Food & cooking

45 ideas, each explained on one page with a 60-second lesson you can play right there.

Acids in wine Wine contains organic acids like tartaric and malic that shape its taste, protect it from bacteria, and can form harmless crystals on the cork.
Alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume measures the ethanol in a beverage, defined by pure ethanol volume over total solution volume at 20 °C.
Aroma of wine Wine flavor is mostly smell sensed by the olfactory bulb, originating from odorless grape compounds unlocked by fermentation and aging.
Brewing Brewing turns grains, water, and yeast into beer through fermentation, a process practiced for at least 13,000 years.
Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon is a hardy, thick-skinned red wine grape created by a chance seventeenth-century crossing of Cabernet franc and Sauvignon blanc.
Caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, a chemical that speeds up messaging between your brain and body.
Capsaicin Birds can't feel capsaicin: their TRPV1 receptor doesn't react to it, so they eat chilies and spread the seeds.
Cavendish Banana The Cavendish banana is a seedless, commercial banana variety belonging to the AAA subgroup of Musa acuminata.
Cheetos Cheetos is a brand of cheese-flavored puffed corn snacks produced by Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.
Chili Peppers Chili peppers are the berry fruits of plants in the genus Capsicum, part of the nightshade family.
Coffea Coffea is a genus of tropical flowering shrubs and trees in the madder family, Rubiaceae.
Coffee Coffee is a dark, bitter beverage brewed by steeping roasted and ground seeds from Coffea plant fruits in hot water.
Coffee Bean A coffee bean is not a true bean, but the seed of a fruit called a coffee cherry grown on the Coffea plant.
Cold brew coffee Cold brew coffee is a beverage made by steeping coarse coffee grounds in cool or room-temperature water for 12 to 24 hours.
Convenience food Convenience food is food that commercial companies prepare and package in advance so you can eat it with little to no extra cooking.
Decaffeination How coffee beans and tea lose up to 99.9% of their caffeine using organic solvents, water baths, and supercritical carbon dioxide.
Dietary fiber Dietary fiber is the part of plant food that your digestive enzymes cannot break down.
Espresso Espresso is concentrated coffee made by forcing hot water through fine grounds under high pressure, producing a rich body and crema.
Fermentation Fermentation is a chemical process where cells break down sugars to make energy without using oxygen.
Fleur de sel Fleur de sel is a delicate crust of pyramid-shaped crystals that forms on the surface of evaporating seawater in coastal salt marshes.
Food additive A food additive is any substance added to food to preserve it or enhance its flavor, appearance, or texture.
Food processing Food processing is the transformation of raw agricultural products into edible food, or of one form of food into another.
Habanero A habanero rates 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units, about 140 times hotter than a jalapeño.
Himalayan salt Himalayan salt is rock salt mined from ancient mineral deposits in the Punjab region of Pakistan.
Instant Coffee Instant coffee is fully brewed coffee dehydrated into soluble solids.
Instant noodle Instant noodles are precooked, dried blocks of noodles that rehydrate in boiling water in just a few minutes.
Jalapeño A jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum, typically measuring 5 to 10 centimeters long.
Kimchi Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish made of salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly Napa cabbage or Korean radish.
Kosher salt Kosher salt is a coarse, additive-free salt named after meat preparation, valued by chefs for controlled seasoning, lower density, and clean flavor.
Nutrition Nutrition is the biological process where an organism takes in food and water to create energy and build living tissue.
Oak (wine) Oak is a type of wood used during winemaking to alter the color, texture, tannin profile, and flavor of wine.
Piperine Piperine is a plant compound known as an alkaloid that gives black and long pepper their pungent bite.
Probiotics Probiotics are live microorganisms that benefit their host.
Salt Salt is a crystalline mineral made mostly of sodium chloride, a compound of sodium and chlorine.
Scoville Scale The Scoville scale is a measurement system that rates the heat of chili peppers in units called Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
Sea salt Sea salt is salt produced directly by evaporating seawater, either through open-air solar pans or fueled heat.
Sodium Chloride Sodium chloride is an ionic compound made of equal parts sodium and chlorine ions, commonly known as table salt or the mineral halite.
Sourdough Sourdough is bread leavened by wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria living in a fermented flour starter.
Sweetness of wine How residual sugar, acids, and alcohol determine wine sweetness, from legal dry limits to dessert styles like Tokaji and Sauternes.
Tannins Tannins are large, astringent biomolecules produced by plants that bind to proteins and force them out of solution.
Terroir Terroir describes how soil, slope, climate, and local microbes shape the distinct flavor of agricultural products like wine and cheese.
Ultra-processed food Ultra-processed foods are industrial formulations made with additives and modified ingredients that bypass standard digestion and satiety.
Vinegar Vinegar is an acidic liquid made by fermenting sugars into alcohol and then converting that alcohol into acetic acid.
Wine fault A wine fault is an unpleasant smell, taste, or appearance in a wine caused by chemical reactions or microbial spoilage.
Yeast Yeast is a single-celled fungus that survives and reproduces by consuming sugars for energy.