Pimentos start out in life as a variety of chili pepper called “cherry peppers.” Small and red (hence the name), they are sweeter than bell peppers and very mild, with the lowest Scoville scale rating of all the chilies.... READ ON

Of the many specialty items made for space travel, food was obviously a top priority. NASA commissioned several different companies to come up with freeze-dried snacks that the men could nosh on while in orbit, and the Whirlpool Corporation’s contribution was Neapolitan ice cream in a pouch. Coconut fat, sugar, milk solids and other ingredients were freeze-dried, ground and compressed into tasty cubes that were then coated with a layer of gelatin.“Astronaut ice cream" only went on one space... READ ON

Most people blame tryptophan, but that's not really the main culprit. So why do people have such a hard time staying awake after Thanksgiving dinner? And what is tryptophan, anyway? ... READ ON

Reader Joe writes in to say, I recently bought a bag of "dried plums" only to later learn that a delicious dried plum is the exact same as a horrible old prune. That got me thinking about prune juice, and wondering how it's possible to juice dried fruit!”... READ ON