ADN

What's the difference between the Sun-dried and Golden varieties?
We all know what they are.

Dried out grapes.

No big secret here.

But what is the difference between the Golden and Sun-Dried varieties?

I know what you're thinking - color.

Well, that's pretty obvious - the golden ones are, well, golden. The sun-dried types are typically dark brown to black.

I'm talking about what makes them different.

It turns out that both types of raisins are usually made from the same exact grapes - Thompson Seedless - the same seedless ones that you buy in the supermarket.

The real difference is in the processing.

But first, a little background: Grapes have been used for human consumption for many centuries, long before the birth of Christ.

They were of particular value in the Middle East. After all, the desert is a hot place. Grapes dry out and give a nice tasty raisin. The raisins would keep indefinitely without spoiling, making them a choice food among the wanderers of the day.

Of course these grapes, and therefore the raisins, had seeds in them. The seedless type weren't a part of nature in those days.

No matter what type of raisin you consume, they start out with about 78% water content. After drying, the water content is reduced to around 15%. Go too far and you have a hard rock!

As a result, it takes between four and five pounds of grapes to make one pound of raisins.

Now to answer the question: What is the difference between the Golden and Sun Dried raisins?

Not much.

The Sun Dried are seedless grapes that are placed on paper trays and allowed to - you guessed it - dry in the sun! This process takes 2-3 weeks and produces the dark raisins that we are all familiar with.

To make the Golden variety, they bathe the grapes in warm water and place them in wood trays. Warm air is then blown through the grapes to dry them quickly. This process is called the "Spa Treatment" and takes about 24 hours.

Unfortunately, the Spa Treatment can also produce dark raisins, so a bit of modern technology is used.

The raisins are treated with sulfur dioxide prior to drying to preserve the golden color.

So you have a choice - tasty golden raisins that have been chemically treated or the less tasty sun dried ones that have avoided man's magic potions.

It's a tough decision, but most of us go for the Sun Dried varieties (the cheaper ones!).

That red tomato is really green!
Do you remember the tomatoes that you ate when you were a kid? They were bright red, juicy, soft, and tasted great.

Have you bought one in the supermarket lately?

Not quite that tasty tomato of days past.

In fact, you are likely to find that the tomatoes are hard, lack any juice, and are virtually tasteless.

What the heck happened?

There are several things going on here:

Yuk Reason #1 - The red tomatoes are really green tomatoes! (Yes, you read it correctly) It's no magic trick, but a feat of modern science.

Ripe tomatoes are very soft, so they are picked green. Instead of letting them ripen, however, they are piled into a gas house and exposed to ethylene gas.

Why ethylene gas? This is the same chemical that the tomato gives off internally when allowed to naturally ripen. The gassing tricks the tomato into producing that nice red color. It looks ripe to us, but it's not.

Yuk Reason #2 - Home cooks and restaurants have told the growers that they wanted a firmer tomato. They don't want a mushy tomato - they want a firm one. A harder tomato means less juice - and a less appetizing salad veggie. Too bad they didn't ask the consumer.

Yuk Reason #3 - Supermarkets want a tomato that looks good. No one wants to buy a damaged or bruised specimen, so the tomato producers have bred a tough skinned tomato so that it looks good on the grocer's shelves.

So what do we get from modern science ? A tomato that has a great red color, is firm to the knife blade, and looks good.

What we really get is a tomato that is actually green, not ripe, hard as a rock, tasteless, and downright awful.

We must be sure to thank the modern farmer for this desirable piece of produce. It's exactly what I wanted (ha ha).

- No president of the United states was an only child.

- Marilyn Monroe had 6 toes on one foot.

- Elvis had a twin brother named Aaron, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron: in honor of his brother. It is also misspelled on his tomb stone.

- The the oldest living thing on earth is 12,000 years old. It is the flowering shrubs called creosote bushes in the Mojave Desert.

- Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

- The South Pole was reached for the first time on 14 December 1911 by a team of explorers led by Roald Amundsen.

-Julius Caesar was the first to encode communications, using what has become known as the Caesar Cipher.

- In 1969 the US launched a male chimpanzee called Ham into space.

- The first written account of the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, was made in 565AD.

- All pyrimids were bright white.

- GODZILLA was named after an island deity. The creature's Japanese name, "Gojira" actually means "Gorilla/Whale".

- RODAN's name was changed for the United States? Originally, it was named RADON, but at the time of release there was a soap powder company in America called RAY DAWN. So RADON became RODAN!

- There was a Spanish Dracula. In 1931 during the filming of the original, they made a Spanish version using the same sets! The English used the sets in the daytime and the Spanish used them at night!

- The first woman to be tortured on the rack was Ann Askew of England. She lived during the reign of Henry VIII, and was one of the queen's ladies in waiting. She was also a Catholic in a Protestant court. She was stretched for an hour an a half! When released she campaigned against the church. Henry had her burnt at the stake, but she couldn't stand up so he had a sack of gunpowder put around her neck!

Wow....those are useless...

I think they're good to know...Good stuff to me... :w00t:

sorry Rim i didn't get a shit of what you said i still cant manage your avatar, CDR

Red is the most commonly colored vehical involved in accidents each year.

- Cows have four stomachs.

- Cows and horses sleep standing up.

- If you get the recomended 8 hours of sleep each night you will sleep over 2,900 hours each year.

- The average family will spend $250,000 (thats a quarter million dollars) on each child from the time he/she is born until he/she turns 18.

- The oldest person to live was Jeanne Louise Calment, she lived for a whopping 122 years until she died of smoking related complications. Don't Smoke!

- If your like Jeanne Calment and live over 100, you are considered a Centurian.

- Christopher Columbus was the greatest explorer NEVER to discover America. In fact, he didn't even come close.

- There are, on average, 259 raisins in a box of Raisin Bran and 388 in a box of Premium Raisin Bran.

- There is no ice covering Iceland.

- MacDonalds fries are made with beef flavoring. mmmmmmm.

- The internet is NOT FREE, a group of companies actually own the internet.

- Latin is a dead language.

- Dolplins are the only other mamals besides humans that have sex for fun.

- Dogs can't decifer size. Thats why little dogs are mean.

- The swastika was origionaly a symbol of peace and honor and is still used by Buddhists today.

- Bart Simpson's voice on the Simpsons is actually done by a woman, Nancy Cartwright.

- Giraffe's tongues are 22 inches long and black with pink dots.

- Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

- The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

- "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

- In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.

- The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

- There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

- Shakespeare invented the words "assassination" and "bump."

- Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

- The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.

- American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

- The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

- Vatican City is the smallest country in the world with a population of 1,000 and a size of 108.7 acres.

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was
Either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington
showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs," therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year! (May and October) Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. The wigs couldn't be washed, so to clean them theycould carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy. Hence the term "big wig." Today we often use the term "here comes the Big Wig" because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large room with only
one chair. Commonly, a long wide board was folded down from the wall
and used for dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair
while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Once in a while, a guest
(who was almost always a man) would be invited to sit in this chair during a
meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. Sitting
in the chair, one was called the "chair man." Today in business we use
the expression or title "Chairman" or "Chairman of the Board."

Needless to say, personal hygiene left much room for improvement.
As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told †™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬†™¢¢¬‚¦‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦¢‚¬Å“mind your own bee's wax.†™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬?

Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack
a smile.†™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬? Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt and
therefore the expression "losing face."

Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly
tied lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady as in "straight laced"

Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a
tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "Ace of
Spades." To avoid paying the tax; people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards; these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck."

Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine
what was considered important to the people? Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times.†™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬? You go sip here" and "You go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thuswe have the term "gossip."

At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and
quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in †™ ¢‚¬„¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¢†™‚¢‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦‚¡¢‚¬Å¡‚¬†™¢¢¬‚¦‚¢¢¢‚¬Å¡‚¬¦¢‚¬Å“quarts," hence the
term "minding your "P's and Q's."

In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters
carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was
necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon, but how to prevent them fromrolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square basedpyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, whichrested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem...how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations? But, if this plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than ironwhen chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brassIndentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right offthe monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough to freeze theballs off a brass monkey."