By Chef Colin Roche, MBA, CEC, CCE, FMP, CHE

Plants often have beautiful colors that add interest and appeal to meals. Their pigments, however, are affected by acid and alkaline, so care should be taken to cook them properly.

Here is an experiment you can do in your culinary labs to show students the effects of acid and alkaline on vegetable pigment.

The Lesson: “Alkalis / Acid Experiment” 

Directions: Break the class into groups and have them gather the following vegetables. (Instructor should demonstrate how to prep each product.)

Disparate mindsets of post-recession consumers will shape restaurant-industry recovery and growth, reports NPD.

Consumers are of two different mindsets when it comes to spending—those who cannot spend freely and those who can—and the dichotomy between these two mindsets will shape the restaurant industry now and into the future, according to new foodservice market research by The NPD Group, a leading market-research company.

The recently-released report, entitled “The Changing Consumer Mindset: What it Means to the Restaurant Industry,” shows the broad-reaching effects the recession had on consumer behavior and thinking and the difference between consumers who are more cautious and control their spending and those who are optimistic and feel economically stable.

By John Paul Khoury, CCC, www.preferredmeats.com, www.preferredmeatsblog.com

Now at Tyler Florence’s Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco, Thiemann thrives on energy and is having fun.

From a kid playing drums in a Sacramento band to just over a decade later being Tyler Florence’s chef de cuisine at the Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco, Mike Thiemann’s journey has been a series of choices that he felt driven to make. He took time out of his schedule to explain:

What drew you to the industry and why become a chef?
Well, it was 1995 and I was a just a kid playing drums in a band when I got a job at Greta’s Café in Sacramento. What a great job, I learned so much under Greta. I started washing dishes and then ended up in the deli, then baking, making soups, etc.

This is where I learned to sweat off mirepoix, and making soup from scratch, building flavors. It was great, like school really, I mean this is how anyone really learns. I was there for five years, until 2000 when the place was sold to Chipotle’s.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Activities, books and conferences are just three ways to spark your own learning and experience personal and professional growth this summer.

Last month, we discussed using field trips and site visits effectively, and now that the summer months are here, it is time to consider how we replenish our information bank, our instincts and our personal and professional insights. We will discuss the ABCs and the DEF’s of professional development, this month the ABCs—activities, books, and conferences—and next month the DEFs. What better time to think about your professional development when so many of our students are graduating and moving into new phases of their lives. A great time to consider new beginnings in our lives and what we can or want to do to make these new beginnings grow and prosper!

By Kim Reddin, courtesy of the National Onion Association

Onions provide color and texture to a dish, but their flavor is what really makes them irresistible and virtually irreplaceable in the kitchen. From raw to caramelized, the flavor of an onion has many layers.

Onion Production
Commercially grown in 20 states from coast to coast, onions are the third-largest fresh-vegetable industry in the United States; Idaho-Eastern Oregon, Washington and California are the leading production areas.  The National Onion Association estimates that fewer than 1,000 U.S. farmers plant more than 142,000 acres of onions each year. Americans consume nearly 20 pounds of onions per capita annually.

Flavor Factors
Onion flavor is determined by many factors including genetics, planting location, soil and temperature.  While compounds such as sugars and organic acids can contribute to what people taste, a special class of biologically active organosulfur compounds is what actually give onions their distinctive flavor and aroma.