Skip to Main Content

ESL Guide

College of Culinary Arts

  1. 10% Rule: A means of determining the minimum amount that can be weighed on a particular scale and have less than 10% error; minimum amount= readability x 10. Otherwise, you’ll get a number but it won’t necessarily be an accurate #
  2. 50% Rule: Used when making master batches; make two batches that are dramatically different in terms of one ingredient and then combine the master batches until the desired end result is achieved
  3. 5’ribonucleotides: A nucleotide freed from RNA; provide a savory or meaty flavor; synergistic; Ribotide contains disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate
  4. Acidified food: Have a PH of less or equal to 4.6, Aw of more or equal to 0.85, and are hermetically sealed; an example is marinara sauce sealed in a glass jar
  5. Agglomerated: Cook up or instant starch which has been specially processed to give granular agglomerates to improve dispersibility in liquids or to modify flow properties or density; a second material such as maltodextrin may be present to serve as binder or interparticle adhesive
  6. Anion: Negatively charged ion; e.g, CI-, OH-
  7. ASLT: Accelerated shelf life test; uses some means of accelerating the age of product; most common means of ASLT is heat (100 degrees F for a shelf-stable product); allows product evaluation in a timely fashion
  8. Autolyzed yeast: Produced by allowing the yeast’s enzymes to break itself (auto) down (lyse); will have a meaty/brothy taste as a result of 5’ribonucleotide and glumate
  9. Base note or Bottom note: Largest, heaviest molecules that are nonvolative; basic tastes and feeling factors; long-lasting richness; if it seems thin or weak’ it lacks bottom notes
  10. Bench-top: Made in the lab in small quantities; has to be reproducible
  11. Brown or reaction flavorings:Use heat to break down proteins’ fats’ and carbohydrates; examples= caramelized sugar’ roasted meat flavorings
  12. Capacity: Maximum amount that can be weighed on a given scale
  13. Cation: Positively charged ion; e.g, k+ Ca++, Na+, Mg+
  14. Centipoises: Abbreviated cP; a unit of measure of viscosity; higher cP = thicker liquid; most common measure of viscosity in the food industry
  15. CMC: Carboxymethycelluslose; a chemically modified form of starch
  16. Cold-pressed oil: Essential oil derived by pressing, with no heat applied; “truer” flavor
  17. Colloid: Refers to particles/molecules of a certain size (3-10nm); a particle/molecule that is larger than a sugar molecule and smaller than a visible particle; examples include getinized starch, casein proteins in milk, butter fat droplets in homogenized milk; cannot see or feel these particles but you can see the cloudiness/opacity they exhibit; they stay suspended and will not settle out
  18. Compounded flavor: Natural or artificial or a combination of both; larger combinations of quite a few basic ingredients
  19. Concept board: An idea board the contains information such as what a product will be marketed to, and how much it will cost; typically used in focus groups to see if a consumer would enjoy a particular product
  20. Control product (for shelf life study): Freshly made product using the same ingredients and same process (ideally); product should be stored at- 20 degrees F to 0 degree F; these are the conditions that best represent freshly made products
  21. Cross-linking (when chemically modifying starch): Makes the starch more tolerant of high temperatures, acidic PH, and shear; it helps to increase gelatinization temperature; can be completely resistant to heat/not cook out, creates a longer shelf life in the presence of acidity; can assist to get foods above the boiling point to kill bacteria (starch will survive the high heat)
  22. Culinology: The blending of culinary arts and food technology to produce cost effective, easy to use, restaurant quality foods for both the home consumer and restaurants
  23. Demographics: Segmenting people according to tangible aspects (age, income level, gender, etc.)
  24. Dietary supplement: Governed by the FDA; codes exits in 21 CFR; they are a separate category from “conventional foods”; they are intended to supplement the diet; contain one or more of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, botanicals, or other similar nutritional substances as an additive; includes ginseng, psyllium, enzymes, etc.; under U.S law you cannot indiscriminately add these to foods
  25. Distilled oil: Oil-soluble volatiles stripped from material by steam injection; then allowed to recondense as an essential oil; mostly top notes; non polar
  26. Divalent: Contains a charge of 2 either positive or negative; e.g, Mg++, Ca++
  27. Encapsulated: A flavor that is trapped inside a type of coating similar to “gelcap” medicines; they are protected from the environment so they don’t become damaged; examples of coating include proteins, high-meting fats, an maltoxtrins; examples of things to be encapsulated are iron and vitamin C
  28. Essence: Water-soluble volatiles evaporated and recondensed or “captured” as liquid (distilled); top notes; easily comes off of fruit juices; OJ concentrate evaporates off top notes, try to recapture and bottle separately
  29. Fast casual: Panera, Chipotle, etc. where it is slightly more upscale than quick service but slightly quicker than casual dining restaurants
  30. Flavor (and the three components of): Basic taste, aroma, and trigeminal effects; aroma is the most important/ satisfying to consumers
  31. Flavor enhancer: Are commonly added to commercially produced food products (eg. Frozen dinners, instant soups, snack foods) to make them taste more savory; another name for flavor potentiator; most of them add flavor without necessarily having a flavor of their own; examples are monosodium glutamate, salt, 5’ribonucleotides, and sugar
  32. Flavor library: Every flavor house has an inventory called a “library”; includes raw materials and compound flavors; in the same way that a chef would combine ingredients to make a curry, a flavorist uses ingredients from the flavor library to make his own blends
  33. Flavoring: One of three types of ingredients that are added to food, can be natural ingredients, synthetic chemicals, or compounded flavors (which are natural, artificial, or combination)
  34. Flavorist: Flavor chemist; a chemist wit 7+ years apprenticeship creating (compounding) flavorings by combining aromatic ingredients; can recall and describe characteristics of a wide range of flavors; a “nose”
  35. Focus group: Small group of 8-14 consumers who participate in consumer testing of new products or concept boards
  36. Food scientist: M.S or Ph.D. in a focused area such as food science, food chemistry, or food microbiology; has a research oriented background
  37. Food technologist: B.S in Food Science and Technology; typically takes courses in general chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry, physics, calculus, statistic, food microbiology, food chemistry, food processing, food engineering, and product development
  38. Freeze-thaw study: An experiment for predicting the stability of a frozen food during its shelf life. Generally involves cycling a product in temperature 5-7 times. For each cycle, product is warmed by 15 F or more, or help warm for a given period time. Product isn’t necessarily thawed completely but is brought to a certain temperature for a certain length of time. Product is refrozen between cycles, usually for a minimum of 24 hours.
  39. Galactomannan: Example: guar gum. Locust bean gym (carob gum); structure: mannose backbone with galactose side chains; Health benefits: dietary fiber (soluble), lowers cholesterol; sources: locust bean, etc; higher ratio of galactose: mannose= more water soluble; carob gym requires heat to disperse it
  40. Gantt chart: A chart that identifies what needs to be done, who’s doing it, and by when; also known as a project timeline
  41. GMPs/cGMPS: Good manufacturing practices, a set of bylaws that the food industry must live by when producing food for mass consumption
  42. Gold standard: A prototype that represents your sensory goal; got; not usually feasible; no regards to cost of feasibility, but still needs to be reproducible
  43. GRAS: Generally recognized as safe; examples include salt and benzoate as food preservatives
  44. Hermetically sealed: A seal which, for practical purposes, is considered aright; tin cans and jars are considered hermetic seals
  45. Hydrocolloid: Colloidal sized particles that are highly attracted to water 1) gum (more common usage) 2) gums, starches, and gelatins (more generally)
  46. Hydrolysate: Byproducts of the hydrolysis reaction; contains free glumate, peptides, peptide bonds; source of protein must be specified; soy sauces are combination of soy and wheat; example is Dr. Bragg’s
  47. Hydrolusis: Breakage of covalent bonds by adding water across the bond; through heat, acid, enzymes, fermentation; breaks covalent peptide bonds to release free amino acids; gives umami flavor
  48. Ideation session: A brainstorming session involving the marketing staff, R&D staff, and sometimes consumers
  49. IFT: Institute of Food Technologists, www.ift.org. Username: pfigoni, Password: CUL4165
  50. Industrial supplier: Supplies ingredients to companies that produce consumer packaged goods; same as ingredient supplier
  51. Ingredient supplier: Supplies ingredients to companies that produce consumer packaged goods; same as industrial supplier
  52. Interim assembly: A product or ingredient that needs to be mixed or processed before the final product can be assembled; also called premix or preblend
  53. Line loss: Product that gets lost though the line that you can’t sell; for class is defined as 2.0%; adjust the yield values by subtracting this amount
  54. Low-acid food: Have a pH of more than 4.6, Aw of more than 0.85, and are hermetically sealed; and example is chopped garlic in water, sealed in a glass jar
  55. Mall-intercept test: Market research companies wait at the mall; if you look like the target market, they’ll stop you about new products
  56. Mater batch: The combination of all ingredients common to all test products
  57. Metabolic Lab: Nutrition research foundation or university; creates and produces menu items for nutrition studies
  58. Middle note: Follow top notes in a flavor profile; produced by chemical compounds that
    59. evaporate slowly (usually because they are large and heavy); provide a satisfying “staying power” to flavor
  59. Modified food starch: Chemically modified; certain chemicals are allowed and are defined by FDA
  60. Molecular gastronomy: A combination of culinary arts and food technology’s; is different from culinology because it applies food science and culinary arts for food as entertainment in expensive restaurants (e.g., Ferran Adria, El bulli)
  61. Monovalent: Contains a charge of 1 either positive or negative; e.g., Na+, K+, C-
  62. Native starch: Not chemically modified
  63. Oleoresin: Flavor components “extracted” with solvent; solvent removed by evaporation; contains some nonvolatile but has a loss of some top notes
  64. Organoleptic: Sensory evaluation; to evaluate a product based on its appearance, flavor, texture
  65. Polyol: Sugar alcohols; helps things to be labeled “sugar free”
  66. Pooled ingredients: Combining ingredients with different lot numbers, use by dates, ets. In the hopes of potentially creating systematic error rather than random error
  67. Protocept: Taking a description and turning it into a tangible product; chefs often create the gold standard; examples of this include the first time that a product is produced from its concept, such as my group trying to make chicken tortilla soup
  68. Prototype: Any test product made bench top
  69. Pseudoplastic: Another name for shear-thinning; increased shear/agitation decreases the viscosity (it appears thinner)
  70. Psychographics: Segmenting people according to behavior, thought process, min-set, etc.
  71. Q10: How a change in temperature affects the rate of spoilage; a measure of how the rate of a chemical or biochemical reaction (and rate of microbial growth) is affected by change in temperature of 10 C (15 F); rule of thumb is assume that Q10 is 2 unless you know otherwise; for every increase in temperature of 10 C, the rate of reaction will double and the shelf life will be cut in half
  72. QSR: Quick service restaurant; fast food
  73. Qualified health claim: Found under dietary supplement regulations in 21CFR; less stringent than regular regulation; qualified health claims are ones that don’t meat the rigorous standards required for conventional foods
  74. Qualitative test: Focus groups; provide data in the form of words and thoughts regarding new products
  75. Quantitative test: Consumer surveys; provide data in the form of numbers regarding new products
  76. R&D lab: Develops food products; executes shelf life studies; arranges for sensory tests; defines products specifications; assists with process development
  77. RCA: Research Chefs Association, www.culinology.com Username: rca; Password: innovate
  78. Readability (of a scale): The weight increment that a scale reads in; the increment is displayed on the panel. If the readability is 5 it will give you readings of 5, 10, 15, 20 etc. Smaller readability leads to increased precision/sensitivity. D= scale division.
  79. Retherm: Research chef term, means to heat up reheat
  80. Retort: Pressure cooker; heats up to 240 F to kill spore-forming bacteria
  81. Retrogradation: Also called “setup”; the reassociation of starch molecules through hydrogen bonding as a product cools; it precipitates and forms a gel; 3 applications 1)sauce—looks curdled or lumpy or pulpy; extreme, it will completely gel 2) gel—tighter, spongier or rubbery w/syneresis 3) baked good – staling (a dry, hard, crumbly texture)
  82. Rework: Deals with product specifications; if product does not meet current specifications it mist either be “reworked” to meet the specs or discarded
  83. Rheology: Study of the deformation and flow properties of materials (food products); deformation = retention of shape when force is applied; also known as texture; flow properties= viscosity of fluids
  84. Shear: Agitation chemical engineering term refers to different ways product can be moved through a plant; high shear – blender, food processor, pumps in a food processing plant (can damage native starches); low shear – ricer
  85. Shear- thinning: Most shear thinning gum = xanthan gum ;increased shead/agitation decreases the viscosity (it appears thinner); the mouth provides a high- shear atmosphere
  86. Substitution (when chemically modifying starch): Prevents retrogradation and syneresis especially at low temperatures (refrigeration, freezing); lowers the gelatinization temperature, cooks out quickly; improves clarity because starch cooks out more easily; also known as stabilization
  87. Syneresis: “weeping” or “watering out” in a food product results from any gel tightening or breaking; gel could be starch or protein
  88. Target market: Who a product is being aimed at; can be a particular demographic or psychographic group
  89. Test kitchen: Develops recipes and menu items; styles food photography; writes instructions for product use; completes
    90. performance/tolerance test; keeps up on food and consumer trends; assists with costing; defines product specifications
  90. Thermally: irreversible gel: Does not melt or thin out at high temperatures; e.g, calcium/algin gel or calcium pectin gel
  91. Thermally reversible gel: Softens or melts at high temperatures; e.g, gelatin, carageenan
  92. Top note: Provide the first impression of a product’s flavor; smells that define; instant impact and when a product is described as being low in top notes
  93. Variable, dependent: Changes as the independent variable changes; one week 1 exercise the bake time is the dependent variable
  94. Variable, independent: Type or amount of ingredient or process change; what is intentionally changed in an experiment; called “variable” in food science; on week 1 exercise it is the ratio of milk to cream
  95. Water activity (aw): An indication or measure of the availability of water to take part in chemical and biochemical reactions and microbial growth; goes from 0.0-1.0 (0.0 is oil, 1.0 is pure water); this does not directly correlate to % moisture; textbook definition is(partial pressure above food product)/(partial pressure of pure water)
  96. WOMF: “with other natural flavors”