The one with all the facts

Let's start this off with the understanding that this post will not be about adventure.  It's been all of 12 hours since my last post what more do you want from me?!  I'm in this awesome house that's about a 20 minute walk from the nearest town which is about a half hour drive from Florence.  We tried!  We tried to go to Pisa/the Mediterranean yesterday but we missed the bus and we were going to try again today, but the time tables on Sundays are pretty crappy so the timing wouldn't work out.  So the most adventuring I've had since the last post (now that I'm finally caught up on all of the other adventures) was a little tennis.  Sorry, I'm slacking, I know.  So the plan now is to give you a story about our time at the gelato factory, all the fun facts about food from the past few lectures, a few pictures, and a video from the gelato and chocolate factories.  Hopefully that's sufficient.

Gelato factory: this place was pretty tiny so our group of 16 had to break up into two groups, one waiting outside under the tuscan sun (boom! movie reference) and the other one inside enjoying this Italian ice cream.  Once inside, you're greeted by a man who speaks pretty solid English, which is nice, it makes everything go faster.  So instead of hearing someone rambling on in what sounds like that language that sims speak and then getting the translation, you just skip straight to the real language.  So gelato guy (not cool enough to be an Uncle) explained that all of his ingredients are natural, that he makes his gelato for that day and the next and that's it.  In fact, he has to come in at 4 AM to start making all the gelato.  Also, I'm pretty sure he said that all of his gelato comes from the same cream base which tastes kind of like a milk shake (we got samples and I had to finish everyone's since the girls weren't down with the idea of chugging liquid fat and sugar...go figure.)  Also, pistachios, we learned, should make your ice cream this baby-poop-green color instead of that bright mint green color.

Alright!  On to the facts!

1. peanuts are technically not a nut...they're a legume!
2. Rye first arose as a weed in wheat and barley crops.
3. Ergot (also known as Holy fire or St. Anthony's fire) is a fungus (that grows on rye) that generates alkyloids that stimulate uterine muscles and hallucinations (because those go together?) and is similar to LSD (Lysurgic acid diethylamide) which was discovered in 1943 by Albert Hofmann.
4. In 1755 some English reference source described oats as "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."
5. Rice is the principle food for about 50% of the world's population, which is good since there are over 100,000 distinct varieties.
6. Sticky rice is sometimes called waxy, sweet, or glutinous rice.  It is not sweet and doesn't contain gluten...
7. Wild rice is not actually rice.
8. Raw rice carries bacteria which can produce gastrointestinal toxins and can survive cooking temperatures.  They can germinate in leftover rice that is not refrigerated.   
9. Dent corn is used to make grits...and horse feed.
10. Popcorn pops best at 380 degrees Fahrenheit.
11. Rice krispies are esentially glassy networks of rice that when placed in cold milk, experience stress fractures and breaks due to uneven contraction across the krispie.  This gives them their distinct sound.  Oh snap!...krackle and pop...
12. Everyone produces 1 quart of gas per day. Some of this is due to bean intake, there's a specific bacteria that breaks beans down into carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases.
13. Peanut butter was originally developed in 1890.
14. Brazil nuts contain high levels of selenium.  They are anti-cancer agents, but when consumed in large quantities (more than 5 ounces a day) it is toxic.
15. Harvesters of brazil nuts have to carry shields so they don't get concussions from nuts dropping out of the trees.  Seriously.
16. Cashews are never sold in their shells since the shell has properties similar to poison ivy.
17. Macadamia nuts are named in honor of John macadamia, a Scottish scientist, and close friend of the man who discovered the nuts.
18. To make beer or rice alcohols, you have to let the starchy grains sprout a bit or mold a bit before cooked, so the starch can be broken into sugars.
19. Flaming dishes are usually fueled by brandy or rum.  The food isn't actually burnt, the energy from the combustion of the alcohol is absorbed by the water in the brandy/rum.
20. Yeast producing alcohols can tolerate 20% alcohol concentration in their environment.  
21. Alcohol provides 5% of calories in the average American diet.
22. Your stomach absorbs alcohol before it can reach your intestines to be absorbed into your blood stream.  In men, about 30% of the alcohol is lost to the stomach while in women only 10% is lost to the stomach.  Yet another reason men can drink more than women.
23. Hypersensitivity to sound and light (during a hangover) may be leftover compensation for the depression of the nervous system.
24. Dry mouth and headache (during a hangover) are caused by dehydration.  Drinking coffee counteracts the constriction of cranial blood vessels, thereby helping with the headache. 
25. Long simmered stews retain 5% of the cooking alcohol, briefly cooked dishes retain 10-50%, flambes can retain up to 75%.
26. Grapes are the worlds largest fruit crop, 70% of them are used for wine making.
27. Cork, coming from the bark of a tree, can spoil, and in turn spoil the wine.  5% of all wine bottles are spoiled due to tainted cork.
28. Champagne bottles have a gas pressure of about 3-4 atmospheres.  That's about the same pressure as car tires.  It contains six times its volume in carbon dioxide.
29. Less than 10% of the world's sparking wine is true champagne.
30. Lipstick, oils from food, traces of dish soap all reduce the bubbliness.
31. Champagne is best served at 40 degrees F in tall, narrow glasses so the bubbles are smaller and last longer.
32. The aroma of a wine changes from the first sip to the last due to the contact with the air.
33. If wine is cloudy and contains particles that don't settle, it's spoiled don't drink it.  If the particles to settle, its indicative of more acid in the wine which makes it taste better.
34. Darker wine tends to be older.
35. Lager comes from the German word lagrin which means to store.
36. Fresh beer is called "green beer."  It has little carbon dioxide, is cloudy with dead yeast cells, and has a harsh sulfrous flavor.
37. Some british and Belgian beers should be aged to improve over 1-2 years.
38. Bear foam should cling to the glass as the level of liquid drops, this is called lacing.
39. Stouts can have nitrogen gas instead of carbon dioxide. 
40. in 1876, Henri Nestle was the first to produce milk powder.
41. The Swiss eat about twice as much chocolate as Americans.
42. Swiss and German chocolate is ground smoother than English or American Chocolate.
43. White chocolate, invented in 1930, is technically not a chocolate.  It is a mixture of purified cocoa butter, milk solids, and sugar
44. Chocolate cools your mouth as it melts, which feels cool.
45. Chocolate contains a specific type of saturated fat that can be converted into oleic acid (a healthy fat).
46. One ounce of chocolate contains as much caffeine as a third of a cup of coffee.
47. Theobromine, a relative of caffeine in chocolate, increases feeling of well being, is a mild anti-depressant, stimulates muscular system, stimulate the kidneys.  It's also what's bad for dogs.
48. Chocolate does contain cannabinoid chemicals.

That's condensed down from 33 pages of notes.

Here are the pictures promised:

The clock tower in Siena at night...Sorry my camera doesn't do night pictures well

San Domingio (or something like that) from the vineyard

A close of of San Domingio...SO MANY TOWERS!

A view...

Another view...from the tower in Sandomingingio

ME!

And the videos as promised:

This is gelato coming out of the magic gelato machine...

And this is chocolate coming out of the magic chocolate machine!  I appreciate how all the food in Italy comes out of magic machines in a pretty awesome fashion.