Why does food get stale over time?


	Why does food get stale over time?

wildcat

4-26-2008 6:02 AM

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tags:

food, stale, water

1 Comment |

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4-26-2008 3:57 PM

AcesLucky

I know my pizza comes back to life after I mic it.

So does the cat.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/e5478a9b-7153-4d59-898f-902aea878030/726ADF0B-B05A-4B89-9DDB-E87744708030/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-why-does-food-get-stale&sc=DD_20080425" href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-why-does-food-get-stale&sc=DD_20080425" style="font-size: 11px;">www.sciam.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-why-does-food-get-stale&sc=DD_20080425"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.sciam.com/img/EC989DB2-0586-4694-8BFD-9C1BA70F01D3" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-why-does-food-get-stale&sc=DD_20080425">When we think of food going stale, we typically think of products such as bread. You might think that bread starts to stale days after it is made. But the process of staling actually begins as soon as the loaf leaves the oven and begins to cool. How quickly bread goes stale depends on what ingredients are in it, how it was baked, and the storage conditions.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-why-does-food-get-stale&sc=DD_20080425">  Breads are essentially networks of wheat flour protein (<A href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-autism-diet" linkindex="59">gluten</A>) molecules and starch molecules. Suspended inside this scaffolding are pockets of carbon dioxide gas that are produced during <A href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=ales-well-with-the-world" linkindex="60">fermentation by yeast</A>. This creates a foamlike texture.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-why-does-food-get-stale&sc=DD_20080425">  The most important event in the process of staling is when starch molecules crystallize. The starch molecules need water molecules to form their crystal structure</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=experts-why-does-food-get-stale&sc=DD_20080425">They get the water molecules from the gluten. As a result, the network changes, becoming rigid at room temperature and below. This state, however, is reversed with the introduction of heat; stale bread can be freshened by warming it</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/726ADF0B-B05A-4B89-9DDB-E87744708030/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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