It’s cherry season, and the cherry trees are currently heaving under the weight of both sweet and sour cherries. Here we take a look at the chemical differences between the two, and why cherry stones are poisonous.

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The Chemistry of Maple Syrup

Happy Canada Day to all of our Canadian readers! To celebrate, here’s a brief look at some of the different chemicals in maple syrup.

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Glucose, Insulin, & Diabetes

Here’s a mini-graphic taking a quick look at what diabetes is, and the differences between the three main types.

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The Facts and the Fiction

Over the past week, you may well have seen a couple of graphics purporting to explain the effect that drinking a can of Coke or Diet Coke has on your body. They’ve been picked up by arange of online news and media sites, and as a result circulated widely. Unfortunately, althoughsome of the ...

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The Chemistry of Jam-Making

If you’ve ever tried your hand at jam-making, you’ll know that it’s something of a tricky process. A number of factors need to be just right to achieve a perfectly set jam – and chemistry can help explain why. There are three key chemical entities that go into jam-making: sugar, pectin, and ...

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The Chemistry of Honey

Honey is something of an oddity, in that, unlike most foods, it doesn’t spoil over time. In fact, the oldest known sample of honey, found in an Ancient Egyptian tomb and dated to approximately 3000 years ago, was still perfectly edible (supposedly*). What is it, then, that gives honey ...

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It’s reaching that point in the year where warm weekends mean it’s timefor barbecues out in the sun. Here’s a topical graphic looking at the chemistry behind barbecuing food, and the compounds behind the smoky taste and flavour.

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Food Chemistry

There’s one chemical reaction that, whether you have an interest in chemistry or not, we all carry out on a regular, maybe even daily, basis. That reaction? The Maillard Reaction. This is a process that takes place whenever you cook a range of foods – it’s responsible for the flavours in cooked ...

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Whisky is one of the world’s most popular spirits, and comes in many different classes and types. The character and flavour of these differing types vary widely; this, of course, comes down to their varying chemical composition. Here, we take a look at where some of these different compounds come ...

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Having looked at the chemistry behind beer previously, it seemed only fair to also take a look at cider for all the cider drinkers out there. On a hot summer’s day, the cool, refreshing taste of cider is hard to beat. But what are the chemicals behind this flavour? Before we look at the ...

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