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Cooking & food science

What happens inside food when heat, water, mixing, fermentation and other cooking processes change its structure.

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Quinnoa currently groups 232 articles under Cooking & food science.

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Grains & pseudocereals · Cooking & food science

Polenta: What It Is, What It Is Made From, and How It Differs From Cornmeal

Polenta is a preparation: a thick porridge made by cooking ground grain in water. Today the word usually means medium- or coarse-ground yellow or white corn. A package labeled “polenta” may therefore be ordinary cornmeal milled to a useful particle size for the dish. The meaningful differences are usually grind size, whether germ and bran remain, and whether the product was precooked.

4 min read
Tubers · Cooking & food science

Tapioca: What It Is, Where It Comes From, and Why It Is Used in So Many Foods

Tapioca comes from cassava root, Manihot esculenta, and in most food uses refers to purified cassava starch. Cassava roots are milled with water to release starch granules, which are separated from fiber and other plant material and then dried. The resulting starch is neutral in flavor, swells strongly in water, and can form relatively clear, elastic pastes that work well in sauces, desserts, and gluten-free foods.

4 min read
Comparisons

Cornstarch vs. Tapioca Starch: How They Differ for Sauces and Desserts

Cornstarch and tapioca starch thicken by the same general mechanism—starch gelatinization—but their granules and amylose/amylopectin structures differ. Cornstarch commonly creates a more opaque sauce and firmer gel as it cools. Tapioca tends to swell strongly, remain clearer, and produce a slightly more elastic texture. Neither is universally better; the choice depends on the sauce, filling, or dessert you want.

4 min read
Fish & seafood · Food safety

Smoked Salmon: Is It Raw or Cooked, and How Is It Made?

“Smoked salmon” can describe two very different processes. Cold-smoked salmon is cured with salt and exposed to smoke at low temperature without a full cooking treatment, leaving a silky texture similar to cured raw fish. Hot-smoked salmon receives enough heat to cook and coagulate the fish proteins, producing a firm, flaky texture. Refrigerated cold-smoked salmon is ready-to-eat but deserves particular attention because of Listeria risk.

4 min read
Comparisons

Is an Air Fryer Healthy? What Changes Compared With Deep Frying

Air frying can make the same food substantially lower in absorbed fat than deep frying because it does not immerse the food in a large volume of oil. That is a real advantage for fries and breaded foods. However, intense dry heat still drives Maillard browning and can produce acrylamide in starchy foods. The final result depends on temperature, time, added oil, raw material, and how dark the food is cooked.

4 min read
Vegetables & mushrooms · Cooking & food science

Black Garlic: What It Is, Why It Tastes Sweet, and How It Is Made

Black garlic is made by aging ordinary fresh garlic for weeks under controlled heat and humidity. Although it is often described as fermented, the key changes do not necessarily require microbial fermentation: Maillard browning and transformations of sugars and sulfur compounds dominate. The finished cloves are dark, soft, sweet, balsamic, and much less pungent than raw garlic.

4 min read
Meat · Nutrition & composition

Bone Broth: What It Is and How Much Collagen and Protein It Really Contains

Bone broth is a long-cooked stock made from bones, joints, and connective tissue. Heat converts some collagen into gelatin and releases protein and amino acids into the liquid, but the final concentration depends on bones, water, cooking time, temperature, and reduction. A study analyzing broths found highly variable collagen-related amino acids and generally lower amounts than a 20-g reference dose of collagen supplement.

4 min read
Grains & pseudocereals · Nutrition & composition

Legume Pasta vs. Wheat Pasta: Protein, Fiber, and Texture

Legume pasta usually contains more protein and fiber than traditional durum-wheat pasta because it starts with lentil, chickpea, pea, or bean flour. Without the same gluten network that traps starch in wheat pasta, however, 100% legume noodles can be more fragile, less elastic, and more prone to cooking losses. The actual difference depends on whether the product is all legume or a blend.

4 min read
Drinks · Cooking & food science

Protein Coffee or Proffee: What It Is and What Changes When You Add Protein

Protein coffee, or “proffee,” is simply coffee combined with a concentrated protein source such as whey, high-protein milk, plant protein, or a ready-to-drink shake. There is no standard formula. It may add 15–30 g of protein, but it can also add calories, sweeteners, or sugar. Very hot coffee can denature and aggregate whey proteins, causing clumps, without making the protein nutritionally useless.

4 min read