Food & cooking
16 ideas, each explained on one page with a 60-second lesson you can play right there.
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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.
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Alcohol by volume
Alcohol by volume measures the ethanol in a beverage, defined by pure ethanol volume over total solution volume at 20 °C.
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Aroma of wine
Wine flavor is mostly smell sensed by the olfactory bulb, originating from odorless grape compounds unlocked by fermentation and aging.
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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.
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Capsaicin
Capsaicin is the chemical compound that gives chili peppers their heat by triggering heat receptors in mammals while leaving birds unaffected.
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Chili Peppers
Chili peppers are the berry fruits of plants in the genus Capsicum, part of the nightshade family.
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Fermentation
Fermentation is a chemical process where cells break down sugars to make energy without using oxygen.
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Habanero
Learn what the habanero pepper is, how capsaicin defends its seeds, where it originated, and how its heat works on the Scoville scale.
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Jalapeño
A jalapeño is a medium-sized chili pepper cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum, typically measuring 5 to 10 centimeters long.
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Oak (wine)
Oak is a type of wood used during winemaking to alter the color, texture, tannin profile, and flavor of wine.
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Piperine
Piperine is a plant compound known as an alkaloid that gives black and long pepper their pungent bite.
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Scoville Scale
The Scoville scale is a measurement system that rates the heat of chili peppers in units called Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
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Sweetness of wine
How residual sugar, acids, and alcohol determine wine sweetness, from legal dry limits to dessert styles like Tokaji and Sauternes.
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Tannins
Tannins are large, astringent biomolecules produced by plants that bind to proteins and force them out of solution.
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Terroir
Terroir describes how soil, slope, climate, and local microbes shape the distinct flavor of agricultural products like wine and cheese.
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Wine fault
A wine fault is an unpleasant smell, taste, or appearance in a wine caused by chemical reactions or microbial spoilage.