Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Matthew Alice's weird food facts

Rice Krispies, Heinz 57 varieties, Whitman's vs See's, M&Ms, butter packaging

Will we ever be one united nation? I’m not optimistic. - Image by Rick Geary
Will we ever be one united nation? I’m not optimistic.
It goes through a toasting oven that’s kind of like a big hair dryer.

The noise produced by Rice Krispies

When the wet parts of the Krispie finally pull hard enough, the dry parts snap open and make a noise loud enough for you to hear. Have you ever picked up a stick and bent it by pulling on the ends? If you bend it far enough, the stick finally snaps. That’s pretty much what happens in your cereal bowl.You might notice that some other cereals make a little noise when you pour milk on them. But the Krispie people make sure they toast the rice in just the right way so the snaps and crackles and pops are good and loud.

By Matthew Alice, Aug. 5, 1993 Read full article

Spanish offers picante for spicy-hot and caliente for the mouth sensation of broiling pizza cheese.

The heat in jalapeno peppers

Equally mysterious is why humans would voluntarily, even eagerly, consume hot peppers. After all, the capsaicin is in there in the first place to protect peppers from being eaten by animals or invaded by insects. The plant assumes we’ll have more sense than to intentionally put in our mouths something we know will cause watery eyes, a runny nose, scorched mouth, sweating, and intestinal emergencies. There’s a theory making the rounds that the alkaloid actually releases pleasure-inducing endorphins in our brains,

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Matthew Alice, June 30, 1994 Read full article

The truth behind Heinz 57 varieties

The 57 is and always was a bogus number. At least to everyone but H.J. Heinz, the condiment baron who founded the company in the mid-1800s. He stole the idea from a shoe store ad that bragged of offering 20 different styles. Apparently he reasoned that if the slogan will sell shoes, it’ll sell horseradish. The company already made 60 or 70 varieties of packaged foods, but H.J. liked the sound of “57,” so “57.”

By Matthew Alice, Apr. 21, 1994 Read full article

An unmarked lid allows Mrs. See and her customers to free-associate, sweets-wise.

Whitman's Samplers vs. See's

An unmarked lid allows Mrs. See and her customers to free-associate, sweets-wise, and put whatever they like into a box. If this idea seems frivolous or frightening, here’s another solution. Make a note of the shape of each piece of candy and the configuration of its decorative topknot of chocolate coating, then identify what’s inside. Next time you confront a piece with that same shape and decoration, consult your chart. Confectioners have flavor-coded the tops of their dipped chocolates for decades. Each maker has his own patterns, so you’ll have to analyze every brand

By Matthew Alice, Nov. 9, 1995 Read full article

How they make M&Ms round

The chocolate centers are made in molds, then they trundle along a special conveyor where they’re covered with many, many thin but sturdy coats of candy shell. When the coating’s thick enough so they melt in your mouth, not in your hand, the candy’s dumped into a large drum, like a clothes dryer. They bump and slide around each other to polish off any drips or rough spots and acquire their shiny finish.

By Matthew Alice, Nov. 13, 1997 Read full article

East-West Coast differences in packaging butter

We’ll have to go back, back, back in time for the answer to this one. It has to do with where the early butter-packaging machinery came from. The East Coast imported German machinery, which produced long, thin quarter-pounders. West Coast equipment was more often Danish. Shorter, fatter. It’s just some sort of weird tradition. If you live in St. Louis, I don’t know what you do.

By Matthew Alice, Feb. 20, 1997 Read full article

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Will we ever be one united nation? I’m not optimistic. - Image by Rick Geary
Will we ever be one united nation? I’m not optimistic.
It goes through a toasting oven that’s kind of like a big hair dryer.

The noise produced by Rice Krispies

When the wet parts of the Krispie finally pull hard enough, the dry parts snap open and make a noise loud enough for you to hear. Have you ever picked up a stick and bent it by pulling on the ends? If you bend it far enough, the stick finally snaps. That’s pretty much what happens in your cereal bowl.You might notice that some other cereals make a little noise when you pour milk on them. But the Krispie people make sure they toast the rice in just the right way so the snaps and crackles and pops are good and loud.

By Matthew Alice, Aug. 5, 1993 Read full article

Spanish offers picante for spicy-hot and caliente for the mouth sensation of broiling pizza cheese.

The heat in jalapeno peppers

Equally mysterious is why humans would voluntarily, even eagerly, consume hot peppers. After all, the capsaicin is in there in the first place to protect peppers from being eaten by animals or invaded by insects. The plant assumes we’ll have more sense than to intentionally put in our mouths something we know will cause watery eyes, a runny nose, scorched mouth, sweating, and intestinal emergencies. There’s a theory making the rounds that the alkaloid actually releases pleasure-inducing endorphins in our brains,

Sponsored
Sponsored

By Matthew Alice, June 30, 1994 Read full article

The truth behind Heinz 57 varieties

The 57 is and always was a bogus number. At least to everyone but H.J. Heinz, the condiment baron who founded the company in the mid-1800s. He stole the idea from a shoe store ad that bragged of offering 20 different styles. Apparently he reasoned that if the slogan will sell shoes, it’ll sell horseradish. The company already made 60 or 70 varieties of packaged foods, but H.J. liked the sound of “57,” so “57.”

By Matthew Alice, Apr. 21, 1994 Read full article

An unmarked lid allows Mrs. See and her customers to free-associate, sweets-wise.

Whitman's Samplers vs. See's

An unmarked lid allows Mrs. See and her customers to free-associate, sweets-wise, and put whatever they like into a box. If this idea seems frivolous or frightening, here’s another solution. Make a note of the shape of each piece of candy and the configuration of its decorative topknot of chocolate coating, then identify what’s inside. Next time you confront a piece with that same shape and decoration, consult your chart. Confectioners have flavor-coded the tops of their dipped chocolates for decades. Each maker has his own patterns, so you’ll have to analyze every brand

By Matthew Alice, Nov. 9, 1995 Read full article

How they make M&Ms round

The chocolate centers are made in molds, then they trundle along a special conveyor where they’re covered with many, many thin but sturdy coats of candy shell. When the coating’s thick enough so they melt in your mouth, not in your hand, the candy’s dumped into a large drum, like a clothes dryer. They bump and slide around each other to polish off any drips or rough spots and acquire their shiny finish.

By Matthew Alice, Nov. 13, 1997 Read full article

East-West Coast differences in packaging butter

We’ll have to go back, back, back in time for the answer to this one. It has to do with where the early butter-packaging machinery came from. The East Coast imported German machinery, which produced long, thin quarter-pounders. West Coast equipment was more often Danish. Shorter, fatter. It’s just some sort of weird tradition. If you live in St. Louis, I don’t know what you do.

By Matthew Alice, Feb. 20, 1997 Read full article

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Half Hour Late lives up to their name at the Template

Deadhead-inflected band right at home in Ocean Beach
Next Article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.