The usual explanation for the unique San Francisco taste is the Pacific Ocean air, the winds, and especially the fog. Many of the old-time bakers still use brick ovens, and a mystique has built up around them.
The answer, however, can actually be traced to the “starter.”
Whenever a baker makes a batch of sourdough, some of the fermented dough is set aside as a starter, which will be used to leaven the next batch. In this manner, the action of the yeasts is maintained continuously. Some of the older bakeries have strains of starters dating back more than one hundred years.
180 / DAVID FELDMAN
A tourist at Fishermen’s Wharf is literally eating a descendant of the bread consumed by forty-niners.
The use of starters did not originate in the United States. It is believed that the Egyptians, four thousand years before the birth of Christ, were exposing dough to airborne yeast spores to ferment.
Until the advent of commercial yeasts and baking powders, most breads were leavened by using leftover dough from previous batches.
The majority of San Francisco bakeries use a proportion of about 15 percent starter. Little yeast is needed, because the starter contains natural yeast. Sourdough bread made with chemical yeast tends to lack the sourness and tang of the bread made with starter.
Scientists have also tried to pierce the mystique of San Francisco sourdough. In 1970, Dr. Leo Kline and microbiologist colleagues at Oregon State University isolated two organisms in sourdough: Saccharomyces exiguus, an acid-tolerant yeast; and a rod-shaped bacterium, resembling lactic-acid bacteria, which they suggested be named Lactobacillus san francisco. According to trade newspaper Milling and Baking News,
The newly-discovered lactic acid bacteria causes souring. Lactic acids and acetic acids are produced by fermentation of carbohydrates in the flour and provide the sour flavor while the acetic acid primarily keeps spoilage and disease-producing bacteria from growing in the dough.
Yeast cells do the leavening; carbon dioxide gas is produced by yeast during fermentation of carbohydrates in flour. Ethyl alcohol, also produced by the yeast cells, evaporates during cooking. The carbon dioxide provides the light, fluffy texture important in bread, biscuits and pancakes.
The specific bacterium Lactobacillus san francisco seems to be a new species, which probably explains why San Francisco sourdough is unique.
Submitted by Donald C. Knudsen, of Oakland, California.
WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 181
Does the U.S. Postal Service Add Flavoring to the Glue on Postage Stamps to Make the Taste More Palatable?
The Postal Service doesn’t intend the adhesive to have any particular flavor. The glue on U.S. postage stamps comes in only two “flavors,”
and not for reasons of taste.
The first type, used primarily on commemorative stamps, is simply a blend of corn dextrin (a gummy substance extracted from starch) and water. This solution is gentle on commemoratives, which are designed to last longer (in philatelic collections) than “regular”
stamps.
The second type of adhesive, used on regular issues, such as the twenty-two-cent flag stamps, is a blend of polyvinyl acetate emulsion and dextrin. Added to this scrumptious taste sensation is a bit of propylene glycol, used to reduce paper curl.
Is the taste of the stamp glue reminiscent of another flavor? Dianne V. Patterson, of the Postal Service’s Consumer Advocate’s Office, points out that the polyvinyl acetate used for stamp adhesive is the basic ingredient in bubble gum.
Submitted by Joel Kuni, of Kirkland, Washington.
182 / DAVID FELDMAN
Why Do Wagon Wheels in Westerns Appear to Be Spinning Backward?
Motion-picture film is really a series of still pictures run at the rate of twenty-four frames per second. When a wagon being photographed moves slowly, the shutter speed of the camera is capturing tiny movements of its wheel at a rate of twenty-four times per second—and the result is a disorienting strobe effect. As long as the movement of the wheel does not synchronize with the shutter speed of the camera, the movement of the wheel on film will be deceptive.
This effect is identical to disco strobe lights, where dancers will appear to be jerking frenetically or listlessly pacing through sludge, depending on the speed of the strobe.
E. J. Blasko, of the Motion Picture and Audiovisual Products Division of Eastman Kodak, explains how the strobe effect works in movies: “As the wheels travel at a slower rate they will appear to go backward, but as the wheel goes faster it will then become synchronized with the film rate of the camera and appear to stay in one spot, and then again at a certain speed the wheel will appear to have its spokes traveling forward, but not at the same rate of speed as the vehicle.” This strobe effect is often seen without need of film. Watch a roulette wheel or fan slow down, and you will see the rotation appear to reverse.
Submitted by Richard Dowdy, of La Costa, California. Thanks also to: Thomas Cunningham, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Curtis Kelly, of Chicago, Illinois.
WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 183
Why Does Unscented Hair Spray Smell?
Let’s differentiate between the major formulations of hair spray. A
“regular, scented” formula contains fragrance added to give the spray a distinctive smell. “Fragrance free” refers to hair sprays without any fragrance added at all. Very few hair sprays are fragrance free; these products are designed to be hypo-allergenic for consumers sensitive to any fragrance.
“Unscented” hair spray not only does have a scent, but it also has added fragrance, a fragrance designed to mask the chemical base of the product. The difference between “unscented” and “scented” hair spray, then, is that “scented” hair spray contains more fragrance, more long-lasting fragrance, and a fragrance designed to be prominent.
Hair spray is 95 percent alcohol. John Corbett, of the Clairol Corporation, told Imponderables that neat alcohol doesn’t smell like a dry martini, but rather like the rubbing alcohol used for cleaning cassette recorder heads. The prospect of spraying rubbing alcohol on your hair is an affront to your nose. The purpose of the unscented spray is to avoid challenging the more expensive, and desirable, fragrance of perfumes or colognes that the customer might apply.
Corbett added that he doubted that consumers cared much about how hair sprays smelled, as long as they weren’t offensive. In the toiletry category, consumers seem to care passionately only about the smell of shampoos.
Sales for “scented” and “unscented” hair sprays are about even, with “fragrance free” products representing a tiny share of the market.
Submitted by Aleta Moorhouse, of Mesa, Arizona.
184 / DAVID FELDMAN
Why Does Heat Lightning Always Seem Far Away?
And Why Don’t You Ever Hear Thunder During Heat Lightning?
Heat lightning is actually distant lightning produced by an electrical storm too far away to be seen by the observer. What you see is actually the diffused reflection of the distant lightning on clouds.
You don’t hear thunder because the actual lightning is too far away from you for the sound to be audible. There is thunder where the lightning is actually occurring.
WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 185
Why Can’t Hair Grow on a Vaccination Mark?
A vaccination mark is nothing more than scar tissue. A vaccination causes an inflammation intense enough to destroy the hair follicles in its vicinity. Any deep injury to the skin will destroy hair follicles and cause hair loss, a condition known to dermatologists as “scarring alopecia.” One can easily transplant hair onto a vaccination mark, if desired, but one can never bring a dead hair follicle back to life.
Submitted by David Wilsterman, of Belmont, California.
What kind of Hen Lays Extra-Large Eggs? What Determines the Size Categories of Chicken Eggs?
Although there are six official sizes of eggs, the smallest size a grocery store consumer is likely to encounter is the medium
egg. Sizes are determined strictly by weight, as the chart below indicates: Size
Minimum Weight Per Dozen Eggs
Jumbo
30 oz.
Extra-Large
27 oz.
Large
24 oz.
Medium
21 oz.
Small
18 oz.
Peewee
15 oz.
186 / DAVID FELDMAN
Small-and peewee-sized eggs are generally sold to bakers and food processors at a lower price per pound than larger eggs, so the prudent egg producer wants to encourage hens to lay big eggs. The Single-Comb White Leghorn, the most popular laying hen in the United States, eats approximately a quarter-pound of feed per day.
It takes about four pounds of feed to produce a dozen eggs, so larger eggs are not without cost to the farmer.
The biggest variable in egg size is the age of the chicken. Generally speaking, the older the chicken, the larger the egg. Hens that start laying eggs prematurely tend to lay more but smaller eggs. Different breeds also tend to vary in size of eggs produced. Leghorns, for example, tend to lay larger than average eggs.
The weight of the bird is another factor in egg size. A pullet (a hen less than one year old) significantly underweight at sexual maturity will tend to produce small eggs. For this reason, farmers must pay attention not only to the quantity but the quality of feed given to hens. Feed without sufficient protein and fatty acids, while cheaper to supply, will yield smaller eggs. Hard evidence suggests that hatching environment also affects egg size. Heat, stress, and overcrowding all lower the size of eggs.
Consumers are often confused about the relative value of different sizes of eggs. Some feel that larger sizes have disproportionately more shell than smaller eggs (not true: shells constitute approximately 10 percent of the weight of all eggs). Which size will constitute the best buy is likely to vary from week to week and can be determined by a formula devised by the American Egg Board. Let’s say large eggs cost 96 cents a dozen and a dozen extra-large eggs cost $1.05.
Which is the better buy? First, find the price difference by subtracting the price of the smaller size from that of the larger. In this case, the price difference is $1.05 minus 96 cents, or 9 cents. Then divide the price of the smaller eggs by 8 to find the “magic number.” In this case, 96 cents divided by 8 is exactly 12 (round off the number if it isn’t even).
If the magic number is lower than the price difference, the WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 187
smaller eggs are a better buy. If the magic number is higher than the price difference, the larger eggs are a better buy. Because in the example 9 (the price difference) is less than 12 (the magic number), the extra-large eggs would be cheaper per weight than the large eggs.
You divide the price difference by 8 to find the magic number because egg sizes vary in increments of exactly 3 ounces. Large eggs (the one size that is always available in stores) are 24 ounces per dozen, so 24 divided by 3 equals 8, which when divided into the price of a dozen eggs provides the benchmark price for 3 ounces of eggs.
All of this makes perfect sense, even though we sense eyes glazing over as you read it.
Submitted by Helen M. Tvorik, of Mayfield Heights, Ohio.
188 / DAVID FELDMAN
Why Do Some Chickens Lay Brown Eggs and Others Lay White Eggs?
The color of eggs comes exclusively from the pigment in the outer layer of the shell and may range from an almost pure white to a deep brown, with many shades in between. The only determinant of egg color is the breed of the chicken.
Because white eggs are preferred in almost every region of the country, the Single-Comb White Leghorn has become by far the favorite egg-layer in the United States. The Leghorn is prized for many reasons: it reaches maturity earlier than most pullets; it utilizes its feed efficiently; it is relatively small (an important consideration when most chickens are kept in cages even smaller than New York City studio apartments); it is hardy, adapting well to different climates; and most important, it produces a large number of eggs. If more consumers went along with New England’s preference for brown eggs, more breeds
WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 189
such as the Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire, and Plymouth Rock would be provided to produce them.
A simple test to determine the color of a hen’s eggs is to look at her earlobes. If the earlobes are white, the hen will lay white eggs.
If the earlobes are red, she will produce brown eggs.
Although many people are literally afraid to try brown eggs, they are no more or less nutritious or healthy than white ones. In fact, brown eggs have some cachet among health-food aficionados, which guarantees their higher cost, if not greater benefits.
Egg yolks also range dramatically in color, but yolk variations are caused by dietary differences rather than genetic ones. Yolk color is influenced primarily by the pigments in the chicken feed. If the hen gets plenty of yellow-orange plant pigments known as xanthophylls, the pigments will be deposited in the yolk. Hens receiving mash with yellow corn and alfalfa meal will lay eggs with medium yellow yolks. Those fed on wheat or barley produce lighter yolks. A totally colorless diet, such as white corn, will yield a colorless yolk. For cosmetic reasons alone, farmers avoid giving chickens a colorless diet, because consumers prefer a yellowish hue to their yolks.
Submitted by Jo Ellen Flynn, of Canyon Country, California.
190 / DAVID FELDMAN
How Did the Expression “Two Bits” Come to Mean 25 Cents? How Did “Two-Bit” Come to Mean
“Cheap”?
“Bit,” which has long been English slang for any coin of a low denomination, derived from the Old English word, bite, which meant a small bit or morsel. Before the American Revolution, English money was in short supply, so coins from all over Europe, Mexico, and South America were equally redeemable. Sailors and new immigrants assured a steady stream of non-English coins into the new country. Because there were so many different denominations, coins were valued by their weight and silver and gold content.
Spanish and Mexican coins were especially popular in early America. “Bit” became a synonym for the Spanish and Mexican coin, the real. The real was equivalent to one-eighth of a peso, or twelve and one-half cents. Particularly in the southwestern United States, where the Mexican influence was most strongly felt, Americans rarely called a quarter anything else but “two bits.” Recognizing that U.S.
coinage had no equivalent to one bit, Southwesterners usually referred to ten cents as a “short-bit” and fifteen cents as a “long-bit,”
and occasionally still do so today.
In Spain, a bit was an actual coin. Pesos were manufactured so that they could literally be cut apart. A peso, which equaled eight bits, could be cut in half to become two four-bit pieces. Cut in fourths, a peso became four two-bit pieces.
How did the term “two-bit” become synonymous with cheapness and tackiness (especially because, obviously, one bit is cheaper than two)? The first known use of this meaning, according to word whiz Stuart Flexner, was in 1856, referring to a saloon that was so cheap that a good, stiff drink could be had for…two bits.
Submitted by John A. Bush, of St. Louis, Missouri. Thanks also to: Tom and Marcia Bova, of Rochester, New York.
WHY DO CLOCKS RUN CLOCKWISE? / 191
Why Did Volkswagen Discontinue Making the
“Bug”?
At the time, most of us thought that the phasing out of VW Beetles was an insidious plot, designed to eliminate a model that lasted too long and thus reaped insufficient profits for the greedy automaker.
Why try to sell us a cheap, dependable Bug, when they could peddle a more expensive, less charismatic Rabbit? But there was a simpler explanation: the VW Beetle had stopped selling.
Although the German Bug had been around since the 1930s, the first one didn’t hit North American shores until 1949, when two brothers brought them home and soon decided to open a Volkswagen distr
ibutorship on the East Coast.
Five years later, only 8,000 Beetles were sold in a year, but the Bug soon started to take off. In 1955, sales reached 32,000 units.
The peak years for the Bug were the mid-1960s: in 1968, Volkswagen sold 423,000 automobiles, the vast majority of them Bugs. But watch what happened to Beetle sales after 1968: 1969:
403,000
1970:
405,000
1971:
354,000
1972:
358,000
1973:
371,000
1974:
243,000
1975:
92,000
After a slow, but steady decline from its peak year, the popularity of the Beetle fell precipitously. Volkswagen was forced to bail out of the Bug business in the United States.
Speculations about the metaphysical reasons for the decline of the Beetle abound. Everything from growing materialism to the Vietnam War has been blamed for its demise. Larry Brown, a representative of Volkswagen, offers a more prosaic excuse: Japanese imports. In the late 1960s, the Japanese began to provide a stylish subcompact with better specifications than the Beetle, and for less money.
192 / DAVID FELDMAN
During its heyday, the VW Bug was designed to attract the thinking man or woman. The Beetle appealed to college professors and students, not only because it was cheap, but because it was emblematic of their rationality and refusal to buy into the car-as-fantasy-machine myth that Detroit had been perpetuating for decades.
The irony, of course, is that the VW became a status symbol itself—the ultimate antiestablishment automobile. VW ads delighted in tweaking the pretensions of more expensive cars. The Beetle buyer felt confident that he was buying the steak, and not the sizzle.
Offered a rational alternative, these same buyers flocked to the Japanese imports and later to Volkswagen’s own Rabbit, which offered better mileage, better handling, better leg and shoulder room, and a safer ride. The Beetle was superior only in its charm, in its charisma.
Why do Clocks run clockwise? Page 16
