The Chemistry of Avocados

Anyone who’s ever purchased an avocado willtestify that, after taking several days to reach the point of perfect ripeness, they remain at that point for an incredibly short amount of time before morphing into a brown, sludgy mess. As if to confound this problem, if you do catch them at the ...

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The Chemistry of Jam-Making

If you’ve ever tried your hand at jam-making, you’ll know that it’s something of a tricky process. A number of factors need to be just right to achieve a perfectly set jam – and chemistry can help explain why. There are three key chemical entities that go into jam-making: sugar, pectin, and ...

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The Chemistry of Tomatoes

You may have previously come across the advice that tomatoes shouldn’t be refrigerated, but should be stored at room temperature, in order to maximise their flavour.To understand the reasoning behind this, we need to take a look at the chemical compounds that give tomatoes their flavour, and the ...

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The Chemistry of Candy

In this graphic, we look at the amazing versatility of sucrose, and how (combined with other ingredients) it can make candies as hard as lollipops, or as soft as fudge. Whilst there are a huge variety of candies available, we can actually divide them into just two main categories: crystalline and ...

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Constipation & Chewing Gum

Dried plums, more commonly referred to as prunes, have a reputation for being a good remedy for constipation. This is, in part, due to their high fibre content – but is there actually any proof for their efficacy? And if so, are there additional chemical reasons? This graphic takes a look at the ...

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This graphic comes off the back of a number of requests for it to be added to the ‘Aroma Chemistry’ series. The characteristic ‘new car smell’, as with the majority of entries in this series, can’t be pinned down to just one compound – rather, it’s a complex mixtureof chemicals that, combined, ...

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There are few things better than an ice cold beer on a hot day. Chances are, when you crack open a beer this summer, you probably won’t be thinking much about chemistry – but it’s the particular chemicals in beer, produced inthe brewing process, that give beer both its bitterness and ...

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With New Year’s Eve upcoming, a large number of people will celebrate by popping open a bottle of champagne. The bubbles in your glass may seem simple enough, but there’s actually a wealth of interesting chemistry behind them – chemistry that’s vital for the perceived taste and aroma of the wine. ...

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Es gibt kaum etwas Erwärmenderes als einen Becher Glühwein im tiefsten Dezember. Die exakten Rezepte können variieren, aber sie alle beinhalten einen gemeinsamen Kern von Zutaten, von denen jede etwas zum endgültigen Geschmack beiträgt. Diese Grafik untersucht einige der wichtigsten Chemikalien, ...

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Analytical Chemistry

Today’s graphic is one for the chemists, with a guide to chemical shifts in proton nuclear magnetic resonance.At first glance, for those without a background in chemistry, this may well look largely nonsensical – however, if you’re interested in learning a little more about how chemists can work ...

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