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15 pretty decent facts about household foods and spices

Why does coriander taste soapy to some people?

DO YOU KNOW which popular spice can help soothe a toothache? Or why chocolate is toxic to dogs and cats?

By digging deep into the molecular chemistry of everyday foods and spices, Cambridge-based chemistry teacher Andy Brunning has the answers.

And you don’t have to be a chemistry-expert to understand them.

Brunning heads the popular science website Compound Interest and recently published the book “Why Does Asparagus Make Your Wee Smell?: And 57 other curious food and drink questions.”

Here are 15 of Brunning’s amazing graphics about the chemistry of asparagus, cloves, coffee, nutmeg, and much more:

When your doctor says don’t eat grapefruit, she means it! Grapefruit contains compounds that can prevent your body from breaking down certain medications, including some statin drugs to lower cholesterol, like Lipitor, and some antihistamines, like Allegra.

grapefruit

Clove oil is rich in a compound called eugenol, which has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties that can ease dental pain.

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Leaves from the coriander plant are a popular ingredient in Indian cuisine. But the leaves can sometimes taste soapy. That’s because they contain similar aldehyde compounds found in many soaps and lotions.

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Ethyl formate is a ubiquitous compound that smells like rum and gives raspberries their delicious flavor. It’s also present in bee stingers, ant bodies, and the center of our galaxy.

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Nutmeg is famous — at least anecdotally — for having allegedly hallucinogenic properties when taken in high doses but beware: Its other side effects are far less appealing and include vomiting, nausea, and elevated heart rate.

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Scientists aren’t positive why asparagus makes our urine smell funny, but they suspect it has something to do with a unique compound found only in asparagus called asparagusic acid.

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If you’re a lover of beets then you’ve probably had a few cases of “beeturia,” the passing of reddish urine. This discolouration happens when the acid in our stomachs isn’t strong enough to break down betanin — the compound that makes beats red.

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Tea has a common compound called catechins. The substances richest in these compounds, which some research suggests could be good for heart health, are cocoa and prune juice.

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Most of that distinctive flavor and bitterness we adore in coffee only gets released once the beans are roasted. The roasting process breaks down chlorogenic acids to produce a new set of compounds that give it that iconic coffee flavor.

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Honey will never go bad and here’s why: Honey is relatively acidic and contains traces of hydrogen peroxide that would kill any bacteria that might spoil it.

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Cocoa plants contain the bitter-tasting, toxic chemical theobromine. Luckily, a human would have to eat tens of pounds of chocolate over a short time period to be in any danger. But for dogs and cats, a small amount can be harmful. Always keep chocolate away from pets.

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Lemons and limes might be partners in flavor, but if you want a vitamin C boost, look no farther than the lemon. It contains twice the vitamin C as the average lime and about the same amount as an orange.

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The smooth texture of candies like caramel and toffee come from a special cooking process that completely eliminates sugar crystals — orderly stacks of sucrose molecules. In order to do this, confectioners typically add corn syrup or butter, which is why non-crystalline candy can pack more sugar than the crystalline kind.

grapefruit - 13

Brussels sprouts and bitterness go hand-in-hand: When we cook them, we damage the plant’s chemical structure, which causes the bitter-tasting compound sulforaphane to form. The same thing happens when we cook broccoli or cabbage, too.

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By refrigerating tomatoes, you can prolong their freshness, but you also run the risk of damaging some of the compounds responsible for their sweetness. Keep them out of the fridge for a sweeter taste.

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All graphics from Compound Interest

Read: 8 places all nachos enthusiasts need to visit in Dublin

Also: This ‘slice’ of ketchup is an absolute burger revelation

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    Mute jenni
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    Jan 1st 2016, 5:23 PM

    Didnt they find edible honey about 5000 years old?

    46
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    Mute chocfan83
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    Jan 1st 2016, 5:30 PM

    Yes on Crete in konossis… sorry, probably not the right spelling.

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    Mute John Strahan
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    Jan 2nd 2016, 12:21 AM

    Nothing to do with this story, but I remember bringing my girlfriend ( now my wife) home to meet my mum for the first time. English is not my wife’s first language, and, as we sat there eating my mums apple tart (freshly baked for the occasion), my girlfriend proceeded to tell her how delicious it was, and that she particularly liked the flavour of semen. I ended up on the floor under the table. She meant cinnamon! Tasty though…

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    Mute Dr Richard Lee Kin
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    Jan 1st 2016, 5:49 PM

    Cloves certainly works for toothache , and its not mentioned here but vitamin C deficiency has been associated with gum disease.

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    Mute Santa Claus
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    Jan 2nd 2016, 6:47 AM

    Or scurvy in extreme cases.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 1st 2016, 8:21 PM

    Nutmeg can kill and it is now deemed to be carcinogenic that is cancer causing but believed by some in ages past to be able to cause people to see the future but I love it as a spice.
    Beetroot has been seen to kill cancer cells due to its red pigment, it like sprouts can help those with diabetes but sprouts seem to feed the gut bacteria that can prevent diabetes and even reverse it.
    Coffee is a plant that is effected by a parasitic worm, so the plant is sprayed with a lot of pesticide, they blame this on coffees carcinogenic effects but caffeine raises blood pressure as well as blood cholesterol and has been linked to pancreatic and bladder cancers.
    Chocolate is suppose to be good for you and then lately they said it caused colon cancer???
    Tomatoes repair the telomeres of chromosomes, so reversing aging.
    It has been shown that freezing lemon skins and then eating them later can kill cancer cells in the same way as brown banana skins can as well.
    Then Turmeric has anti cholesterol, antiviral, antibacterial and antitumour effects but can cause high blood pressure like rosemary can as well.
    Then cumin can mixed with food aid weight loss, something new to read about, then there is ginger which has anti cancer effects as well as helping a person who feels sick…
    There are many foods out there that are more good for you than you thing, even carrots are now linked to a healthy prostate… Remember about 80% of medicine was discovered from plants…

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    Mute Jeanette McDonald
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    Jan 1st 2016, 8:24 PM

    Cannot beat ginger and garlic, antiviral and antibacterial.
    Tumeric really good anti inflammatory.
    For bloating, chamomile, works wonders.

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    Mute Shanti
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    Jan 2nd 2016, 7:59 AM

    Ginger is carminative, which is a fancy way of saying it helps you pass gas..

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:06 AM

    I heard that too much chamomile tea was bad for your stomach…

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    Mute Shanti
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 3:34 AM

    Too much of anything will be bad for you one way or the other. The question is how much is too much? I would imagine in order to produce unpleasant effects you’d need to drink quite a lot, and it isn’t exactly flavoursome, it doesn’t leave you with a hankering for more or anything..

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 3rd 2016, 11:51 PM

    True but a little can do harm as well?

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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Jan 1st 2016, 6:24 PM

    Didn’t know that about tomatoes. Thanks a useful tip!

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    Mute gerry meagher
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    Jan 1st 2016, 11:05 PM

    Is it true that humanity would only survive about 4 years if bees were extinct

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    Mute Peter Quincy Taggart
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    Jan 2nd 2016, 12:24 AM

    I’m not sure but I remember listening to a guy a few years ago on George Hooks show, he was the head of bee keeping Ireland or some such association. Very interesting listening to him speak about bees and how important they are. Always remember him saying that since rapeseed started being grown large scale in Ireland he has seen a major decline in bee numbers. He wasn’t sure if it was something they were spraying the plant with or something to do with the plant itself but he said that if it continued all the bees would be gone and we would be fecked!

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 2nd 2016, 3:14 AM

    Probably less???

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    Mute Steve Donoghue
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    Jan 2nd 2016, 4:21 AM

    Tea, grand for a hangover!

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    Mute Pat O'Connell
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    Jan 2nd 2016, 2:45 AM

    Candy?!!

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