre pandemic, and we're going to talk about why toast gets toasty, why food gets brown when we cook it. It goes well with our episode from last week on bread.
Jam:Yeah. I remember this one really well. It laid a foundation for me about a bunch of conversations we had later.
Melissa:Mhmm. But
Jam:I remember I really hadn't thought about, like, what happens when we cook stuff, I kinda thought, is it getting, like, a little burnt, but not so bad that it tastes bad or whatever?
Melissa:Yeah. I'm like, it's just cooked. It just turns brown.
Jam:Yeah. But it's way cooler than that, and I remember this one really well.
Melissa:Yay. Well, that's exciting. And be sure to come back and visit us next week for an episode about what candy canes and cigarettes have in common.
Jam:Happy listening.
Melissa:Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jam.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:The podcast that helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Jam, Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away.
Jam:That's pretty insane. I love Thanksgiving.
Melissa:I love Thanksgiving too.
Jam:I have no idea what I'm gonna do other than eat food in some capacity.
Melissa:I also have no idea what I'm gonna do.
Jam:We should do another friends' giving thing like we did last year.
Melissa:Yeah. Last year was fun. I made a cake that looks like a turkey.
Jam:Oh, yeah. That was cool.
Melissa:That was really fun. And it's not it was not a real it was not an illusion cake. It didn't look like a real turkey. It looked like a cartoon turkey.
Jam:Convinced.
Melissa:And it was in the middle of us doing a fitness challenge. Oh, yeah. And because of that, we went ham.
Jam:Yeah. We did.
Melissa:Turkey day.
Jam:Right. It was like that was the only allowed day to, like, not count calories.
Melissa:Oh, Absolutely.
Jam:Yes. So cool. Mhmm. I did go very, very ham on some turkey.
Melissa:Ham on some turkey. I don't like the turkey very much, but, you know, I mean, that turkey was fine. Whatever. Mhmm. I don't like turkey very much in general.
Melissa:Mhmm. But I love mashed potatoes Yeah. Bread Mhmm. Mac and cheese, all the things. Mhmm.
Melissa:I love sides and desserts. And it's sad because I'm doing no sugar and no white bread right now because you know, just because of my health reasons.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And that's everything I love about Thanksgiving.
Jam:There's a lot Of sugar and white bread related things happening.
Melissa:But I do let myself take breaks from it. I don't wanna be someone who never eats cake again. Yeah. So I will I will fully that's gonna be Thanksgiving actually even better. I'm gonna get to have mashed potatoes are fine, but I'm gonna get to have mac cheese.
Melissa:Mhmm. I'm gonna get to have I'm gonna eat as much white bread as I want, and I'm gonna make sure it's good white bread.
Jam:Yeah. I feel like whenever you have when you're pretty, Regimen it and have some good discipline for yourself, letting yourself have occasional, like I mean, Thanksgiving is once a year. Mhmm. You don't have an occasional, like, alright. I'm gonna not count the calories today.
Jam:Mhmm. Makes it that much more enjoyable.
Melissa:Oh, absolutely.
Jam:If you're not counting calories every single day, nothing to say to anybody. But if you're not Counting calories every single day, then Thanksgiving is really no different other than just the food is better quality. But, like And
Melissa:it's with your friends' family.
Jam:Yeah. For the family. But you don't get that, Like, heightened enjoyment that you would get if you have been, like, kind of abstaining.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And then you're like, alright. Alright, dude. Thanksgiving.
Melissa:Yes. Let's go. So, anyway, because Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away Uh-huh. And because we love food this much
Jam:Uh-huh. Agreed.
Melissa:Then I decided to do yet another food themed episode.
Jam:I love it. I love food. I love food episodes. I love how relatable it is to my life because I love food so So I'm ready.
Melissa:Great. Okay. And I think this is relatable to everyone's everyday life.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Okay. So you know when you cook Bread. You toast some bread Mhmm. Or you bake some cookies
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:Or you sear some steak.
Jam:Yes. Yes. Yes.
Melissa:They get a little brown, golden brown. They get that nice toastiness on the outside or that sear on the outside.
Jam:Yes.
Melissa:Do you wanna know why it does that?
Jam:Because it's getting burned?
Melissa:Kind of. Uh-huh. Burnt things are a different thing.
Jam:Okay. Okay. So it's not like it's getting, like, a little bit burned. It's something else?
Melissa:It's something else.
Jam:Okay. Interesting. I thought it was, like, You can't see his spot. It's like, oh, it's starting to get burned, but don't but take it off.
Melissa:I think now this is already something I don't know. You've goes to me early. I think burning is a formation of just carbon, like soot.
Jam:Oh, yeah. Because, like, if you I mean, if your toast gets Beyond toasted, it gets burned? Mhmm. It does just taste like ashes.
Melissa:Yes. I think that's something else.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I'm not 100% sure. It could just be what I'm about to tell you taken all the way to the end.
Jam:Okay. Okay.
Melissa:But I'm already not sure about something you said.
Jam:Oh, sorry. Thanks.
Melissa:Doesn't start out great for me, but okay. I'm fine with not knowing things. Okay. So I was told
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:In college Mhmm.
Jam:I
Melissa:took what's called a polymer chemistry course. And in that course, we had a visiting food scientist, I think, from Pepsi, but I don't offer a fact.
Jam:Interesting. Pepsi.
Melissa:And he said that the toast that forms on your bread, that brown color is a polymer reaction. Oh. Yeah. And I took that, and I knew it, and that was all I New Uh-huh. For the last probably 7 years.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:But I've had that in the back of my mind. Yes. Separately, my brother wanted me to do an episode on why things turn brown when you cook them.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Guess what?
Jam:What?
Melissa:They're the same. The polymer reaction he told me about and my brother asking about why things turn brown when you cook them like steak is all the same concept.
Jam:So the Pepsi guy, food scientist Mhmm. What what was he talking about turning brown?
Melissa:Well, I'll he was talking about bread.
Jam:Oh, he's All
Melissa:he talked about was bread.
Jam:Okay. And then your brother asked about other things that are not bread.
Melissa:Like steak and stuff.
Jam:And it's the same thing happening.
Melissa:The same thing. And so I finally got to open the door to that that man telling me that thing
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And explore around in it.
Jam:A leftover mystery unsolved
Melissa:Mhmm. Yeah.
Jam:Now Being reopened.
Melissa:Yes. In
Jam:case of being reopened. Mhmm.
Melissa:And It wasn't even so much a mystery as as I knew one level of fact, and I knew there was a lot deeper to get in. Yeah. And I never had the time or the reason to go and look into it.
Jam:Yes. Got it.
Melissa:And so I finally got an excuse to open that door and look inside.
Jam:And?
Melissa:And I learned so much. Excellent. I'm so excited to share it with you. So I'm gonna talk to you about what polymers are
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Why that stuff turns brown, and some of the ways that we can control that reaction.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And then I wanna hear you tell me about it.
Jam:Perfect. That sounds good.
Melissa:Okay. So first of all, do you know what a polymer is?
Jam:I I think I've heard that word used in a way that that kinda seems to suggest is a mixture of Different things. That's a really, like, broad definition.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:But, like, some plastics, I think, or some, like, coatings or whatever Mhmm. They're, like, Some mixture of different chemicals. That's pretty much it. That's all I've really heard it referred to as. It's one of those, like, nice advertising word.
Jam:It was like, Our patented polymer whatever coating keeps your stainless steel products. You know?
Melissa:So, polymers are the very basic definition is a large molecule with repeating small groups in it.
Jam:Oh, okay.
Melissa:So it's called a macromolecule, a big molecule, and it has a bunch of small groups that just repeat over and over and over again.
Jam:Okay. It's a molecule with a lot of small molecules repeating over and over again.
Melissa:That's so good. Yeah. A big molecule with a bunch of small molecules inside repeating hour and
Jam:hour. So inside, not like not like a tail kinda thing, like, with the soap deal? It's just it's it's like a lot of It's containing the small
Melissa:Well, the it basically can it can arrange itself in a lot of different ways. Oh, okay. But imagine it's a chain of a b c, a b c, a b c, a b c, a b c, over and over again. So the small repeating unit is the a b c, but they're all connected together in a variety of different ways Okay. To make a larger molecule that's known as a polymer.
Jam:Within within the The larger molecule, it's a pattern of some kind that's that's kind of small. It's, like, not, like, 26 letters. It's, like, 3 or or something
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Like that. Okay. Got it.
Melissa:And those small units, small repeating groups, it could be varying sizes. It doesn't have to be anything in particular, but that's just the overall definition of a polymer, a large molecule with repeating small groups.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And polymers, like you said already, make up so much. Mhmm. Nylon for nylon stockings,
Jam:polymer. Nice.
Melissa:Plastic. This plastic what is this? My sister calls these church tables.
Jam:They are like like that. Yeah. I don't know what Called, it's a folding cheap table.
Melissa:Yeah. I know. They're like the church lunch tables.
Jam:Underachieving table might be one of the The the phrases you could use.
Melissa:This table is made of polymer.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And the nice toasty part of your toast is a polymer.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And the sear on the outside of your steak is a polymer.
Jam:Okay. Interesting.
Melissa:Truly. And we can synthesize them in the lab.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And now we're gonna talk about how they happen in our food reactions.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So Do you got it? Do you know what a polymer is?
Jam:I think so, so far. I mean, like, there's still a lot that I don't know, but I think I have the Basic definition and hoping it'll make sense we delve into the food part. So it sounds like a polymer is A large molecule. But within it, there's a distinguishable pattern of some kind. Some smaller unit That is the same repeating over number.
Melissa:Great.
Jam:I don't know what that would look like really, but sounds like we're gonna have some specific examples.
Melissa:Yes. We are.
Jam:Okay. Sweet.
Melissa:Polymer chemistry, though, is very complex. So we're not gonna dig in as deep as a polymer chemist would.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And there's some that it just wouldn't be fun or even possible to communicate on a podcast, but I'm gonna do the best I can. Okay. So Now you've got what a polymer is. You can put that off to the side for just a second, and I wanna talk about just basic chemical reactions.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So in chemistry, there are special arrangements of molecules known as functional groups. So if a carbon, oxygen, and a hydrogen are arranged in a certain way, that's a functional group. Okay?
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And, usually, what happens in a reaction is one of those functional groups reacts with another functional group to make and or break bonds.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And that is a chemical reaction. So, usually, it's different groups of atoms arranged in different ways that have a consistent way they interact with each other. Mhmm. Okay? So you got that.
Jam:Mhmm. So so they Interact, and bonds change of some kind. And that's, like, that's what a chemical reaction is. Mhmm. So different groups of Atoms together into molecules Mhmm.
Jam:That interact. And when they do, bonds change in some way.
Melissa:Right.
Jam:And then That's a chemical reaction.
Melissa:Right. Okay. They're either made or they're broken. They changed in some way. Okay.
Melissa:You can have a chemical reaction just between 2 elements, but right now, we're talking about in molecules.
Jam:Okay. Okay.
Melissa:So now let's take our polymer knowledge and our chemistry reaction knowledge, and I'm gonna tell you what happens in browning food.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:In browning food, there are 2 types of functional groups. Say that definition for me again.
Jam:They are groups of Atoms and molecules that when they interact, they or the I guess, the the functional groups themselves are just groups of atoms that Mhmm. Have a particular way that they react together Or something?
Melissa:That's close. The they have a particular way that they're arranged.
Jam:Arranged? Okay.
Melissa:Before any reactions take place. They're just arranged in a special way that are recognizable.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So these functional groups in that naturally occur in most foods, there are sugars
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And there are special types types of sugars with a special functional group on them, and there are amines, and amines are made up of nitrogens and usually some hydrogens. Mhmm. And those naturally occur In meat, like, in proteins, in all the things that are in
Jam:food. Mhmm.
Melissa:In browning food, these 2 specific groups, 1 functional group called an amine, 1 functional group called a reducing sugar. Well, a reducing sugar is really a group of functional groups, but that's neither here nor there, will react with one another. Okay?
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:When they react, a whole cascade of more reactions will then start to take place.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:And when that whole cascade of reactions start to take place, you get so many things that you recognize in cooking.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So they can take one direction or another direction depending on what is present in the food. They can stop and released into the air as what's called aromatic compounds so you can smell them.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Those are cooking smells. They can keep reacting, keep reacting, and make up a large molecule with small repeating units
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:Called a polymer Uh-huh. That's brown and has a delicious flavor.
Jam:Interesting. So that smell the smell and the look combination are part of the same deal. They're both effects Of the same, like, reaction that started a chain reaction kinda deal? Yes. Okay.
Melissa:Exactly.
Jam:That is interesting. I hadn't thought much about the fact that, like I mean, I don't know. It just hadn't caught my mind, probably like many of us, but the idea of the smell and the look of something cooking Being so tied together Mhmm. Just I haven't thought about it. It's just like Mhmm.
Jam:You're you're so used to things that you cook, that you love, smelling great, or whatever. It's just like that. Oh, yeah. He's cooking, so it's gonna smell. I'm gonna smell it.
Jam:But the fact that it's part of the same kind of initial reaction that causes several different things or whatever, is cool.
Melissa:Yeah. So, yeah, I'm so glad. Yeah. I was I was reading this, and I learned a lot in this adventure. And it never occurred to me either that the thing that makes I knew that that was a polymer.
Melissa:I didn't know how it happened or what molecules it was between or anything, but it never occurred to me that that could also be possible for smells.
Jam:Smells are so crazy too. And I know you've Mhmm.
Melissa:I think
Jam:we had a question or something like that Related at some point that maybe we'll someday do a smell episode. Yeah. So, obviously, don't wanna gun on that rabbit hole
Melissa:too much.
Jam:But, oh my gosh, the idea of, like, woah, the thing smells Sweet. Or smells like whatever Mhmm. Is crazy, especially knowing what all the reactions are going on. It's weird that we can also Not just see it, but smell it. I don't know.
Jam:It's I don't that's such a stupid thing to feel, like, amazed by, I guess, but Mhmm. It's kind of cool.
Melissa:Well, I think it's really cool. I don't ever think things are stupid to be amazed by. I try to really embrace the wonderment of normal things.
Jam:Oh, yeah. Do you ever say something where you're like, oh, it's so crazy that this is happening, and you're real you're literally just saying what's happening?
Melissa:You're like Yes.
Jam:And you're and people are it's like you kinda feel like a complete idiot because it's like, Yeah. That's what happens. You put dough in the oven, and then it bakes. Like, you're just saying what happens. We all know.
Melissa:Yes. You're
Jam:just adding that's amazing at the beginning of it. You you kinda feel a little bit like you just woke up from, like, Tacoma or, like, somehow you're born.
Melissa:I'm fine with the way that that feels to be the one that thinks isn't that so I often it's about food. Isn't it amazing that there are so many different things we can do with just the same ingredients, and then people are just like, yeah. Whatever.
Jam:Yeah. I I I think it's sometimes where I find a different way to put it, different way to word it. And then I feel like, okay. I'm gonna say this because I'm not gonna sound like an idiot. But if it's if I'm just saying, like, isn't that, like, you put this, like, wet, gushy stuff in the oven, and then it becomes, like, like, soft, but, like, rises and didn't taste good?
Jam:It's like, Yeah. We've all had done that every day, basically. So
Melissa:just say that to me, and we'll we can just be amazed together.
Jam:As long as I won't talk like an idiot, then, yeah, I'll I'm Happy to to know that you won't think I'm gonna do it.
Melissa:No. I won't. I'll be excited too. Okay. So that, what I just told you Uh-huh.
Melissa:Those are the very basics of what's called the Maillard reaction.
Jam:Maillard.
Melissa:It's spelled almost like Mallard Duck. It's m a I l l a r d. I think it's French, Maillard.
Jam:Oh, nice.
Melissa:It was discovered in 1910
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:I believe by someone who was doing research about diabetes. Mhmm. And there's a lot of research that still goes into this reaction.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:So there's still a lot to know and that we need to know. We know the very basics. It happens in a lot of food. It makes food taste better
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:To most people.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:It makes it easier to digest for our bodies
Jam:Uh-huh. And to
Melissa:get nutrients out of. It's favored at high temperatures. I think it has to be slightly above the boiling point of water, like two eighteen Fahrenheit, I think
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:For the reaction to be triggered.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:You wanna have low moisture because water can sort of get in there and mess up some of that reaction.
Jam:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Melissa:And you don't want a lot of acidity because, We talked about this briefly before, but acids and base react, and the amines that react with the sugars are basic. So if you have a very acidic marinade on your meat, for example
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And then you try to brown it, it might not be able to develop as many of those good flavors because some of the molecules that are trying to react have been quenched, knocked out, not able to react. They've already reacted with the acidic marinade.
Jam:Interesting. Interesting. Mhmm.
Melissa:So those are the big facts about Maillard reactions.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:But they are still studying these because different groups of molecules attached to the basic functional groups, the amines, and the special sugars will make a myriad of different flavor profiles. There are nutty flavor profiles, ones that taste meaty. That's the umami flavor that they talk about, ones that taste sweeter, all of these, all the flavors that you experience when you cook food and the things that you smell are all from these incredibly complex Maillard reactions.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And we could dig deeper, but even as I was studying, some of the papers said Hang on. Let me find the exact wording. It was really good. Even when I was studying, one of the papers said several steps between 2 reactions. Shit.
Melissa:Uh-huh. And you can go look at another paper and look at it. But for a chemistry paper published in a peer reviewed journal to say several steps. Uh-huh. You know that that's complicated.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:So it is a very complicated reaction, and there's So much left to learn about it, but those are the basics and the big things for you to know about why food browns and then tastes better.
Jam:Interesting.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:You know what I just thought about too? Is it, like, me saying, isn't it just kinda burning at the beginning? Mhmm. It's me using a really simple word to describe something I don't understand at all. I don't understand what has something burning.
Jam:I do not understand the first thing about that. It's just familiar. And so I was like, oh, isn't it not something burning? But it It I don't even know what that is.
Melissa:You don't know what burning is? No.
Jam:I mean, we can
Melissa:None of us. Absolutely do an episode of about what happens when we burn things. I'm gonna got down right now.
Jam:Okay. Perfect. But, I mean, like, I think a lot of us would do that, but then not really think about, like, do we even know what burning is? Like Or are we just we're just familiar with it because we've encountered it many times when we've left something too long or when we've, you know, made a fire or something like that. It's just like not.
Jam:We don't really know what's actually going on. So
Melissa:Well and I did read that if you let the reaction go on for too long and there's too many of those compounds, it does start to get some of the bitter flavors. And that could be part of the taste that we associate with burning, but I do think that the actual combustion reaction of burning is going on, but We can talk about that later.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:So that's it. Those are the basics of the Maillard reaction.
Jam:Okay. So is this the part where I try to Describe back to you what all of that is?
Melissa:Yes. Please do.
Jam:Okay. Firstly, a polymer is a large molecule Mhmm. Made up of a like, repeating small units within it
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Patterns. And then a functional group is a set of atoms that arrange themselves In a recognizable way. Mhmm. And then they can interact with other functional groups and cause reactions That are different based on what's going on?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And so, oh, this is gonna be hard because We started talking about a lot of other things since we're gonna finish the commission part. Delicious things. Okay. So in an oven, so to speak, or some other thing where something's cooking and brining a toaster or whatever?
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:The You you said 2 things. You said there's an amine?
Melissa:Yes. And I'll
Jam:say the thing.
Melissa:It is a a special type of sugar.
Jam:A special type of sugar.
Melissa:Mhmm. It's called the reducing sugar. It doesn't matter. It's a sugar with a special functional group on it. Okay.
Melissa:It it means nothing to most people. It's just a special type of sugar in a special type of amine, and both of those naturally occur in food.
Jam:Okay. And and so that's that's present?
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And, also, the temperature is hugely important. So Mhmm. When things get above essentially, like, boiling point, above 212 Mhmm. Fahrenheit Mhmm. At that point,
Melissa:is that gets to 18, but I don't know for a fact.
Jam:Okay. It has to be pretty hot Yeah. Which makes sense. Mhmm. That's what we all see.
Jam:But Then that those functional groups can react? Is that what's happening
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:At that point? And then they form form
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:A polymer?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:Well, a lot of reactions happen.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:One of them is that a polymer is formed Mhmm. Which is Is that also related to the sugary taste kinda deal or, like, some of the taste related things is the polymer that we're tasting?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And Mhmm. Then aroma happens too.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:It might be its own reaction, but it's all related to the initial heat and function groups Reacting.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And then it's like, all these things happen.
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:And it's to us, it looks like look, taste, The smell?
Melissa:Yes.
Jam:But it was probably who knows how many things going on.
Melissa:But but those are the basics. That's a great description.
Jam:Okay. I I was pretty scared because I was like, I was with I got I know the definitions of the things. Mhmm. But then it's like that crucial moment. I'm like, wait.
Jam:What really did happen?
Melissa:Put it all together.
Jam:Heat and some stuff that's already there.
Melissa:I thought of a really good illustration for it while you're talking.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:I have been trying to think of a good illustration for this for several hours Uh-huh. Over several days, and I've not been able to come up with anything. But it's almost like when you set up dominoes
Jam:Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Melissa:You know? And sometimes you have them just in a straight line, but you can have little offshoots.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:That's the best way to describe a Maillard reaction because you knocked down the 1st domino. That's the sugar and the amine reacting. Uh-huh. And then there's all these little side products for that form. So if you set up the Domino's in the right way, they can form go out on the side, but then that main line keeps going.
Melissa:And in the end, that main line will form the polymer. But the side chain reactions that are going on are also smells and all that other
Jam:stuff happening. V for vendetta?
Melissa:Once a long time ago.
Jam:There is a scene where kind of like The comments in the movie that whatever, like, the main plan he's he's plotting. There's some tension building, and he does Set up a large domino thing
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:In the shape of a v because that's his name or whatever.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:And so he he first pushes I mean, we've all seen Dominant reactions. But he first versus the very tip of the v, and you don't really know what he's doing. Mhmm.
Melissa:And then
Jam:you just see it zoom out, and it's like this huge thing, but it splits off Yeah. Like that, obviously.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And it's, like, Crazy to think about. Like, 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 or whatever. It can so easily Yes. Fan out like that.
Melissa:Yeah. There's so many little exits and side reactions that can happen that can make different things. And we we really can't get into this because it's so complicated. But based on what type of amine, like, what's the functional group attached to that gives you different flavors and different smells, and that's why different things takes differently. There's just a lot of options for you there.
Jam:And you said amine is basic? Mhmm. Okay. So it's like not Is there any relation word wise to amino acids?
Melissa:Yes. Okay. Okay. So amino acids. I thought that this is true, but I got really scared because I wasn't a great student in college.
Melissa:I was going through it. I was a really good student in high school. Yes.
Jam:Killer student now, though.
Melissa:Yes. I was a really good student in high school, and I was a a solid a minus b plus student in undergrad, average, which that means there's some definitely worse classes in there.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And then I got to grad school and really locked in again. I was going through it. It was a hard time. Self discovery. You know?
Jam:And look at our Instagram today for the photos from this episode to see one of her worst, tests. We'll post a photo of that.
Melissa:Absolutely not. Oh, okay. I don't even I didn't keep them. I probably just burned it.
Jam:I'm just kidding.
Melissa:But in Burned. Nice. But amino acids came into play most often in biochemistry. I did bad in that class. I did badly.
Melissa:I did bad.
Jam:Uh-huh. Badly. I don't know.
Melissa:I didn't do well in that class. But amino acids do have they all have amine groups in them, which is what I thought, but I just wanted to be positive because I hadn't checked that before.
Jam:Yes. Interesting. I was like, that's sounding familiar. Then I didn't really think about it till you said the basic thing, a bit I mean, base. Mhmm.
Jam:And I was like, oh, amino acids. Obviously, you have acid in the name.
Melissa:Yeah. So based in the same way that the other episode we talked about with acids and bases in baking soda.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:So acids will react with them. So that's why acidic marinades. I think that's part of why they break down food and make it more tender.
Jam:Oh, okay. But it
Melissa:can also inhibit your Maillard reaction.
Jam:Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Melissa:And keep the brownness from coming. Also, I forgot to say, Maynard was studying this type of reaction, I believe, because he was looking into diabetes.
Jam:Oh, you did say that.
Melissa:I did say that? Okay. Good.
Jam:1910.
Melissa:1910. He was looking into diabetes. Yeah. And that's why the he sort of discovered it by accident. A lot of chemistry discoveries are accidents.
Melissa:Many people have won Nobel Peace Prizes for accidents that they've made. Mhmm. So so that's it.
Jam:Wow. That's awesome. Mhmm. So we didn't didn't did I already see the whole thing back pretty much earlier? I think
Melissa:you did. Yeah. The high temperature you talked about. Uh-huh. You want low moisture, but that's not incredibly imperative.
Melissa:And it's between sugars and amines.
Jam:That's kinda interesting too. Can you think about the moisture aspect? It does seem like you have moisture in something that you're trying to cook? Some of it does have to kind of get out of the way before the things starts happening. Like Mhmm.
Jam:Vegetables or whatever, They it seems like some of that the water that's naturally in there has to kind of start evaporating off before you even notice any amount of, like, browning Or whatever.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Which I never thought it was related.
Melissa:But it definitely is. So that's it. That's how now when you're cooking and you're getting ready for Thanksgiving, after you've chopped up your onions and you know why you're crying and then you throw them in the pot to saute them and get them brown, you know that that is a Maillard reaction. So you can talk about the airborne things that come when you cut an onion open Uh-huh. And how that forms.
Melissa:At the moment, you damage the onion.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And then you can talk about the Maillard reaction. So definitely invite someone over who doesn't listen to this podcast and teach them all of that.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And then tell them where you learned it on Thanksgiving. Yeah.
Jam:That's a good combo right
Melissa:there. Yeah.
Jam:The onions thing, almost certainly something you're making is gonna have onions in it. Mhmm. And then everything you do, almost everything, except for, like, maybe a salad or something, Is gonna have the my reaction in it. Right?
Melissa:Mhmm. Yeah.
Jam:Yum. Yeah.
Melissa:We've got a a good food series. Now I'm a little bit hungry. Some nice nice brown steak. I love steak. I worked at Texas Roadhouse for a very long time.
Melissa:So Alright, Jim. Well, what are you thankful for this week?
Jam:Thankful for.
Melissa:Alright. We're gonna do our thankfuls.
Jam:I, this week, I've been thankful for my roommates. So my wife and I I think I've described this a couple times, but just in case you haven't heard that episode, My wife and I live with, another couple. We kinda have a house that it's sort of like a duplex. We we share a living room and kitchen. And so, we have a different sides of the house, though.
Jam:And so my wife and I, really love living with the couple that we live with, and we got to have a cool roommate night this week where we went to the fair.
Melissa:Aw. I love that.
Jam:Yeah. And it was just really great, really good hang time. We really enjoy getting to live with them, and so I'm really thankful that We get to have a cool, sort of family, in our house here. So we really, really like that. So I've been thinking a lot about how thankful I am.
Melissa:And you guys do a really good job of letting your home be really open to everyone. You have a lot of events over. You always invite people over, and Yeah. I love that you all have decided to make your home be like that.
Jam:Yeah. So that's what I've been thankful for. What about you?
Melissa:I'm thankful for that too. That's not my My thing, but I am thankful for
Jam:that also. Cheating, but I'll
Melissa:I think my thing that made me happy this week Mhmm. A few episodes ago, you talked about putting Mario on your phone. Was it Mario?
Jam:Oh, yeah. Actually, that was that they came out with a Mario Kart app, And then this is something different. But yeah.
Melissa:And I said, I would be eternally delighted if I could get the sounds and sights of my old Game Boy Color bag.
Jam:Uh-huh.
Melissa:And Jam did it for me.
Jam:Yeah. I accidentally, that same week, stumbled across the way to do that, and I was not looking for 1, which is kinda funny. But I was like, I want this too, and then Melissa just talked about that, so it stuck out to me.
Melissa:And then he did all the hard stuff where you have to download stuff and put it on my phone, which I'm so bad at that Stuff updating my computer, forget about it. I don't know how to do any of that. And I got to play it after I had a big project for school, and it was such a fun day to just play with my and it had it was even purple, which was the color of my Game Boy Camera. And it had all the sounds, and it really was just pure nostalgia.
Jam:Yeah. And if you're losing, you you probably you might know this as an emulator. It just plays Game Boy games, But it's super, super fun.
Melissa:It is super fun. I didn't I don't know
Jam:anything about it. Games. But it's just called an emulator. But, Yeah. They are way fun.
Melissa:It was very fun to be back in that nostalgia.
Jam:That's cool. That's cool. Yeah. So before we totally wrap up for the day, we've got some updates on listeners Around the world, we added a new country
Melissa:Oh, yeah.
Jam:This week, Romania.
Melissa:Ayo. I'm so excited about that.
Jam:Yeah. It's awesome. 1st listens from Romania. So Hey, Romania. How's it going?
Jam:We had a 2 kinda significant jumps in 2 countries. Australia jumped From, like like, I think fifties or something like that Mhmm. To the seventies
Melissa:Very quickly.
Jam:In terms of listens. So that's pretty that's pretty cool. It kind of been a slow incline. And then Germany jumped from, like, 70 something to a 120 something. Right?
Melissa:Very quickly. Yes.
Jam:So Mhmm. Awesome. Thanks, Germany and Australia, for listening and
Melissa:really. Guys. And I'd like to also give a thanks to our references. So I used, several peer reviewed journal articles this week, including one called Control of Maillard Reactions in Foods, Strategies and Chemical Mechanisms by Lund and Ray. I used one called baking aging diabetes, a short history of the Maillard reaction by Helwig and Henley.
Melissa:And then an article from I found on a science direct database called Shelf Life of Food Powers by Hetegard and Skibsted? I hope that's right. In Handbook of Food Powers. And last but not least, an NPR article written by Joe Paul Palka called, a 100 years ago, Meyer taught us why our food tastes better cooked. So thank you to all of those resources, and thanks to all of you guys for listening.
Jam:Melissa and I have a lot of ideas topics of chemistry in everyday life, but we wanna hear from you. So if you have questions or ideas, you can reach out to us on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at chem for your life. That's chem, f o r, your life to share thoughts and ideas. And if you enjoy this podcast, you should tell 1 friend about Mhmm.
Melissa:Our
Jam:podcast this week. And if everybody told 1 friend, then we'd actually just double overnight in listeners. So
Melissa:Double the number of people learning about chemistry.
Jam:Yeah. So that's a challenge to you this week so that we can help share chemistry with even more people.
Melissa:This episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Collini and Jam Robinson. Jim Robinson is our producer, and we'd like to give a special thanks to a Colini and In Newell who reviewed this episode.
