Pointless
Questions...with Aaron Mucciolo
Apparently
Im getting thematic this weeks column is all
about food. Yay food. Just a note for those of you wondering: this
column will return for the 2002-3 school year, so keep those questions
a comin.
Whats
the deal w/ red pistachios? anonymous, slightly drunk person
at OCapella Fest
According to the California Pistachio Commission (I kid you not)
pistachios were originally imported from the Middle East. Importers
dyed the nuts for two reasons: to hide the stains from the antiquated
harvesting methods and to make pistachios stand out
among other nuts in vending machines.
Pistachios werent grown in the U.S. until the 1970s, at which
point they were sold in their clean, natural tan or greenish shells.
Some domestic pistachios are still dyed red due to consumer demand
for the more colorful shells.
How is fried ice cream made? Travis Heaney has some
weird explanation involving dry ice, but I dont believe anything
he says. Yvonne Piper, OC 01
There appear to be two kinds of fried ice cream. Theres fake-fried
where you roll a ball of ice cream in corn flakes or something similar
to create the shell. But what were after here
is real fried ice cream, the kind requiring an element of danger
to create. (A side note hot stoves are not toys. Please cook
responsibly. Thank you.)
Fried ice cream is basically a ball of thoroughly frozen ice cream
covered in some kind of batter and then deep fried. Yup, you actually
stick that sucker in a fryer or big pot of oil and wait till
its golden delicious. If youd like a complete recipe,
there are quite a few out on the web just type fried
ice cream into any search engine but aside from flavoring
and decoration theres not much else to the recipe.
As for the dry ice issue, a couple of recipes I found said to put
the ice cream balls into an ice chest with dry ice in order to freeze
them. But most just said to put the ice cream in the freezer once
you had shaped it. The author of this column makes no judgement
as to whether or not you should believe Mr. Heaney in the future.
Is
that an update in your pocket?
No, Im just happy to see me. Hoo-dang, Im rolling today.
Anyway, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience Lynne Bianchi dug up
two other theories about those sun sneezes or
ACHOO syndrome in technical parlance from last week. ACHOO,
by the way, stands for autosomal dominant compelling heliopthalmic
outburst. We know, we know. It should be ADCHOO. No one ever
said scientists could spell.
One theory is basically an elaboration of the one I published last
week: an impulse travelling along the optic nerve might trigger
a sympathetic discharge in the nerve that connects to the lining
of the nose. A second theory is that squinting from bright light
causes a squeezing of the lacrimal (tear) duct, which causes tears
to run down into the nasal cavity thus triggering a sneeze.
For those of you who suffer from these photic sneezes, you can avoid
any or all of these possible reactions by simply wearing sunglasses.
Thanks
Prof. Bianchi. And thank you all for reading. Now send in a question.
You know you want to. Email aaron.mucciolo@oberlin.edu or write
to Pointless Questions, c/o The Oberlin Review, Wilder Box 90, Oberlin
OH, 44074. Your name will be used only with your permission.
|