Shrimps and maple syrup salad: the recipe

The book of Francois Chartier, “Taste buds and molecules”, presents a few “molecular” pairings between maple syrup and other foods. One of the most rated is with meat or fish. In this case, Chartier doesn’t precise which aromatic molecules* the two have in common with the syrup. I simply believe that the pairing meat/fish+maple syrup works well because the sugars, during the cooking process, react with the amino acids of the meat/fish. That is better known as the Maillard’s reaction that produces those compounds responsible for the typical taste of roasts or grilled food.

Read More

Maple and walnuts brittles: the recipe

In past, maple syrup was obtained by boiling the maple water collected from the trees. The process allows the evaporation of water and the concentration of sugars. During the boiling the sugars caramelize and reacts with the amino acids present in the maple water, which gives the syrup the typical amber color.

Read More

Gelo di mango: the recipe (finally :))

As I wrote about one year ago, pectin is an excellent jellying agent. Pectins are extracted from fruit (usually, from some citrus’ zest) and they allow preparing jams very quickly, without boiling the fruit for hours and hours. By increasing the concentration of pectins, it is also possible to make fruit pastes and jello, all vegan, of course :)

Read More