Accidental Hedonist

In the next few weeks, I’m going to start adding tasting notes to the various whiskeys that I acquire, or taste in public settings. But before I do this, it would be to all of our benefit if I clarified a few of the words and phrases common to the whiskey world.

(NOTE: My spelling of whiskey varies in the text below, for reasons that are specific to the regions. Scotland and Canada typically spell it Whisky while Ireland and America typically spell it Whiskey. I’ve tried to keep the spelling relevant to the areas discussed in the definition, but I probably failed more than not, especially when it comes to the plural. All I ask is that you cut me some slack on this whilst I try to figure out a decent solution for dealing with the militant whiskey/whisky fans who will leap at the opportunity to mention how I misspelled their favorite spirit.)

• Scotch Whisky: Whisky which has been produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and malted barley (and other whole grains). The grains have to be processed at said distillery, converted to a fermentable substrate through natural means, and fermented only through the use of yeast. It also has to have been aged in oak casks of a capacity of not more than 700 liters, and matured for three years or longer. Anything less than three years, and it’s not scotch. It also has to be no less than forty percent alcohol by volume (ABV) at the time of bottling.

  There are other specific (and very legal) conditions that must be met in order for a whiskey to be called “Scotch”, but we’ll use the above as the primary definition.

• Irish Whiskey: Distilled in Ireland from a mash of cereals and matured in oak casks for at least 3 years, and bottled at no less than forty percent (ABV). The Irish typically use barley as their grain of choice.
• Bourbon: American Whiskey made primarily of corn (at least 51%) and at least 21% of other grains within the mash. Bourbon must then be matured in new, charred, white oak barrels for at least two years. Bottling proof for whiskey must be at least 40% ABV.

• Tennessee Whiskey: Tennessee whiskey is essentially bourbon with an additionally filtering step put in place. Called the Lincoln County Process, the whiskey is filtered through a thick layer of maple charcoal before it is put into the charred casks for aging.

  According to Charles Maclean, in his book Whisky Tales, Bourbons and ryes also use this sour mash process, but only the Tennessee Whiskeys use it as part of their appellation. I hope to verify this sometime in the near future.

• Rye: America’s first whiskey, made from a mash of at least 51% rye, and the rest of the mash consisting of corn and barley.
• Canadian Whisky: Canadian Whisky is almost always a blend (which I define below). Typically the blend is dependent upon rye whisky, but this will vary from producer to producer. The laws surrounding Canadian whisky are less stringent than those found surrouding Scotch and Bourbons, but there is a three year maturation rule.
• Corn Whiskey: Whiskey made from a mash containing a mixture of at least 80% corn. There are no aging requirements for corn whiskey.

Within the above categories there are often other subcategories that have their own definitions that need explaining.

• Malt Whisky/Malt Whiskey: A whiskey/whisky made from a mash comprised completely from a single type of malted grain. Barley is the best known malt whiskey, at least world wide, but ryes also are known.
• Single Malt Whiskey: A whiskey/whisky which is distilled at a single distillery, and is made completely from a single type of malted grain
• Grain Whiskey: Whiskey made from a combination of grains other than barley, or other than those mashes used in bourbons and ryes. Typically speaking, these whiskeys are closer to pure alcohol than malted whiskeys, and rarely have maturation requirements. Grain whiskeys are often used in blends.

• Blended Whisky/Whiskey:A blended whiskey is the product of blending different types of whiskeys. It is generally the product of mixing one or more single malt whiskeys with other grain whiskeys or neutral grain spirits.

  There are two basic reasons that blends are produced:
  1) Economic: Blended whiskeys can be cheaper to produce and the cost savings can be passed on to the consumer.
  2) Standardization: While Single Malt Whiskeys can vary from year to year (and from age to age), a decent blender can replicate a specific taste from the variety of whiskeys available to them, and produce a similar product over the years.

• Pure Malt Whisky: A blend of malt whiskies.
• Vatted Malt Whisky: The same as pure malt whisky.
• Single Cask: Bottled from a single cask, rather than from a mix of casks (which is the standard).
• Non Chill Filtered: Typically a whiskey/whisky’s temperature is reduced to zero degrees C and pushed through several filters prior to bottling. Non Chill filtered means that this process was avoided, often to keep the roughness of the whiskey/whisky intact.
• Cask Strength/Natural Strength: Implies that the whisky/whiskey comes straight from the cask and it’s alcohol content not been intentionally reduced. The ABV rate of these are typically higher than the standard 40% ABV.
• Wood-Finished/Double Casked: The whiskey has been matured in one cask, and the re-casked and re-racked for the final months of maturation.
• Age: In a non-blend, this is the amount of time the whiskey/whisky has matured in a cask. In a blend, this is the age of the youngest spirit found within.
• Pot Still Whiskey: Whiskey made in the older tradition of the pot still as opposed to the more popular (and more cost-efficient) column still.

This is not a complete list, but it’s certainly enough to give a starting point to read labels once the tasting notes commence.

Update: Fixed some mistakes.

We all know that onions can cause us to tear up when we cut them. But why does this happen?

As always, we turn to our best friend when we need a logical explanation – Science!

Within each variety of vegetables belonging to the Allium family resides a class of organic molecules called amino acid sulfoxides. These molecules help give the onions their specific bitter flavors.

Within the tissues of these same onions are enzymes called allinases. When these enzymes are released, be it through slicing, crushing, piercing, whatever, they react with the amino acid sulfoxides, converting them to sulfenic acids (RSOH). The sulfenic acids are very unstable, and often will often re-arrange their molecular structure to form syn-propanethial-S-oxide(H₇O₃S₂). It is this chemical that causes tearing. From the Scientific American:

Its effects on the eye are all too familiar. The front surface of the eye–the cornea–serves several purposes, among them protection against physical and chemical irritants. The cornea is densely populated with sensory fibers of the ciliary nerve, a branch of the massive trigeminal nerve that brings touch, temperature and pain sensations from the face and front of the head. The cornea also receives a smaller number of autonomic motor fibers that activate the lachrymal (tear) glands. Free nerve endings detect syn-propanethial-S-oxide on the cornea and drive activity in the ciliary nerve–which the central nervous system interprets as a burning sensation–in proportion to the compound’s concentration. This nerve activity reflexively activates the autonomic fibers, which then carry a signal back to the eye ordering the lachrymal glands to wash the irritant away.

There are several ways to prevent or mitigate the causes of tearing. One, you could have brain surgery that would block any sensory information sent from the ciliary nerve. However, that may be a tad impractical.

Water is the best route. Cutting onions under water, or soaking the onions prior to slicing will work. Choosing onions with higher water content can also lessen the tearing. This means purchasing onions that haven’t been dry cured. Any “named” onions, such as “Vidalia” or “Walla Walla”, will do. Dry cured onions inlcude the generic white, yellow, and red onions.

If the only options available to you are the generic whites, yellows, and reds, it would be the white onions which should have higher water content, and red onions having the least amount.

Another way to prevent or lessen tearing is to preventing an excessive amount of allinases from being released. The best way to do that is to cut the onion in such a way that minimally damages the tissue. In other words – the sharper the knife the better.

Finally, cut the onions in a well ventilated area. The vapors released from the onion can be dispersed quickly with a fan in the area.

So all of you out there cutting red onions with a butter knife in a windowless room, cut it out. You’re only asking for trouble.

Here’s a compiled list of different chile peppers you may come across in your own travels. The number next to the name is the pepper’s Scoville rating. The hotter the pepper equates to a higher number.

Sweet bell pepper: 0 : Yes, this is indeed a chile, although we don’t typically believe it to be so. Ubiquitous in the states, they’re typically green and about the size of a large fist.

Pimento: 100 – 500 : Also a chile. I actually did not know this about pimentos, thinking them only as olive stuffing. Pimiento is the Spanish word for “pepper”, which shows you how well I know the spanish language.

Pepperoncini pepper: 100-500 : Also known as Tuscan Peppers, this pepper is found in Italy and Greece. It’s the Grecian crop that we typically find in pizzerias and Italian eateries here in the states, as they tend to be more sweet than those grown in Italy.

Paprika: 250 – 1000 : It’s not a spice, but actually a chili pepper from which the spice is made. Think of it as a large sweet pepper, conical in shape.

Santa Fe Grande pepper: 500 – 700 : Also known as the yellow hot chile and the guero chile, I’ve seen this pepper in the grocery store from time to time. They’re about 5″ long and ripen from greenish-yellow, to orange-yellow to red.

Poblano pepper: 1,000 – 2,000 : Probably Mexico’s most popular variety of chile. It has a big interior which is perfect for stuffing. It’s 4″ long and its coloring is a dark blackish green maturing to red or brown. An Ancho pepper is dried form of the poblano chile.

Jalapeño: 2,500 – 8,000: Rightly or wrongly, when an American thinks of Mexican cuisine, the jalapeño is most likely thought of. A chipotle is a jalapeño that has been smoked. It is often found in adobo sauce. They are harvested when they are green or red if allowed to ripen. You can find them between 4″-6″ long.

Serrano pepper: 5,000 Р23,000 : Generally 1 to 2 inches long, 1/2 inch wide and similarly colored to the jalape̱o, dark green to red. This chile is often used in salsas and as a flavoring for stews, casseroles and egg dishes.

Tabasco pepper: 30,000 – 50,000 : The chile they use to make Tabasco sauce. The fruit is tapered and small (under 2″ in length). The color is often a creamy yellow to red.

Cayenne pepper: 30,000 – 50,000 : A very thin chile pepper, green to red in coloring, and about 2 to 3 inches in length. It is often used in a ground form as a spice, hence – Cayenne Pepper.

Tien Tsin Pepper: 50,000 – 75,000 : Traditional for Asian cooking. Very hot, bright red, 1-2″ Chinese pods. These are the peppers found in your Kung Pao chicken. I recall many of my knowledgable friends daring anyone gullible enough to eat these dried delicacies.

Rocoto Pepper: 50,000 – 100,000 : Also called the Manzano pepper, this chile is typically found in South America. It is among the oldest of domesticated peppers, and was grown up to as much as 5000 years ago. It is probably related to undomesticated peppers that still grow in South America.

Thai pepper: 50,000 – 100,000 : These chiles are small, seldom growing larger than 1 to 3 inches long. They are usually less than 1/2 inch wide, but provide plenty of heat. These slightly curvy, potent peppers are typically bright red or deep green, and end in a sharp point. Finely sliced Thai peppers can be mixed with the hot oil in a stir-fry or used to heat up coconut soups and noodle dishes.

Scotch bonnet: 100,000 – 325,000 : Probably the cultivar of chile that Columbus sampled. Serves the bastard right. They are tam-shaped and found in Caribbean. They are also called booney peppers, bonney peppers, and goat peppers on various islands. They are usually red or yellow at maturity

Habanero chile: 100,000 – 350,000 : Sibling to the Scotch Bonnet, it’s widely recognized as the hottest chile cultivar. Grown mainly on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, its coloring is yellow-orange, orange or bright red, depending upon when it’s harvested. Average Size 1 – 2 1/2″ long, 1 – 2″ diameter and tam-shaped.

Red Savina Habanero: 350,000 – 580,000 : Reportedly the hottest chile pepper on record.

Technorati Tags: Food, Chile, chile peppers

Get it? Heat? Chile? *taps microphone* Hullo, is this thing on?

If you’ll pardon my attempt at lame puns, I want address the issue about what makes chiles, y’know, so hot.

The substances that give chile peppers their heat are the alkaloid capsaicin, and other related chemicals. These substances are collectively called capsaicinoids. For the record, the other capsaicinoids are:

• dihydrocapsaicin
• nordihydrocapsaicin
• homodihydrocapsaicin
• homocapsaicin

Say them aloud at a party, and you’ll be sure to leave others either impressed or befuddled.

Speaking of impressing people, I could let you know how capsaicinoids interact with your body, creating the sensation of pain and heat. For instance, I could write “The sensations associated with capsaicin result from capsaicin’s chemical interaction with your sensory neurons. Capsaicin binds to a receptor called the vanilloid receptor subtype 1. This binding allows positively-charged ions to pass through the cell membrane and into the cell. This results in a “depolarization” of the neuron, causing the neuron to signal your brain with, what medical professionals call, an ‘owie’”.

I could write that, but you’d probably fall asleep as soon as I mentioned the phrase “vanilloid receptor subtype 1″. I base this assumption only on the fact that I slightly nodded off myself, and I typed out the darn thing.

Different chiles have different levels of capsaicinoids found within their fruits. This is why you can eat a bell pepper without any fuss, yet cry like Halle Berry winning an Oscar when taking a bite out of a scotch bonnet. The Scoville scale is a measure of the amount on capsaicinoids found in a chile pepper. Coincidentally named after it’s developer, William Scoville, the scale is set by measuring a dilution of pepper extract in sugar water until the ‘heat’ of a pepper is no longer detectable. As Wikipedia explains:

…a sweet pepper, containing no capsaicin at all, has a Scoville rating of zero, meaning no heat detectable even undiluted. Conversely, the hottest chiles, such as habaneros, have a rating of 300,000 or more, indicating that their extract has to be diluted 300,000-fold before the capsaicin present is undetectable.

The Scoville scale now uses high pressure liquid chromatography in order to get a precise number. As it turns out, 15 Scoville units is roughly equivalent to one part capsaicin per million.

That’s only some of the science behind chile peppers. Later, I’ll post a list of varieties of chiles and each of their Scoville level. It promises to be fun interesting in a trivial sort of way.

Technorati Tags: food, chile, chile pepper, food trivia

This is a story for all of you food trivia buffs out there – all fourteen of you.

Noodles have been claimed to have been developed in the regions now known as Italy, Germany, Korea, Thailand, Japan and China. The Problem was that most evidence was anecdotal. Until now.

According to the San Fran Chronicle “Chinese researchers may have finally settled the contentious question by unearthing a 4,000-year-old container of noodles in northwestern China.”

What were the conditions that allowed the noodles to last the 4 thousand years? Reports that the Chinese word for “Kraft Foods Inc.” may provide a clue, but these claims are in dispute.

In all seriousness, this is a fairly cool discovery. It should be noted that the noodles were made not of wheat, but rather from millet.