The nature and structure of crumpets [research studies]

Remarkably, given the extensive scientific literature on bread-making, there is very little recorded research on crumpet-making. If you’re not familiar with the crumpet, here is an introduction from one of the few formal crumpet studies, performed by Professor Pyle of Reading University, UK, c. 2005. “Crumpets are, it seems, a particularly British product. They are […]

‘The Archers’ in academia (UK radio soap conference 2017)

‘The Archers’ is the world’s longest-running radio soap opera. Although the BBC has been transmitting it in the UK for more than 60 years now, it’s only recently been gaining traction in the academic world. See, for example, the 2017 “The Archers in fact and fiction: Academic analyses of life in rural Borsetshire* ” conference […]

Advertisements for desserts – should they include bite marks?

Those in the business of marketing desserts might be interested in new research from Donya Shabgard at the University of Manitoba, US, who has investigated, possibly for the first time, the influence of an advertisement’s dessert portrayal on consumer perceptions of desirability. Specifically, should advertisements show desserts with a bite taken out of them or […]

Advanced Techniques for Monitoring Changes in Sponge Cakes

Comes news of an advance in Sponge Cake research: “Monitoring Changes in Sponge Cakes during Aging by Front Face Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Instrumental Techniques,” Eliot Patrick Botosoa, Christine Chénè, and Romdhane Karoui, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemisrty, 2013, 61 (11), pp 2687–2695. (Thanks to investigator Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.) The […]