Do Fatty Ice Creams Taste Better?

No. Contrary to conventional wisdom, most people can't tell the difference between high fat and lower fat ice creams.

In a series of taste tests, Penn State food scientists found participants unable to distinguish a 2 percent difference in fat levels in two vanilla ice cream samples in a 6 to 12 percent fat-level range. While participants were able to detect a 4 percent difference between ice cream with 6 and 10 percent fat levels, they could not detect a 4 percent fat difference in samples between 8 and 12 percent fat.

The researchers also found that fat levels did not significantly sway consumers' preferences in taste. The consumers' overall liking of an ice cream did not change when fat content dropped from 14 percent to 6 percent, for example.

The study challenge ice cream marketing that suggests ice cream with high fat levels are higher quality and better tasting products. Premium ice cream doesn't have to be high fat ice cream.

Sources: Journal of Dairy Science, Penn State News

Here's How To... Make Ice Cream

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Artwork: Ice Cream Poster

Is Corn on the Cob a Bad Food?

Yes, corn has plenty of starch. And Americans have more than a healthy portion of starch in their diets because they eat so many white potatoes, which account for 80 percent of all starchy vegetable consumption, as well as 25 percent of all the vegetables they eat. That’s a lot of potatoes.

Sweet corn's other worry is genetic modification. Almost all American field corn is genetically engineered to resist herbicides or to produce a proteins that kill insect pests.

But sweet corn is not the same as field corn and most of it is not genetically engineered, especially the varieties grown for fresh sales or sold in farmers markets.

And corn on the cob is a healthy treat in moderation, providing beneficial folate, beta carotene and thiamin along with other vitamins and minerals; it has more fiber than potatoes and contains zeaxanthin, an antioxidant that may protect against age-related eye disease, such as macular degeneration.

One medium-sized ear of corn has about 100 calories before the butter and salt. Make it healthier by using spray butter. Or, consider roasting cobs brushed with olive oil on the grill. Turn the cobs periodically and cook until the kernels are slightly charred. Instead of using salt, try pepper, garlic, or other herbs and spices for flavor.

Source: Ohio State University Extension

Farm Kitchen Guide to Corn
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Artwork: Corn on the Cob

Are Male Bell Peppers Better for Cooking?

Have you heard that male bell peppers are best for cooking? And that the females are sweeter but full of seeds?

Wrong! It's a myth. There are no male or female bell peppers; they have no gender.

Bell peppers grow from blossoms that have both male and female parts, and each pepper is produced through self-fertilization. These fruits of the pepper plant each contain ovaries that produce the seeds after pollination; those seeds will potentially become new pepper plants.

The bell pepper sex myth claims that male peppers have 3 lobes and female peppers have 4 lobes, which is how you find the sweeter females at the market.

Truth is, sweetness is more a factor of ripeness than sex. Bell peppers start out green, then ripen to yellow, then orange, then red, and in some cases turn purple. Thus red, orange, yellow, and purple bell peppers are generally sweeter than green bell peppers.

And the lobes on peppers are determined by growing conditions and genetics, so they don’t indicate the sweetness factor or sex of the pepper in any way.

Source: Ohio State University Extension

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