Vanilla beans are a lot harder to grow than you'd think. Did you know that the vanilla vine only blooms one day a year? If a vanilla farmer isn't there on the spot to pollinate them by hand (a tricky process), he won't see any vanilla beans. And even if he does, there's a lot of processing to go through before the flavoring is usable. But vanilla is one of the most popular spices in the world, found in at least 18,000 different products. You might be surprised to learn that the majority of the vanilla we consume today doesn't even come from vanilla beans.

In the late 19th century, scientists figured out how to derive vanillin—the dominant compound that gives vanilla its signature aroma—from less expensive sources. These included eugenol (a chemical compound found in clove oil) and lignin, which is found in plants, wood pulp and even cow feces. Today, about 85 percent of vanillin comes from guaiacol that’s synthesized from petrochemicals. This isn’t something many of us realize, because labeling can be confusing.

In short, vanilla is the plant. Vanillin is one of up to 250 chemical compounds that make up the flavor we know as vanilla. The Food and Drug Administration broadly defines “natural flavors” as those derived from “a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material … whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.” Artificial flavoring, on the other hand, is defined as being derived from substances outside of those parameters—even if the chemical composition of the two products are similar.

So a product containing "natural" vanilla might come from something other than vanilla beans. However, producing vanilla beans is still a lucrative business. Read about the history and the process of producing vanilla at Smithsonian.

(Image credit: tirados joselito)

Los Angeles is a lot like New York in that both cities represent the American melting pot, where people of all races, religions and nationalities coexist and share their culture's wares, fashion and delicious food creations.

This multicultural cohabitation often leads to a sharing of ideas as well, and in L.A. that sharing leads to the creation of amazing hybrid foods, like the Lobster Elote or Clam Chowder Fries.

But there's one big problem for foodies who want to try these fantastic hybrid foods- they're only served at one or two places in town.

The Lobster Elote is sold by the Latin-Asian fusion food truck Dos Chinos, who also have a stall at the 4th Street Market in Santa Ana, while Chowder Fries are sold at Slapfish Restaurant locations throughout the city.

And if you're going to drive all over town to try the new hybrid food hotness you've gotta stop by Röckenwagner Bakery, where they're serving up the heavenly Crö-Dough-

Made with Rockenwagner’s croissant dough (the fat content was adjusted to make it crispier), the Crö-Dough is filled with pastry cream, the top is coated in a thick sugar glaze, and there’s even more sugar around the pastry, much like the Cronut. You can pull apart the layers, savoring each one individually, if you can stand it. Most people finish this thing in a couple of bites.

Read Where To Find Clam Chowder Fries, Pizza Dumplings and more Hybrid Foods here

Beer has always played an important role in human history and over the last fifty years or so, the craft beer revolution has changed the face of brewing as we know it. Food and Wine recently compiled a list of the most important craft beers ever made and the list is fascinating because it's not based on taste or popularity, but only on the brew's role in the history of craft beer. Even if you don't actually drink, it's still an interesting look at how brewing has changed over the years.

So check out the full list at Food and Wine

Playing with your food is fun, but using a vacuum chamber to play with your food means you're using science to play with your food- making it fun for both your brain and your eyeballs!

We've seen how vacuum chambers affect popular marshmallow candies like Peeps, warping them in all kinds of funny ways, but nothing shows the pressures of that vac-cha life quite like a giant marshmallow gummy bear.

(YouTube Link)

The Vacuum Chamber channel created this sweet video so we can see what happens when a poor gummy bear finds itself trapped in a mad food scientist's laboratory.

-Via Laughing Squid

We've seen burgers built inside of pizzas and burgers with pizza toppings, but at Los Angeles' new Meathead restaurant, you can instead get a burger with an actual pizza as the bun. While the burger in the picture has all kinds of fancy toppings on it like kimchi and bulgogi, you can get a pizza bun on just about any burger they serve, including more classic meat, cheese and pickle varieties or on monster ones topped with bacon and onion rings.

Via Food Beast

Pop Tarts are a great snack, but there's no denying that they're just missing something to make them the perfect snack. Fortunately, Oh Bite It figured out exactly what they needed -bacon, deep frying and gooey, fresh frosting. 

The recipe is pretty simple -just wrap your Pop Tart in bacon, deep fry it and then add frosting and sprinkles. Check out the full details on their page.

You may have seen one of the trendy fancy wedding cakes that incorporated a sugar crystal geode, but this goes a step further. Alex Yeatts created what appear to be natural geodes, but they're entirely edible! Just watch him crack open this amethyst:

(Instagram link)

Yeatts worked for six months to perfect his chocolate and candy crystal geodes. See more images of Yeatts' edible geodes at Teen Vogue. -via Metafilter

Potatoes are the most versatile vegetable in your kitchen, as they can be used in both sweet and savory dishes, but most will agree the best potato dishes are either buttery or cheesy and easy to prepare.  

Which is why this recipe for Fondant Potatoes has been driving foodies crazy online for the last few years- it uses simple ingredients and takes very little prep time to make crusty, creamy and totally heavenly potatoes.

(YouTube Link)

See recipe for Fondant Potatoes here

-Via Shareably

Janelle Shane spent some time teaching a neural network how to generate recipes. She set it to learn from 30,000 existing recipes, but learning to cook is hard. After all, it can't taste the results. But even before the recipes are completed, it had a difficult time learning ingredients, measurements, and processes. The results are quite interesting. For example, here are some ingredients the machine suggests.

1 ½ teaspoon chicken brown water
1 teaspoon dry chopped leaves
1/3 cup shallows
10 oz brink custard
¼ cup bread liquid
2 cup chopped pureiped sauce
½ cup baconfroots
¼ teaspoon brown leaves
½ cup vanilla pish and sours
½ cup white pistry sweet craps
1 tablespoon mold water
¼ teaspoon paper
1 cup dried chicken grisser
15 cup dried bottom of peats
¼ teaspoon finely grated ruck

And this is a thing that it came up with repeatedly for some reason, and was quite adamant that I use:

1 cup plaster cheese

Shane also fed recipes into a different neural network that had already been trained on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 32 minutes. Test corners to see if done, as center will seem like the next horror of Second House.

Whip ½ pint of heavy cream. Add 4 Tbsp. brandy or rum to possibly open things that will never be wholly reported.

Cook over a hot grill, or over glowing remains of tunnel mouth.

With blender on high speed, add ice cubes, one at a time, making certain each cube is the end.

Dice the pulp of the eggplant and put it in a bowl with the vast stark rocks.

NOTE:  As this is a tart rather than a cheesecake, you should be disturbed.

She later fed her cooking network some text from H.P. Lovecraft to see what would happen. Yeah, that was just as funny. Read an archive of the experiments at Postcards from the Frontiers of Science. -via Metafilter 

When we sit down to enjoy a meal we use cutlery and dishware to help us eat more efficiently, which is why the stuff we eat with and off of hasn't changed much over the centuries.

But what if our cutlery could transform dining into an unique experience every time we eat?

The experimental cutlery and dishware sold by Jouw is designed to be functional yet artsy, really odd looking and equally fun(ky) to eat with, and sure to engage your mind every time you eat.

However, when you see the price of these pretty (strange) pieces of cutlery you may want to leave it on the shelf...and get it insured.

They're functional, engaging, and sure to spark lots of conversations, but boy are they expensive!

For instance, this Binocular Spoon Fork by Sergey Jivetin will look great on your table, but it will also set you back $1600 so don't go using it to eat Franks and Beans.

-Via Bored Panda

The Grim Reaper has many amazing abilities he/she/it uses to help travel across the globe and gather souls, but those powers don't make their life any less monotonous and exhausting.

And what good are a bunch of amazing powers if they're all for taking and not making?

Plus, as this Lunarbaboon comic shows, Death longs to bake and taste baked goods again, so if you aren't ready to go when Death shows up on your doorstep just get them to help you make some muffins!

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

A while back one of those "As Seen On TV" companies started selling a product that helps people cook eggs in a long rod shape, which seemed like a mighty strange shape for an egg.

I soon discovered the long egg is an integral part of the British fave raised pork and egg pie, aka Gala Pie, which is baked in a loaf pan with a long egg in the middle.

However, as delicious as the Gala Pie looks, it hardly seems like a dish you'll make often enough to justify buying a new kitchen gadget, but how can we make long eggs without one?

(YouTube Link)

This video by KeefCooks shows what a long, hard process it is to make a long egg without a device, and nearly a year later Keef returned with the definitive video on making totally tubular eggs.

(YouTube Link)

-Via Qoll

The following article is from the new book Uncle John’s Uncanny Bathroom Reader.

Did you know that you can keep eggs in your freezer? (There’s a trick to it.) Here are some tips on how to freeze foods you probably thought couldn’t be frozen, and how to better freeze the stuff you’re already freezing, preventing waste and saving money in the process.

(Image credit: Flickr user Beverly Vealach)

FRESH VEGETABLES

• Before freezing, chop raw vegetables to the size you are likely to use when cooking. Thawed vegetables are more difficult to chop.

• Vegetables tend to lose color, favor, texture, and even vitamins when they’re frozen, thanks to the activity of enzymes in the veggies. Blanching the vegetables (immersing them in boiling water for a short period of time) before freezing interrupts the activity of the enzymes, and will keep the frozen vegetables fresher longer.

• Blanching times vary from 11⁄2 minutes for peas and 11 minutes for large ears of corn; consult a cookbook for the correct amount of time for the vegetable you want to freeze.

• After blanching, quickly immerse the vegetables in cool water to prevent them from overcooking.

• Leafy greens, tomatoes, and watery vegetables like zucchini and squash can be frozen without blanching. If you plan on making zucchini bread, grate the zucchini before you freeze it.

GROUND MEAT

Photo: Farrah Skeiky

Forget mushrooms, this Mario prefers whisky!

Mockingbird Hill, a Washington DC sherry bar transformed itself into a Super Mario Bros. Pop Up Bar, complete with bartenders dressed as your favorite plumbers and decor that would make Princess Peach feel quite at home.

"It's A Me, Amario" drink Photo: Farrah Skeiky via Drink Company

Photo: Farrah Skeiky

The back room has a King Koopa's Castle theme - via Drink Company

Globo has a YouTube video clip of the Super Mario Pop Up Bar (alongside the cherry blossom-themed pop up bar next door):

Chefs who only serve raw and organic ingredients in their restaurants go out of their way to advertise that fact, turning their fresh food philosophy into a branding element.

They call their eatery something cute like "Organically Yours", put images of fresh fruits, veg and grain on all their advertising and include a long list of things their dishes are free of, such as hormones or gluten.

But chef Robbie Postma is an odd duck, so he skipped all the cheesy name games and went straight for the shock factor, posing for portraits while covered in raw ingredients from his kitchen.

With @robertharrisonphotography. . Next. A small serve captured from the great waters of the earth. When serving a multiple course menu, serve just enough to keep your guest gasping for more. . . . #thedevilisinthedetail #suppervillain #soupervillain #جنگ #seafood #concept #pictuer #fishfriday #conceptual #conceptart #conceptualphotography #vzcomood #vscocam #artisoninstagram #l0tsabraids #conceptphoto #humanedge #instagood #allshots_ #forbiddenart #featuremeofh #jaw_dropping_shots #igpodium #big_shotz #thecreatorclass #quietthechaos #whyconcept #marvelshots #capturedconcepts #art

A post shared by Robbie Postma (@robbie_postma) on Mar 9, 2017 at 10:24pm PST

MENU is a deliciously bizarre photo project created by Postma and photographer Robert Harrison, and these photos are so much more than just pics of some guy with food all over his face:

When creating these images, Postma and Harrison stuck to the same principles and values a chef would when creating a menu: paying a lot of attention to the details, the composition, the preparation and of course the ingredients. From cutlery to coffee bean, every component is painstakingly prepared to produce the ultimate effect. And every grain of rice was added by hand, without the aid of digital manipulation. MENU is hand crafted. Just like the best food.

MENU - The craft behind the project. from Tim Arnold on Vimeo.

-Via Laughing Squid