Muzyka’s Musings

I just finished reading Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger.  As a chemist, I found it fascinating to learn so much about all the processes that are used to turn wheat into flour.  As a cook, I found it interesting to learn about the different kinds of wheat and hard wheat is better for bread flour while soft wheat is better for cake flour.  And I finally understand why cakes and pies made from all purpose flour just don’t taste right!

One process that was particularly interesting to me was how soybean oil is obtained from soybeans.  I had imagined it might be similar to the expreller pressing that happens with olives to make olive oil.  Instead, the soybean oil is extracted from the beans using a hydrocarbon solvent – kind of like using a Soxhlet extraction!  The amazing thing is that they do it on a factory scale, which is particularly dangerous since the extraction solvent is quite flammable.  So they have to have special equipment and even tools that don’t create any sparks!

Another process that I found interesting was the synthesis of leavening.  Ettlinger explained what is meant by the term “double acting” that I’ve seen on the baking powder containers all my life and wondered about a little.  He explained how calcium sulfate is mined in Oklahoma and how monocalcium phosphate is formed.  My mom would probably be distressed that the materials that are used for drywall and glass are the same ones that are used in Twinkies.  As a chemist, I had already assumed that to be the case.  What I didn’t realize is that some salts (sodium carbonate and calcium sulfate) are practically pure when they are mined from the ground.