#yeast maker

[sembulapeyalneerpol]

like the argument about hormones and cycles conducive for household chores and baking fjsdkla;jdfa; like are we putting discharge in the sourdough starter?????

[narutomaki]

my adhd meds got upped and for the first 2 ½ weeks it was all the time all the time but now I've adjusted so making bread, bagels, and waffles. at home.

[whis--ker]

My mom bought this bread maker, and while I'm sure the appliance itself is fine, I don't think anyone proofread this manual.

[vaspider]

If you have celiac or otherwise can't eat wheat, btw, and you like bread, I highly recommend investing in a breadmaker. Even the best store-bought gluten-free bread does not hold a candle to the stuff that comes out of our breadmaker, and it's cheaper per slice even when we buy bread mix in single-loaf bags.

This is our breadmaker. Evie got it on sale, but it is an investment. I'm not going to pretend it isn't a chunk of change up front. There are cheaper ones, but the reason I like this one and think it's worth the money:

It has two smaller paddles, where our older bread maker that my mom got us and got destroyed by getting construction dust in it had one big paddle in the middle. This leaves a big hole in the middle of the finished loaf, which makes the bread much less useful for, like, sandwiches.

Zojirushi is not as well-known a brand in the US, but it's a Brand Name in Japan for good reason. Evie's had our Zojirushi rice cooker for over a decade & we had to replace the inner bowl once bc someone used metal utensils in it and scratched the non-stick coating. We expect to use this machine for at least a decade.

You can program your own cycles, which we found really useful. Evie built a custom cycle that removed the punch-down sections (gluten-free bread tends not to rise as much) and that made our perfect loaf.

A lot of bread machines produce very tall, square loaves, which are awkward to slice, store, and make sandwiches with. This produces loaves that make good sandwiches and toast, and the French toast slices don't crowd the pan.

The top heating element on this gives a really amazingly browned top crust that we definitely didn't get on our old machine.

It's so pretty.

So how is it cheaper in the long run if the machine costs $300+? A little like this:

We use Pamela's Bread Mix bc it's really consistent and easy - you need the bread mix, water, yeast, 3 egg whites, and oil. (We use avocado oil and find it best and most consistent, but regular vegetable oil works!) We buy Pamela's in bulk, and without any subscription discounts or whatever, the $48 pack of 3 bags makes about 11.5 loaves. With the cost of yeast and eggs and stuff, it ends up costing about $4.50 a loaf. (If you buy your yeast in larger bags & store it in an airtight container, you can create less waste and it's also cheaper.)

By comparison, a loaf of Franz GF Bread costs $7-8, and Canyon Bakehouse usually runs about the same.

However, that's not an apples to apples comparison because the Franz loaf is an 18 oz. loaf, whereas our breadmaker makes a 2 lb. loaf. Assuming even the lower-end cost for getting a Franz loaf at the store, an equivalent amount of bread would cost $12.42, and it's not nearly as good.

(Yes, gluten-free bread is fucking expensive. That's part of why I'm writing this post in the first place.)

Anyway, assuming you eat 2 lbs. of bread a week in your house - a breadmaker loaf, basically, to make the math simple - you'll end up spending $7.92 less on bread every week. That means that even at the most expensive cost for the Zojirushi, if you buy it at its highest price (don't do that! wait for a sale!) it'll take 50 weeks - about a year - before the breadmaker pays for itself. If you manage to get it on a 25% off sale (which we did), it pays for itself in about 9 months.

Nine months, I must stress, in which you are eating much more delicious bread.

We tend to go through a couple of loaves a week because toast, sandwiches, and melts are great food for people with low spoons.

Evie and I perfected the Pamela's mix recipe for this particular machine - I'll get it typed up when I'm downstairs next, along with the quasi-babka recipe. (Really, it's like a marble cake and babka and bread had a baby, and it's a family favorite.)

Bread good. The end.

[nocturnus-artemis]

Cookie Run: Kingdom - Matcha Cookie Spoilers/Theory

time to spill the tea on some new content and drink deep spoiler fueled theory cider

so Dark Enchantress created Matcha Cookie, and either deliberately left something out or forgot something during the process. Thus making Matcha Cookie flawed from "birth" (she knows it and can't help it, and gets upset when the topic of her "missing ingredient" gets brought up) and feels kinship with other living dough experiments that are considered failures, this would explain a bit of their Ovenbreak connection with Matcha regarding DE as family.

It is also apparent that Matcha Cookie dislikes(even hates) being disregarded and dismissed from her interactions with everyone in the story, to the point of wanting to overthrow her "master" and the other Cookies of Darkness as top dog of evil. Matcha wants to outdo them, wants to be better than them, stronger than them, and make them mad or despairing as a result.

Matcha Cookie knows she's a "mistake" and is angry that her maker cannot "love" her or take responsibility for the life she's made, and resents feeling "tossed aside" and that resentment is driving Matcha to malice

she's the Starscream to Dark Enchantresses' Megatron, as well as the Monster to Dark Enchantresses' Dr. Frankenstein.

she's an enemy of the Cookies of Darkness within their ranks, but she is not an ally of the Cookie Kingdom either

-

something else to consider; when the Beast Cookies return to the world, Dark Enchantress intends to steal their power for herself and further her goals

Shadow Milk Cookie praised her a bit in his portion of story, calling DE wise for thinking the Beasts needed to be freed to "restore the world" (or some such), but this is the Beast of Deceit we're talking about.

though Shadow Milk Cookie was too full of themselves to consider White Lily would choose the secret third option of healing the sealing tree (vanquishing Shadow Milk AND saving her friends in one move) I would find it more interesting if, when Dark Enchantress tries to steal the Beasts powers, one of them (likely Shadow Milk) pulls a "No U" Uno Reverse and backstabs the backstabber. Like, Shadow Milk would be playing along and make it seem like he'd fallen for it but then pulls a; "LOL I already knew you would try, BITCH. Did you F*KING FORGET WHO I AM? what part of BEAST OF DECIET confused you?!" and then something else causes the Beast Cookies to still be weaker than their full power which makes them balanced for gameplay

whether Dark Enchantress successfully steals the Beast's power or if the Beast Cookies pull a fast one and overpower Dark Enchantress so she fails remains to be seen.

we haven't even seen what Wind Archer Cookie has been up to since that one update when they left the Dessert Forest and Millennial Tree Cookie to investigate Beast Yeast.

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

Huge fan of how you adequately appreciate your popcorn maker. True hero. We need more people that Get It like you.

aww thanks! nice to speak with a fellow connoisseur.

actually, let me go ahead and copy/paste my tags on the "what's your favorite kitchen appliance" post so more people can benefit.

#HOT AIR POPCORN POPPER #little doohickey that you put kernels in and they spill out the chute once they pop #NO burned kernels!!! #and you know the trick to good homemade popcorn? #ghee + ultrafine salt #the milk solids in butter turns popcorn soggy #clarified butter (ghee) doesn't #and the ultrafine/velvet salt sticks to the kernels best #i also add nutritional yeast for flavor #but you can also get cheese powder if you want #all the cheap easy delicious popcorn you want!

get yourself a hot air popcorn popper for like $25, get a bag of loose popcorn kernels, some ghee, some ultrafine salt, and whatever flavors you like. pop the corn, melt the ghee, pour the ghee on the corn, sprinkle on the salt and flavors, mix it up, bam you've got a delicious treat.

i like to make a few batches at a time and stick them in gallon baggies for tasty snacks.

[ghostwise]

25 for the kiss prompts? <3

Wet kisses after finding refuge from the rain. 800 words

Ferelden’s rain is cold.

Ferelden’s rain is pinpricks of ice-water settling onto his skin, his hair, and seeping through his clothes. It is nothing like the rain in Antiva, which is warmer, and full of fat little drops that land on the cobbled streets in a murmur. No—Ferelden’s rain hisses over the land. It seethes.

They’ve taken refuge on an abandoned farm to the south.

Zevran watches the rain. He shivers.

Whoever lived here left in a hurry. There’s moldy stew in a pot in the kitchen, shattered dishes strewn about, and dead horses in the field—but it’s somewhere to wait out the storm, so they quickly opt to stay, packing the carts and provision into the barn, and hoping to fix up a fire and a meal in the house.

Meanwhile Zevran is gathering a few supplies from his pack, but he doesn’t want to go inside just yet. The distance between the barn and the farmhouse makes him pause and think that maybe he should wait for the rain to let up a bit.

It seems he won’t have to wait alone.

A form approaches through the curtain of rain, hazy at first, but quickly solidifying into that of Warden Mahariel. He is ghost-like and completely drenched. His hair is wet. His shirt is soaked and clinging to his arms.

Actually, the rain is a good thing. The rain is a blessing. The water cycle, the flowers, et cetera, and all of that. Thank the Maker for the rain, and may it rain every day, Zevran thinks.

He smiles as Hamal hurries under the eaves, brushing water from his face.

“Warden,” Zevran says, a bit delayed.

Hamal nods at him. He gathers up his braids and squeezes the water from them.

They have a nice rapport, he and Hamal. At least that is the impression Zevran has, ever since Hamal invited him hunting a week prior—while knowing damn well that Zevran never hunted for his food, could scarcely fire a bow, and had no interest in doing so.

No matter. He’d rightly interpreted the invitation’s motive. Now the question was whether this marked a new shift for them, or if the Warden’s curiosity had already been sated.

It’s hard to tell. He’s a quiet man.

“Couldn’t find anything,” Hamal sighs. “Land’s blighted to hell so anything we scavenge is bound to be tainted.”

“Ah,” Zevran says, not really interested in that. “So it is to be cabbage soup again?”

Hamal just smiles at him. Walking towards the cart, he waves him over wordlessly, and, though confused, Zevran follows him, drawing right up to him, close enough to be fully aware of the water still dripping from his form, and the smell of petrichor, and pine, and underneath that the soft scent of yarrow from his soap.

“There’s a granary behind the farm,” Hamal says. He pulls out a sealed clay pot, shiny with varnish. “And I have some yeast from when we passed through Redcliffe. At the very least we’ll make bread.”

He smiles at Zevran, fully pleased with himself, and Zevran cannot help but smile back.

“Good,” he says. “That is good. But you know, I am not sure we should go back just yet. It is rather rainy, and we would not want the yeast to get wet.”

Hamal hums thoughtfully. “It’s sealed.”

“Allegedly sealed,” Zevran tries. “Not to decry the no-doubt fine culinary experts of Redcliffe Village, but why risk it? I am sure the others will not mind waiting on us.”

Hamal gives it a moment of thorough consideration. Seeing Zevran’s point, he gives a mellow laugh, then closes the distance between them. Zevran is struck by a feeling he cannot attribute to memory, but which he knows intimately all the same.

And though he cannot recall it, the feeling is this: A rainy street in Rialto, an unseasonably cold winter, and a peal of thunder that scares the other children in the apartment half to death. But not him. Zevran laughs in startled surprise. He’s never heard thunder. He wants to see it for himself. He runs outside, not caring about the rain. No one has yet told him that thunder is only a sound accompanying an electric discharge during a storm, and not some tangible thing to chase down and catch. But he’ll catch it. He will.

And now the feeling is this: A barn in Ferelden during the end of the world, and a dying man leaning him up against a wooden cart and kissing him, and the taste of rainwater on his tongue. Zevran bunches up his hands in Hamal’s soaked shirt and clings to him, no longer caring if he gets wet. A rivulet of ice-cold water runs down Hamal’s nose and onto Zevran’s cheek, meeting its destination after falling miles through the saturated sky.

A low rumble of thunder sounds over the fields.

Of course, they both later catch a cold.

[warningsine]

Nothing appears remarkable about a dish of fresh ravioli made with solein. It looks and tastes the same as normal pasta.

But the origins of the proteins which give it its full-bodied flavour are extraordinary: they come from Europe’s first factory dedicated to making human food from electricity and air.

The factory’s owner, Solar Foods, has started production at a site in Vantaa, near the Finnish capital of Helsinki, that will be able to produce 160 tonnes of food a year. It follows several years of experimenting at lab scale.

Solar Foods has already gained novel food approval for solein in Singapore, and is seeking to introduce its products in the US this autumn, followed by the EU by the end of 2025 – and the UK too, if the regulator can get through the deluge of cannabis-related products.

The factory’s output may be small in terms of the global food industry, but Pasi Vainikka, the Solar Foods co-founder and chief executive, hopes that proving its technology works will be a crucial step in revolutionising what humans eat.

Food and agriculture is responsible for about a quarter of all planet-heating carbon emissions. Its share of pollution is likely to grow as other industries shift to using green electricity, and ever-expanding middle-classes demand more meat for their tables. Up to now the focus for some climate campaigners has been to try to persuade people to eat less meat and more plants. Non-farmed proteins such as solein might make that approach more appealing.

Solein comes in the form of a yellowish powder made up of single-cell organisms, similar to yeast used in baking or beer-making. The company is hoping for those proteins to be used in meat alternatives, cheese and milkshakes, and as an egg replacement ingredient in noodles, pasta and mayonnaise.

The ravioli it served up this week was made with solein replacing egg, with a solein version of cream cheese. The Finnish confectioner Fazer has already sold chocolate bars in Singapore with added solein (which is also a handy source of iron for vegans). A Singaporean restaurant last year created a solein chocolate gelato, replacing dairy milk.

Vainikka was researching renewable energy systems at a Finnish research institute in 2014 when he met his co-founder, Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, a bioprocesses scientist. Pitkänen told him of soil-dwelling microbes that release the energy they need to live from oxidising hydrogen (rather than the glucose used by humans, for instance).

Together they built a 200-litre fermenter in a garage near Helsinki, to prove the technology could be used for food, but then went into the wild “finding new potatoes to grow”. All Vainikka will say on solein’s origins is that they found it somewhere “close to shore” in the Baltic Sea.

Almost all food consumed by humans at the moment ultimately comes from plants, which use energy from the sun for photosynthesis. That process converts carbon dioxide and water into the molecules they need to grow. Solar Foods instead uses the same renewable electricity from the sun to split water apart. It then feeds the hydrogen and oxygen to the microbes in a brewing vessel, plus carbon dioxide captured from the air from the company’s office ventilation system.

The claim that the proteins are made out of thin air is “never more than 95% true”, says Vainnika: 5% of the mixture in the brewing vessel is a solution containing other minerals needed by cells, such as iron, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus. The microbes are then pasteurised (killing them), then dried in a centrifuge and with hot air. That leaves a powder that can be used in food.

The process could also use CO2 from, for instance, burning fuels – although the molecule would end up back in the atmosphere once humans eat the solein and breathe out the carbon again. The real climate benefits from solein come from cutting the vast tracts of land used – and abused through deforestation on an epic scale – for animal feed and pasture. Instead, renewed forests could trap carbon.

Efficient US farmers get 3.3 tonnes of soya beans from each harvest of a hectare, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. By contrast, Solar Foods’ pilot factory takes up a fifth of a hectare to produce 160 tonnes a year.

“As we can relieve pressures on agricultural land, they can rewild and return to being climate sinks,” Vainikka says.

Other companies are pursuing the same dream. Dozens are using microbes to create animal feed, although they often require sugars or fossil fuel feedstocks. One US rival, Air Protein, has opened a factory in California using similar “hydrogenotrophs” – hydrogen eaters. It has the backing of the food multinational Archer-Daniels-Midland, the British bank Barclays and GV (formerly Google Ventures).

The Dutch company Deep Branch, which is making fish food, claims its Proton protein will be 60% less carbon-intensive than conventional proteins. Deep Branch is looking at taking the CO2 produced by the UK biomass power generator Drax.

The companies have produced their test products. Now they face the challenge of proving their technology works at scale.

Vainikka says that is the key problem for cultured meat, or lab-grown meat. The market value of newly listed companies such as Beyond Meat soared during the coronavirus pandemic bubble, only to come crashing down as sales slumped. The opening of Solar Foods’ first factory will be crucial in persuading investors that the company will not suffer the same fate.

With meat protein, which is much more expensive than plants or cellular agriculture, there is simply no competition on price for each kilo. But Solar Foods and rivals could face other problems. Conservative politicians particularly in the US and Italy have identified lab-grown food as a threat to their ranching and farming cultures.

Vainikka argues that these fears are misplaced. He wants “coexistence of new and old”, with artisanal, high-quality farms remaining alongside cell farming that can deliver cheap, bulk foods. He argues it is “the opportunity of the century for the meat industry” to focus on quality rather than churning out as much cheap (and heavily subsidised) meat as possible. And plant agriculture will also remain, he argues.

“The future is not powder: the main body of food will still come through plants,” he says. The occasional “salami with the cultural heritage, that can remain. The meat in your lasagne during lunch will be done by cellular agriculture.”

[corsey]

muse dynamic: elfgar and johnson. alternatively: elfgar, johnson, mackenzie.

Send in a muse dynamic and I'll tell you what I like about it.

There's been too much said about the dynamic. I noticed a runnig theme I liked the other day that define their characters in relation to one another so I'll talk about that.

Cleanliness/Germs/Hygeine etc

Johnson visiting Elfgar in a dingy cafe. We get an insight into why he is so unhappy with his job: all he can see across every surface are germs, viruses, bacteria. He is not focussing on it but it is inseparable from his experience of the world. He feels above these smaller life forms, and he is! at least enough to 'sanitise' the area where he sits so that the risk of them damaging or affecting his vessel is minimal. And it's so heartbreakingly cruel and unusual that his maker is forcing this ethereal being of pure light and power to just sit in a pigsty.

Like Johnson, Mackenzie notices uncleanliness and imperfection. She's spent decades laundering textiles, by hand, without electricity. It was the first duty Idris gave to her: to make things clean, to clean up after the men, to make things go away. She takes this to its ideological extreme - like an AI - or an angel might - when it becomes clear that the unclean thing that needs to go is Shipley and Idris.

Buildings are about adding and adding but cleaning is about creating an absence. Uncleanliness is also about adding and adding because it is the multiplication and accumulation of...stuff.

Elfgar is never fully clean or kempt, even after he's showered. If it smells, he's wiped it on his trousers. He does not see the complicated biome that Johnson sees and why it can be harmful to his body [he doesn't have that problem as an immortal] or why it is so disgusting. It just is.

Mack knows that the absence of her father and brother is better than a world with them still in it. Johnson and Mack know that sometimes absence is more beneficial to progress than adding and adding. But Elfgar does not like to think about that. He thinks you clean things, they get dirty again. He thinks B12, penicillin, yeast, curing, salting, fermenting, dung, bricks, have been fundamental to civilisation. Plague and death and unclean undesirablness is intertwined with humanity. He's incapable of imagining separating the good from the bad or starting the world over again so that it is perfect.

It especially coincides with their relationships to Abrahamic religion.

Johnson is an angel forced to live as a human. He is a perfect, clean being who's getting mental gangrene in the form of humanity/feelings.

Mack's Calvinist/Protestant upbringing affects her ideological 'cleanliness.' Established as the stripped back version of faith. No bells and papish whistles. Only the truth. No space for her mercy or forgiveness as she already knows what's good and what's bad. It is her duty to stay clean/remove problems.

Elfgar was somewhat pagan or superstitious or an Anglo Catholic and then he was a Catholic and then there was a war and he had to be a Puritan and then he was an Anglican, and there was a reformation and now they call it C of E and now-- It's just messy, and muddy, and at this point meaningless, and it's not so much a faith that directs him as it was a sociopolitical passport.

[invisiblefoxfire]

There have to be some autistic bakers out there, right? Because I'm fully at the end of my rope here. I've been making my own bread for like... 2 years now? And I still can't figure out how to fucking do this. It comes out edible every time, but not quite the way I want it. And I think the main issue is the kneading. No one has ever been able to explain to me how to knead dough in a way that makes actual sense to me. Whenever I try kneading dough, it sticks to my entire hands so hard that I just wind up wearing a dough glove. At that point I can't knead it any further because it's become a second skin on my hands and I can't get it off. (I then have a sensory overload meltdown, scream GET IT OFF MEEEEE, cry, throw things, occasionally break something or injure myself, then break down in a sobbing heap of self-loathing for a while.) As a result, I have worked out a system of making bread where I basically "knead" it with a spoon in the bowl and a lot of muscle. This doesn't lead to very good results and also fucks up my wrists.

Before I continue, let me get the following out of the way:

I know there are recipes for no-knead bread. That is not the kind of bread I want to make.

I already have a stand mixer, but it's useless because I am making very small loaves of bread, and it's just not enough for the mixer to work. (I am one person living alone and I can only eat so much bread every day, and even these small loaves often get moldy before I can finish them)

I have neither the money nor the space for a bread maker, and in any case I don't like the kind of bread they create.

I have tried flouring and oiling my hands. It helps for approximately 0.2 seconds and then the benefits evaporate and I'm right back where I started.

I have tried using gloves and it also doesn't help. The dough just coats the gloves and now I have two pairs of gloves on instead of one.

I have a plastic dough scraper but it doesn't help. The only surface I have to knead on is a silicone baking mat, which gets dented if the scraper digs into it, and if I try to move the dough around with it, I wind up with bits of dough sliced off and adhered to the scraper, which then also becomes near impossible to clean.

So. Is there someone out there who can explain to me in very specific autism-friendly terms HOW THE FUCK you are supposed to do this? Is there a video out there that shows the process of kneading bread dough from start to finish that doesn't just go "it'll be sticky at first but get less sticky as you work it" and then cut to the fucking finished product? HOW, specifically, do you touch and grip and move the dough without it coating your entire hand and then refusing to come off forever, leading to me bent sobbing over the sink desperately trying to scrub it all off with soap and hot water and continuing to discover bits of it under my fingernails for hours afterward?

"Turn and fold it"—the second my fingers touch bread dough, it adheres to my skin and will not come off. I'm like fucking Tetsuo in Akira, becoming one with this formless blob which I can't seem to remove from my skin no matter what I do.

I have tried various dough recipes and it doesn't seem to matter what the ingredients and ratios are, I can't figure out how to knead it. The one I am using now is actually pretty dense. It uses dry active yeast, 50g rye flour, 200g wheat bread flour, 150ml water, about a teaspoon of olive oil, teaspoon of salt, and tablespoon of sugar for the yeast. I like dense bread, actually, so that's fine - I'm not trying to make a light, airy bread.

My current system is to, once the yeast is woken up and the ingredients all combined, jam a spoon in the center and roughly stir it as hard as I can, trying to stretch it as much as possible, occasionally repositioning the spoon. Basically roughly replicating the motion of a hook attachment in a stand mixer, but without the hook, and without the machine power. This flares up my wrist tendinitis every time, but it's that or nothing. When I've gone as long as I physically can, I pat it all together with the spoon and do the first proof. Then I do knead it on a silicone mat, which is a harrowing experience, because while it's no longer an instant second epidermis, it is still always sticky enough to give me sensory overload. I often wind up with no choice but to constantly re-coat my hands in flour (I'm talking literally once every 15 seconds or so), which of course only serves to make the bread even denser, but without doing that, I can't knead the dough at all without having a meltdown, because at this point I'm already stressed from the entire process.

"Why don't you just give up on making bread" I like bread! I like baking, aside from the kneading part! And I can't buy this type of bread where I live. I don't want to give up on this, I just want to figure out how it's physically possible to do!

I asked a friend who bakes bread about this. I told him that it's too sticky, it coats my hands, and then I can't get it off. And he said "it's supposed to be sticky, just keep working it and it'll get less sticky" and I just stared at him. How can I "work" dough that is stuck fast to my skin? It won't let go of me. I can stretch my hands apart and it will split into two stringy masses so that it can keep hanging on to my hands rather than let go. WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY "WORK THE DOUGH?

Am I supposed to just clap my hands together and stretch them back out over and over again? I've seen people knead dough on a table or mat and the dough DOESN'T ADHERE TO THEIR HANDS. They'll be like "it'll be sticky" and then show the dough sticking temporarily to their skin then letting go when they pull their hands away. WHAT IS HAPPENING.

I feel like I'm missing something massive here. There's some movement people are doing that keeps the dough from adhering. Or maybe my skin is secretly made of fucking glue, I don't know.

Someone please help. I feel like attempting to knead dough is going to be the trigger for my final nervous breakdown.

[beardedmrbean]

TOKYO — A popular brand of sliced white bread is being recalled in Japan after some loaves were found to inadvertently contain rat parts.

Pasco Shikishima Corp., a major food supplier based in Nagoya, said it was recalling 104,000 packs of its Pasco bread from 15 prefectures after part of what appeared to be a small animal was found in a batch of super fermented “chojuku” bread produced at a factory west of Tokyo.

The company said that while the recall of the contaminated products had been completed, as a precaution it was also recalling other items produced on the same line and that the line “will be suspended for the time being to investigate the cause and to strengthen countermeasures.”

A company representative confirmed to NBC News on Thursday that the contamination came from a “small black rat.”

“We deeply apologize for the serious inconvenience and trouble this has caused to our customers, suppliers, and other concerned parties,” the company said in its statement Tuesday, adding that there had been no reports of consumers falling ill. 

The recall is the latest in a string of food safety scares in Japan, which is known for its high standards of cleanliness. In March, major drug maker Kobayashi Pharmaceutical was ordered to recall three dietary supplement products containing red yeast rice that have been linked to five deaths and more than 100 hospitalizations.

Last year police made multiple arrests after a wave of pranks dubbed “sushi terrorism,” in which diners at Japan’s iconic conveyor belt restaurants filmed themselves engaging in unhygienic behavior such as licking the rim of a cup before returning it and spraying food with hand sanitizer.

In discussing the rat-part recall, commenters on social media platform X expressed support for the brand but also some hesitation, with one saying they have Pasco products at home “and have been eating them normally.”

“I just hope there are no rats in them,” the commenter said.

[bonefall]

I mean fermented doesnt necessarily mean alcoholic - after all kimchi is made with fermented cabage and bread is fermented too. So is yogurt and a ton of other things we eat. Theres even some meats that are fermented for dishes too.

This is very true! And I did look into a couple of other things that are fermented-- but the problem with cats having anything fermented at all is yeast.

(CW: I talk about yeast, fermentation, alcohol, and the horrors of what yeast can do to a cat's belly. Skip this one if medical discussion of a cat in pain upsets you!)

In fact it's good you mentioned bread, because I was just looking at different types of unleavened bread exactly for this reason. If a cat eats raw dough, yeast can actually ferment in their stomach! This does exactly what you think it would, it turns their body into a chemical nightmare, distending their belly and causing alcohol poisoning

(doing research for these projects is like taking a class on how DURABLE human being are, it's insane! This isn't even unique to cats! Pure carnivores are so fragile!)

The baking process would kill all the yeast inside of the bread, but I decided that I would just not work with it. Unleavened bread and alternate rising agents are cool so I decided to explore those instead. I even found this one really interesting tidbit about how apparently bannock from Britain and bannock from American Indigenous people in America may have evolved independently, down to the linguistic roots being different.

BUT ANYWAY back to yeast

So when I was looking at fermented products, I was looking for things where there isn't yeast present, but also checked off my other rules; namely, that Clan cats are obligate carnivores.

-Kimchi is fermented vegetables, a lot of work for a Warrior to get no nutritional value. Not to mention that without pepper, garlic, and fish sauce it's just... sad cabbage. (also go watch this cool video I found about one of the last traditional onggi pot makers left in Korea because this is actually a very beautiful craft and my life has been enriched by seeing how much care goes into this process)

-This also eliminates sauerkraut, which is a more region-friendly take on fermented cabbage. No nutritional value to the cats.

-Miso can be made from barley but it requires a region-unfriendly type of fungus (Re: The reason I usually start with British tech and work backwards, another example of this principle in action)

-Yogurt and Cheese are dairy products. Warriors are lactose intolerant to begin with, but also don't have an animal they can milk on a regular basis. I don't think a nearby sheep or cow would stay still long enough for a warrior to sit and milk them

What I DID find that we could make, though?

-Vinegar. As long as it's used sparingly and diluted, it can be used as a basis for other recipes including Worcestershire sauce. Though from what I read, cat aversion to the smell of vinegar is legendary.

But I will rule vinegar-based sauces under the 'Stronger Stomachs' exception.

In addition, vinegar is an EXCELLENT cleaning product and something I can keep in mind as an excellent antibiotic next to honey.

-Hard sausage. Pepperoni, chorizo, salami... aside from finagling with the spices I have access to, hard sausage is totally within my reach and sounds like a perfect ShadowClan recipe.

-Something that breaks down poison. I'm willing to be a little bit flippant about the biology of one type of insect or animal to make a Warrior Cat version of hakarl, specifically because I want to show off ShadowClan's crafty food culture and how good they are at creative problem solving.

This one will be in addition to "slug-purging", because I learned some really neat stuff about how to make wild gastropods safe to eat and it'll be a really really cool thing to include in a "How ShadowClan can eat things other Clans can't" type entry

Come to think of it, fermentation would definitely be a very ShadowClan-based activity...

And lastly,

Alcohol

It just feels... wrong to me that there would be a culture of sapient cats who don't use any alcohol at all. Getting tweaked on purpose is practically the mark of a species' intelligence. Dolphins, elephants, monkeys, crows... all recorded finding ways to turn their terrible brains off.

So I do want to make an entry on alcoholic fermentation too, it's just like I said though, it'll take a while to get to because I have dumb math brain and a To-Do list.

But for right now, I've got another ask to answer that will give you a good "basic" alcohol for your cats if you so choose

[sleepingdeath-light]

Prune Juice Cookie x Reader: Rather Plummy

Hello! Probably my last "normal" piece until after Beast-Yeast. Decided to have a try at him, since he is my first crush in Cookie Run Kingdom. Probably fucked up, but I tried 😂

Getting the attention of the Champion of the Triple Cone Cup, as well as champion of the school Parfaedia, is quite a task that should be applauded. Particularly Prune Juice Cookie, who was, although quiet and perceptive, was rumored to be valedictorian of his class.

He did not have a prowess at magic, due to the nature of his dough, but he found a way to still pursue his passion elsewhere as a potion maker.

His crush on (Y/N) Cookie in particular goes hard, way hard. Despite (Y/N) Cookie being a total opposite of him in magic, excelling at it, and him being quite perceptive, would take note of their class schedule, hobbies, interests, and the like. Nothing too outrageous, but just enough so that he knows their likes and dislikes.

Today would be the day that he asks them out. Confident in his "calculations" of their class schedule, the end of their class should be around 3:00 pm.

Prior to going to his first class of the day, he already made up his mind on what he wanted to do with them. It would technically be his first date. Probably ever in his existence on Earthbread.

However, when the time did come, he did not see them. Had he miscalculated? Did he miss something? It can't be! He was certain that they would be walking out of class at this time.

How long did he wait exactly? Exactly 3:35 pm, when (Y/N) Cookie walked out with Professor Éclair Cookie and Olive Cookie out of the main school entrance. He hid behind a nearby bush.

"Now you have a archeologist friend!" they laughed.

"I know right! You told me that you knew another archeologist, but I didn't know it was HIM!" Olive Cookie exclaimed, clearly excited to ramble off with her new archeologist friend.

"Yeah I know. I wish I could talk more, but I must get going!" (Y/N) Cookie replied, walking right past where the potion maker was hiding. Once the coast was clear, he rushed to get to his crush. He tried to set a good pace between him and (Y/N) Cookie, but his low stamina and his possible difficulty in running prevents him from properly keeping up.

So he kept track with them as much as possible. He was able to see them go into their house, despite the crowd of various Cookies. He was quite pleased once he found out where they lived.

Once he was able to catch up, due to his low stamina, as mentioned earlier, he softly knocked on their door. Within a few moments, the door opened to see (Y/N) Cookie without their wizard hat. It was a sight for Prune Juice Cookie, but he tries his best to hide it.

"(Y/N) Cookie, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's me." they replied. Deep down, they also had a deep affection for Prune Juice Cookie. However, deep inside, Prune Juice Cookie won the Triple Cone Cup last year, and he is Parfaedia's champion. Why would he waste time on a typical wizard? However (Y/N) Cookie did admire his skills in potion making, when no one else had.

"Good. So there's this place that's near here that has these glowing mushrooms," he started, "Rumors has it that these mushrooms have healing properties and they are catalysts in many spells and potions. Care to join me? Friday afternoon, after class. You don't have to, of course."

Was the Champion of Parfaedia asking you, out of all Cookies, on date? Sure did seem like it.

"Oh! I have nothing planned on Friday, I would love to go."

That was several months ago. In the present day, (Y/N) Cookie was walking around Parfaedia's shops with their boyfriend, linking arm in arm with each other. A stand, selling fresh and hot hot chocolate interested this cookie.

"Hey Prune Juice Cookie," they said, "It is rather cold outside, would you like some hot chocolate?"

"Hmm..." he was thinking, "A nice cup of hot chocolate does sound quite appealing. Perhaps we can wait until we get home? It is quite busy here."

(Y/N) Cookie smiled. "Of course, dear. Don't want to get caught up in any possible mess with Detective Almond Cookie."

The two cookies, now sharing a living space, were quite happy together. Prune Juice Cookie, now mostly sell potions around the market. Every now and again he would close the shop to get supplies. (Y/N) Cookie took off their wizard hat and uniform to get more comfortable.

"Hey," (Y/N) Cookie said, "I'm getting ready to go get a quick shower. Do you need anything before I go?"

Prune Juice Cookie, now by his cauldron making potions, had a quick thinking before answering.

"No," he responded, "However I will be ready to have hot chocolate with you by the time you come out."

"Okay. Don't blow up the house while I'm in there. Promise?"

Prune Juice Cookie chuckled. "Do I ever blow up the house whenever I make potions? However, I promise."

However, Prune Juice realized he forgot to say one thing.

"Wait!" he shouted.

(Y/N) Cookie turned around to face Prune Juice Cookie.

"Hm? Is there something wrong?"

"Oh no no no. Just wanted to say thank you, for giving me a chance. Most Cookies underestimate my abilities and my potions, and if I remember correctly, you were amongst the only Cookies who had given me a solid chance. Thank you."

(Y/N) Cookie smiled at their boyfriend.

"Anytime."

- Reaction anon

Thank you for sharing, reaction anon ^^

[kraglynn]

Good morning everyone, the weather today is yeast. Yeast is used to make bread, packing peanuts, seafoam (the colour), compressed air, gasoline, and ice. All these things need to expand at some point which can only be achieved through yeast. The gas maker; figuratively, metaphorically, intrinsically, ontologically, and literally. These five states of application make up the entire country of Canada even though Canada is made up of provinces. This is because provinces are yeasted states.

[afniel]

AH I REMEMBERED WHAT I WAS GONNA SAY EARLIER but it's kind of stupid, lmao.

So my partner is getting into brewing beer and I got them a Tilt, which is a Bluetooth hydrometer. It measures specific gravity and temperature, which are things you want to know so that you don't kill your yeast or whatever. Except the sensor's Bluetooth range is super short, and it basically runs via a phone app, and the temperature we're logging currently is the crawlspace, accessible via the staircase closet. So they were like, wait, what do we do about this, because I can't leave my phone in the closet, that's my alarm clock.

In a kind of ridiculous turn of life imitating art, I was like, hold up, I got just the thing right at my desk. Bam. Old phone. We just needed to scrounge up a charger because the battery is so dead that after charging just enough to power on it claimed it was at 53% (to be fair to it, there is a very real chance that it's correct, and it just holds no charge at this point so the capacity is just THAT low) and now it lives in the closet logging sensor data.

And I was like, you know...didn't I just solve a major story detail with a much larger version of this...yeah, no, this is all vaguely familiar somehow, power supply issues and all. Kind of cool that the concept works though. Kind of weird that it came up at all?

We are not gonna talk about the fact that I still have at least two more ancient-ass phones in a drawer where that came from because look, man, sometimes you just need a camera/mic/mini computer with Bluetooth and wifi that fits in a pocket, and people just get rid of these things, but not me. I actually could build a shitty security system out of them if I was reaaaally inclined. I mean. I'm not. But it's technically possible.

For real though, If I pick up any stupid maker projects I still high-key am thinking about slapping Bluetooth into a necomimi headset and running that through an Arduino and learning to code just enough to let me skip songs/change the volume on Spotify with my brain, because it's entirely doable, and I mean yeah I could do that on my phone remotely too, but that's not funny, now, is it. I'm just not sure it's $350+ of parts funny. Kind of a big investment just to prove the point that haha look I am the extremely ADHD type of lazy where I would rather solve a problem via the most convoluted and complicated Rube-Goldberg type ass machine way possible rather than just perform a single simple action.

YEAH I'VE BEEN THIS SCATTERED ALL DAY AND I REALLY SHOULD GO TO BED SHOULDN'T I. I started playing Satisfactory. Mistakes were made. I'm going to dream about conveyor belts again and I did it to myself...

[kitweewoos]

🖼️ bakery + mousestead please

Two things happened when Mouse came home from the war: he opened a bakery with his best friend, and his best friend is now his fiance. Jay, who came from a family of obsessive bread makers with a sourdough starter that could be traced back to Ireland apparently, handled all the breads and other yeasted doughs, making the bagels and pretzels they sold in their shop. Mouse, on the other hand, had a notorious sweet tooth and had painstakingly perfected his recipes for cookies, cakes, brownies, and pastries that they kept in stock. They made a good team, keeping their display case wonderfully full with all kinds of treats and goodies for the citizens of Chicago, and Mouse is so, so glad to be here.

[🖼️ prompt an au moodboard]