Food Science

Archaeologists discovered 300 sealed pottery jugs in the wreckage.

Roman-Era Ship Was Carrying Jugs Full of Fish Sauce When It Sank 1,700 Years Ago

Discovered in the summer of 2019, the Ses Fontanelles wreck likely ran aground sometime during the fourth century

Scientists experimented with planting tomatoes, peas and carrots together and separately in several types of soil.

An Ancient Maya Practice Could Be the Key to Growing Vegetables on Mars

Researchers are exploring whether intercropping—a technique of growing different types of plants in close proximity to one another—could be the secret to agriculture on the Red Planet

A number of people deserve credit for the birth of the Pop-Tart.

The Contentious History of the Pop-Tart

In the 1960s, two cereal giants raced to develop a toaster pastry

Farmer Robert Tomlinson harvests forced rhubarb by candlelight on his farm in Pudsey, near Leeds in northern England, in January 2022. 

The English Farmers Who Harvest Rhubarb by Candlelight

The secret to the world’s sweetest rhubarb? Sealed sheds, total darkness and a little old-fashioned flair

A bright spot for sake is in America. In 2022, according to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, the U.S. was the No. 1 export market in terms of volume and second market in value for sake. 

An American-Made Sake Movement Is Underway

In the last decade, a truly homegrown effort has bubbled up in the United States

A new machine learning model may be able to help brewers save time and money on consumer trials, make more consistent products and improve their recipes, scientists say.

Can A.I. Make Beer Taste Better? Scientists Test a Model That Recommends New Flavors

Researchers spent three years developing a machine learning model that can predict how good beer will taste based on its chemical composition—and make suggestions for how to improve it

The scientists studied more than 4,600 Burmese and reticulated pythons on farms in Vietnam and Thailand.

Python Meat Could Be a Sustainable, Nutritious Food Source, Scientists Say

The snakes may be some of the most resource-efficient animals to farm on the planet, a new study suggests

Not many home cooks are aware that pasta’s nutritional value is affected by its preparation.

Your Ten-Step Guide to Cooking the Perfect Pasta, Including How to Salt the Water

Following these pieces of advice from chefs will ensure tastier, more nutritional noodles for all

Camembert and other French cheeses may eventually disappear.

These French Cheeses Are at Risk of Extinction

A lack of microbial diversity could eventually spell the end of cheeses like Camembert

Wasabi, which is commonly eaten with sushi, is also an effective preservation tool.

How Wasabi Can Help Preserve Ancient Papyrus

Researchers say the green horseradish-like paste can fight fungal infections without damaging fragile pigments

Minerals and algae form patterns in the scalding hot water at Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park's Midway Geyser Basin. Yellowstone National Park has more than 10,000 thermal features, making it the largest concentration of active geysers in the world.

How a Microbe From Yellowstone's Hot Springs Could Help Feed the World

A Chicago startup has turned a fungus found by NASA into a protein-packed food

Farmers have shown a renewed interest in planting coffee in the shade of other plants. The resulting farms are visited by a multitude of creatures from ants to birds to bats.

How Shade Coffee Aids Conservation

When managed in the right way, the farms that provide our morning brew can be a refuge for plant and animal biodiversity

Plastics break down over time into micro- and nanosized particles that litter our water and air.

One Liter of Bottled Water May Contain 240,000 Tiny Plastic Fragments

A new technique reveals that the liquid may contain 10 to 1000 times more plastic pieces than previously thought

What makes cheddar so good? A community of microorganisms working in harmony.

What Makes Cheddar Cheese Taste So Good?

After a year-long cheddar-making experiment, scientists have unraveled the microbial underpinnings of the cheese's buttery flavor

While they chew their cud, reindeer brains shift into a state of non-REM sleep.

Reindeer Sleep and Eat Simultaneously, Saving Precious Time in the Short Arctic Summer

While the animals chew their cud, they also enter a state of rest

Malus sieversii is a wild apple native to the mountains of southern Kazakhstan.

Saving the Apple's Ancient Ancestor in the Forests of Kazakhstan

Found in the Tian Shan mountains, <em>Malus sieversii</em> could hold the secret to making other species of the fruit more stress-resistant

Adding water to beans before grinding them can help produce a more flavorful brew and cut down on mess, according to a new study.

This Simple Trick Will Help You Brew Better Coffee, According to Scientists

New research explores how moisture affects static electricity and clumping of ground coffee beans

Smithsonian&#39;s picks for the best books about food of 2023 include Invitation to a Banquet, For the Culture: Black Women and Femmes in Food and More Than Cake.

The Ten Best Books About Food of 2023

Travel to Rome, Alaska, West Africa and beyond with this year’s best cookbooks, memoirs and historic deep dives

Pepper X, the world&#39;s hottest pepper

The World Has a New Hottest Pepper

Pepper X is three times spicier than the previous record-holder, the Carolina Reaper

If you want to cut meat out of your diet but are having a hard time, a new study suggests your genetics may be responsible.

Maintaining a Vegetarian Diet Might Be in Your Genes

New research has identified three genes that are strongly linked to vegetarianism and 31 others that might also play a role in sticking to a meatless diet

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