This week it’s been mostly bakery and pastry focussed. I learned a lot about cutting things, made a cake based on Pieometry (it was awesome), and researched buying a Ferrari.

The above image is the actual cake I made!

On to things I actually learned via AI this week:

Aloe vera chunks are the actual plant in the drink

Talking about the ones with the aloe cubes. Turns out those are the actual flesh of the aloe leaves. The only part that’s added is a firming agent, otherwise it would be too soft and the cubes would melt away. That firming agent is either calcium lactate (E327) or calcium chloride (E509).

Bathroom downlights have an agreed common size

If you see E63 on your downlight fixture, it’s an agreed upon industry decision. There’s no standard governing it. The point is that things remain interchangeable and you don’t need to saw into your ceiling every time you want to swap a downlight.

Buying a Ferrari is tough work

I am not buying a Ferrari, but the process involves getting a pre-purchase inspection done from one of the few marque specialist non-dealer garages.

A filled logbook from one of the above garages is worth more than a low mileage.

And the Ferrari 456 and 612 are good entry level stunning cars.

Flan tins have so many different features

Continental style fluted flan tins for example: they have a raised middle section, a wavy outer border, and a wall that spreads out, and a base that can release easily.

It makes life easier when making, and decorating a pie.

Gelatin does not play well with some fruits

Kiwis, papaya, mango, pineapple, ginger, figs. They all contain an enzyme that absolutely hates gelatin. To be chemically accurate:

Mechanistically, a cysteine protease works like this: the thiolate of that active-site cysteine, activated by a neighbouring histidine (the "catalytic dyad"), performs a nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl carbon of a peptide bond. That forms a covalent acyl-enzyme intermediate, the chain breaks, and water then hydrolyses the intermediate to release the enzyme, ready to cut again.

The enzymes:

• kiwi: actinidin, a cysteine protease

• pineapple: bromelain, also a cysteine protease

• papaya: papain: also cysteine protease

• fig: ficin: you guessed it, cysteine protease

• fresh ginger: zingibain, surprise, a cysteine protease

• mango: milder than the rest, no standout enzyme, but all in all, still cystein protease activity

Gelatin is mainly collagen, collagen is a protein. Cysteine protease degrades protein, ergo gelatin + cystein protease = wet mess of sloppyness.

Arrowroot based glaze laughs at your cysteine protease

Arrowroot, or cornflour glaze instead of gelatin does not care about this, because it works differently: starch gelatinisation.

Because it’s starch based, rather than protein, the enzymes can’t connect, and therefore won’t degrade it.

Blanching fruit can stop the gelatin degradation

Blanching is adding heat. Adding heat to an enzyme unfurls it, which means the molecule is no longer able to cut the proteins.

Tinned pineapple / mango and cooked pureés are therefore okay with gelatin.

To accurately cut a slab of pureé, use a guitar. Or a fancy pizza-wheel set

Guitar in the french sense: “guitare”. Like one of these: https://www.keylink.org/product/pg-mini-guitar-base-with-225mm-frame?id=SEM341&Frame%20Size=22.5mm%20frame.

You might have a hardboiled egg slicer: https://www.diy.com/departments/stainless-steel-boiled-egg-slicer-cutter-section-chopper-kitchen-tool/5056316768252_BQ.prd. That’s technically a “guitare” for your egg.

The other option is the fancy stailness steel set of adjustable rolling cutters: https://www.divertimenti.co.uk/products/pastry-cutter-expanding. You set the width, cut the slab, rotate 90 degrees, cut again, and you have perfect squares.

Or you gently mark the surface with a ruler, and then use a long knife in a single down motion to cut.

All right, this issue was mostly chemistry with a bit of mechanics involved.

As always, leave notes, feel free to reply, get your friends and family in on the fun of the newsletter, and have fun with your newfound weird and niche knowledge!

Loveyoubye! ❤️