0:08

Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.

0:11

I'm Any Rees and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and

0:13

today we have an episode for you about Lotus

0:15

Route. Yes,

0:18

and I was so excited about it. I put an exclamation

0:20

point after our opening

0:23

line, which I shouldn't have to write in here, but I

0:25

still do, because who knows what could happen if

0:27

I don't. It's to be

0:29

fair. You do a different opening line for

0:32

stuff Mom never told you, and you do record

0:34

that more often, or you

0:37

say it more often than you say this one. Your

0:39

brain can get jumbled with those kinds of things, for sure.

0:41

We've talked about that before, Lauren. Were the things you

0:43

say, like in every episode,

0:45

like the outro for you or the intro for me. Your

0:48

brain can if you think about it too hard, Oh

0:51

yeah, yeah, grinds to a halt. Yeah no, I

0:53

I eat y'all. And Andie can attest to this. Literally,

0:56

every time I do that outro, it is not written

0:58

down and it hasn't shanged aged.

1:00

And I don't know two or three d episodes

1:02

now, um, but for sure,

1:06

uh, I have to close my

1:08

eyes in order to concentrate

1:10

hard enough to say it every

1:13

time, and

1:15

we we get through it. You know, we have

1:17

to have these little tricks, but we get through it every time.

1:20

Yeah, with the help of our superproducers

1:22

for sure. Absolutely.

1:25

Yes. But as

1:28

we record this, Lunar New

1:30

Year is coming up this

1:32

Sunday, January twenty at the beginning of

1:34

it. Yes, and

1:36

we thought the lotus root would be a good

1:39

topic. Yeah. Yeah, because

1:41

it is incorporated in um a number

1:44

of dishes from a number of culinary

1:46

traditions of into

1:48

lunar New Year's celebrations. Yes.

1:52

And I know I've talked about this before. Uh.

1:56

I have very much enjoyed

1:58

celebrating lunar New Year in the past with a

2:00

group of friends or we go to dim Sum and do it

2:03

um. The pandemic kind

2:05

of put a stop to that

2:07

for a while. So I I

2:11

knew I had had lotus root,

2:14

but I don't think when I saw

2:16

pictures of it, I was like, oh that, I

2:18

don't think that's what I was thinking of. When I thought, okay,

2:21

yeah, I realized

2:23

that what I had thought was a

2:25

filling of lotus root in various

2:28

pastries that I've had, like moon cakes

2:30

and stuff that is actually lotus seed. Um.

2:33

But yeah, but I've definitely had like

2:35

like slices fried and stuff before. It's

2:37

it's it's I like a root. It's tasty. I

2:40

also like a root. It is tasty and

2:43

it's cool looking honestly, all

2:45

right, yeah, um

2:47

oh, I did a total side note,

2:49

like there was no way for me to work this into the actual

2:52

outline, but um but I found it so

2:54

fascinating, um that I decided to

2:56

include this as a like cultural like

2:59

us note. I found

3:01

this whole paper about the

3:04

environmental sustainability of

3:07

growing conditions of lotus

3:10

plants with different aquatic creatures

3:12

like fish versus shrimp, and like different stuff

3:14

like that. And now

3:17

I want to build an aquarium

3:20

that incorporates lotus so

3:22

much I

3:25

think you should. I don't know why you're acting

3:27

like this is a thing you shouldn't

3:29

be doing. The

3:32

expense is the reason why I'm acting

3:34

like I shouldn't do it. Um,

3:36

But like I have this number of

3:38

things on the list ahead of second

3:41

aquarium that

3:43

are a little bit more pressing. Um.

3:45

But well,

3:49

it's good to have goals. You're

3:52

right, I'm

3:55

going to root for you for this lotus

3:57

root for you. Um

4:00

Hey,

4:02

that's cool. I love when we find these very specific

4:06

papers. It just brings joy to my heart.

4:08

So good, especially when they talk about srimp. Yeah,

4:11

yes, yes always. You

4:13

can see our Lunar New Year episode

4:15

for more. We've also done a

4:17

lot of foods related to

4:20

Lunar New Year as episodes, so

4:23

yeah, and various other rhizome

4:26

related episodes. Of Ginger

4:29

is the one that I'm coming up with the off

4:31

the top of my head. Um. But now

4:34

I'm like, did we do Ginger? I think we did? We

4:36

did great? Good? Yes,

4:41

someone can correct me that. I'm pretty sure

4:43

we did. Yes.

4:46

Well, I guess that brings

4:49

us to right question. It does Lotus

4:52

root? What

4:56

is it? Well, Lotus

4:59

root is the edible, bold structure

5:02

of the lotus plant, so so

5:04

botanically. Um, it's a storage space

5:06

for starches and other nutrients that the plant

5:08

needs to to grow and to flour, and

5:11

that's why humans like eating

5:13

it too. Um. It's relatively mild in

5:15

flavor, but but the texture is sort

5:18

of creamy and crunchy at the

5:20

same time, like like crisp, but in a

5:22

in a tender way. Um. It

5:24

can be cooked up in any number of ways and used

5:26

in savory or sweet dishes. Um. It's

5:28

often used as like a tasty garnish, especially

5:30

for special occasion dishes, partially

5:33

because in cross section it's

5:35

got this really pretty, almost um lacy

5:38

sort of look. Because because the root is shot

5:40

through long ways with a series of holes.

5:42

Yeah. Um, it's

5:44

like a it's like a more decorative

5:47

hiccama uh

5:49

or or like a like a potato

5:51

that's that's standing up for itself a little bit more.

5:53

Yeah yeah,

5:56

uh it's um it is.

5:59

It's like proof that beauty isn't

6:01

always skin deep. Like sometimes it's got roots

6:04

that go all the way down again.

6:07

So true, so beautiful. You

6:09

never know what's going on with

6:11

somebody, you know, you

6:14

never know what's going on with your root

6:18

into it until you cut it cross

6:21

wise and see what kind of pretty

6:23

pattern it has. All

6:26

right, Well

6:28

that metaphor has thoroughly escaped

6:31

us. Um. Alright,

6:33

so so yes, so um. Edible Lotus roots

6:35

are not true roots. Um. They

6:37

are the starchy rhizome of plants

6:40

in the genus n Lumbo nlumbo.

6:43

Sure one of those. Uh. There are only

6:45

two species in this genus, um and Ludia,

6:48

or the American lotus and an Nusifera

6:51

or the Indian lotus um. But there are a bunch

6:54

of cultivars and hybrids. These

6:56

are These are aquatic plants that grow in relatively

6:58

still fresh water ponds streams.

7:01

Delta's stuff like that. They

7:03

grow their true roots and their rhizomes

7:05

down into the soil of the pond bed and

7:08

then sprout these long stems up

7:10

to the surface of the water. Um. The leaves

7:12

will grow add or above the surface, and then

7:14

they produce these really pretty flowers

7:16

in shades of white and pink and yellow

7:19

that look a little bit like water lilies. Yeah.

7:21

Um. The flowers have a

7:23

have a broad, flat structure

7:26

at their center that will develop into

7:29

and honestly nightmarish

7:31

seed pod um like

7:33

like, these seed pods are like one

7:35

of the images that's used in demonstrating

7:38

um typophobia, the

7:41

fear of grouped holes. You

7:43

know. Yeah, like if like if

7:45

you think of what you think of when you

7:47

think of that, you're probably thinking of a lotus seed

7:49

head. Oh whoam

7:52

Yeah,

7:55

so that's cool. Um. I

7:57

love how we went from like it's this beautiful thing to

8:00

terrifying holes you can fall in through

8:02

now yeah.

8:03

Uh,

8:08

you know, the roots of beauty can also be terrifying.

8:11

Yeah, as we all learn from

8:14

glad reel Um. Sure, okay,

8:18

all right. All

8:22

the parts of the plant are edible um and

8:24

are used in various cuisines around the world.

8:27

The seeds can be ground into a paste and

8:29

used to make beverages or

8:31

in pastries like again moon cakes,

8:34

or in other desserts. The stems are

8:36

used as a vegetable, the leaves as wrappers

8:38

for um, for steaming rice and other stuff.

8:41

The flowers are mostly ornamental but can

8:43

be used to make tea um and

8:45

different varietals are grown for different purposes.

8:49

But those starchy rhizomes are

8:51

arguably the meat of

8:53

the plant. Uh. They're a fall

8:56

to winter crop and they grow in

8:58

these in these clusters that look a

9:00

little bit like um, like fat links of sausage

9:03

um under their kind of tannish skin.

9:05

They're they're creamy to crisp, white

9:07

in color and have yeah, these

9:09

sort of irregular rings

9:11

of roundish holes shot through the

9:14

blank wise. They're prepared by

9:16

by peeling and then slicing crosswise

9:18

to reveal that lacey pattern of the holes,

9:20

and then a boiled or steamed

9:23

or stir fried or deep fried or braised,

9:25

pickled or preserved in syrup. You

9:27

can often find lotus root sold um

9:30

already peeled and sliced, canned

9:32

or frozen or fresh um.

9:34

By fresh, I mean it'll be like badge in a solution

9:36

of salt water or maybe mild vinegar

9:38

to preserve the color and the

9:40

flavor is mild a little

9:43

bit as sweet, tangy, creamy. Yeah.

9:45

Uh. The slices are used as a

9:47

as a crunchy, tender vegetable in stir

9:49

fries and soups. They can be deep

9:52

fried to make a crunchy or crisp snack.

9:55

In some preparation, the holes

9:57

of the roots might be stuffed with other

9:59

things like a like a mixture of horseradish

10:02

and miso um or maybe with

10:04

with sweetened sticky rice, and then the slices

10:06

might be like battered and fried or

10:09

or cooked up in a syrup. In terms of the sticky

10:11

rice, one, I've

10:15

never had that that way, and I want it right now

10:17

immediately. Uh.

10:19

It can also be the root can also be processed

10:21

into a powder and then used in like puddings or

10:24

jellies or other dishes like that. Mm

10:27

hmmm, a lot of uses.

10:30

Yeah, oh yeah, well,

10:33

what about the nutrition by

10:36

themselves. Loves fruits are pretty good for you. Blow

10:38

and sugar and fat, a little bit of protein

10:40

and fiber, a good spread of micronutrients.

10:43

They are a little bit on the starchy end, so they will help

10:45

fill you up, but to keep you going param with a protein

10:47

and some fat and you know, all all bets are

10:49

off by the time you've stuffed

10:52

them with glutinous rice and drizzled

10:54

them with a whole bunch of syrup. Like that's a that's a different

10:57

situation, but

10:59

a delicious Yes. Yes,

11:02

we do have some numbers for you.

11:06

Okay, so I

11:08

couldn't find too much, but China Daily

11:10

reported that five hundred thousand

11:12

to seven hundred thousand hectares are

11:15

growing lotus root across China, largely

11:17

concentrated in Hubei Province, specifically

11:20

Wuhan, which is where I lived for a couple of months.

11:23

Cool uh And just for some

11:25

context there, like a productive hector

11:27

of of lotus farmland might produce

11:30

some twenty five metric tons of lotus

11:32

rout a year, so multiply

11:36

that by five hundred to seven hundred thousand,

11:38

and that's that's like a bunch yeah,

11:41

yeah, it's a bunch, and

11:44

that's just in China. Speaking of China,

11:46

research has found at least a three hundred

11:49

and ten varietals of rhizome

11:51

lotus alone being grown there.

11:55

Yeah. Uh and

11:58

um, all right, duck

12:00

fact of the episode. Uh,

12:02

there's almost two point five

12:05

million dollars worth of damage done

12:07

to lotus crops by

12:09

ducks every year in

12:12

Japan. Um.

12:14

It is difficult to research and prevent

12:16

because this this, this duck

12:18

damage mostly occurs at night,

12:22

those ducks. I it is.

12:25

Look, it's a serious economic and agricultural

12:27

problem. And yes, I mostly

12:29

included this fact because I wanted to say the words

12:31

duck damage. It

12:34

was pretty good. Yeah, pretty fun. Hard

12:37

too hard to not do that when you have

12:39

the opportunity, I understand. Um.

12:42

I couldn't find any specific numbers, but I

12:44

did see several sources reporting

12:46

that the lotus market is growing, um

12:49

and some of the some of the numbers suggested quite

12:52

rapidly, but a lot

12:54

of that was behind pay walls, and I couldn't sure.

12:56

Yeah, I couldn't verify it for sure, but

12:58

I would be sense to me. Yeah,

13:03

as as a more culinary cultural

13:05

practices spread mm hmmm. Uh,

13:09

Well, we do have some

13:11

history for you, Oh we do, and we are

13:13

going to get into that as soon as we get back from a quick break

13:15

for a word from our sponsors, and

13:26

we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you.

13:28

UM And okay, so again, there are

13:30

two species of lotus, one

13:33

native to North and Central America and the

13:35

other to Asia. Native Americans

13:37

have also traditionally used the plant as

13:39

a food source, but today we are mostly

13:41

talking about the Asian native varieties.

13:45

Yes, and also once

13:48

again, unfortunately couldn't find too many

13:51

resources that I trusted

13:54

about this UM And I always

13:56

listeners, count on you because

13:58

you're all amazing, and we answer our call if you have

14:00

any UM.

14:03

But yeah, just to just to throw that out there. And

14:05

then also there were

14:07

a lot of side quests that happened, and some of these

14:09

were like, oh, okay, so

14:12

this is a separate this is a whole separate thing

14:15

and not really what Yeah.

14:17

Yeah, I think that they're going to need to be other

14:19

episodes about other parts

14:22

of the lotus and their history

14:24

and uses. Yes, okay,

14:27

but for today what we have when

14:29

it comes to the origins

14:32

UM. Some historians specifically cite India

14:35

UM Australia, New Guinea and some of the Middle East

14:37

is where it might have rid the lotus route might have

14:39

originated. UM. I couldn't

14:41

quite nail down specifics on the date, but

14:44

thousands and thousands of years seems

14:46

to be the consensus. Thousand thousands

14:48

of years ago UM. Some numbers

14:50

claimed it has been cultivated for at least

14:53

three thousand years in Asia specifically,

14:56

for a long time, folks in Asia and perhaps

14:59

specifically China have used

15:01

it medicinally or even aesthetically.

15:03

I saw a lot of things about that, um,

15:06

and it was viewed as a cooling

15:08

food, something you might eat to cool

15:10

you down. Yes,

15:13

and the lotus route has a long history

15:15

of being prized in China, and for

15:17

some it's or the lotus

15:20

plant in general, uh symbolized

15:22

purity, enlightenment, fertility,

15:24

rebirth, and abundance. And

15:26

a part of this is because how the flower would

15:29

emerge from the swamp

15:31

like muddy swamp. I read in a lot

15:33

of places with beautiful white

15:35

petals. Yeah, yeah, that the flowers

15:37

are really significant in artistic

15:40

and religious symbolism. You've probably

15:42

seen any number of examples of what's called

15:45

a lotus throne in art like

15:47

a sort of pedestal upon which a

15:49

revered figure stands. Yes,

15:52

and it is a special symbol of Buddhism

15:54

in China. The lotus itself

15:57

is this beloved thing that

15:59

is used represent the Goddess of Mercy,

16:02

which different podcasts but has a

16:05

many many interpretations

16:07

and personas. But in Sanskrit their

16:09

name translates to born of the lotus

16:13

um, and so vendors often self

16:15

folded lotus buds outside

16:17

of temples dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy

16:20

for visitors to leave them as offerings,

16:22

and in many depictions her she is standing

16:25

or sitting on a lotus flower. Mm

16:28

hmmm. One

16:30

source reports that as far back as

16:32

six nine, Buddhist

16:35

monks of the Big Stone Temple of Baosha

16:37

Mountain started cultivating

16:40

lotus um. It's also

16:42

important in Hinduism and was revered

16:45

in ancient Egypt too. But

16:47

as always, we would love for listeners to write in and confirm,

16:50

correct or add anything into this.

16:52

Absolutely. Oh yes. When

16:55

we're talking about these cultural things, it's always kind

16:57

of like we need your we need the personal experience

17:00

knowledge, yes, yes, yes,

17:02

sus yes, So no one

17:04

is exactly sure how far back Lunar New

17:06

Year goes, but most estimates put

17:08

it around three thousand, five hundred years

17:10

ago, and given that

17:12

Lotus was available

17:15

around Dish that time, that

17:17

it was prized that the names

17:20

uh and symbolism had a lot going

17:22

on when it came to what people wanted in the New

17:24

Year. We talked about that in our Lunar New Year episode as a

17:26

lot of times there's kind of pun involved or

17:29

something. Yes, it's yes,

17:31

um. And on top of that,

17:33

the leaves themselves of the Lotus

17:36

were so handy in wrapping

17:39

other popular items that was something I totally forgot

17:41

about. It is so true, Um, including

17:43

sticky rice and a sort

17:45

of opening of the treasure type. Dish

17:48

says to reason that the Lotus

17:50

has been involved almost since the beginning of

17:52

Lunar New Year's celebrations. To me, Um

17:55

and I saw it a couple of places, but I couldn't.

17:58

I didn't get the like Horror wanted.

18:02

Yeah, sure, sure, but it's see I mean, like the ven

18:05

diagram seems like it lines up? It

18:07

does it does? Um. Jumping

18:10

way ahead. In

18:13

two poet Alfred Tennyson published

18:16

a collection of poems that included one titled

18:19

the lotus eaters um

18:21

And this was inspired by Greek myth mentioned

18:24

in the Odyssey and in it

18:26

um Odysseus came across this island

18:28

where everyone eats lotus roots. People

18:30

who ate the route became blissfully ignorant

18:33

or forgetful. They refused to leave

18:35

and had to be dragged back to the boat chain to the

18:37

boat two

18:40

to be convinced

18:43

um. And this went

18:45

on to inspire the r M

18:47

song. Lotus was the name of

18:49

a White Lotus episode which includes a recitation

18:52

of part of the poem. And I'm

18:55

a huge I love talking about tropes. Laura

18:57

knows a lot of times in our pre episode

19:00

discussions, I'm like, God, this trope, We've

19:02

got to outpack it. Um.

19:04

There's one called lotus eater machine,

19:07

which is simply that trope of a villain convincing

19:11

you of a of vision or

19:13

dream or something is reality when it's not reality.

19:16

Yeah. And uh, and and the the the hero

19:19

being stuck in this dream world

19:21

and not wanting or not being able

19:23

to get out. Yes. And

19:27

there are a lot of theories breaking

19:29

a part of this whole, this

19:31

whole ancient Greek myth that it probably

19:34

wasn't lotus root they were writing about?

19:36

Um? But yeah, yeah,

19:40

yes uh. In a night

19:43

book, American journalist Emily Han wrote

19:45

that lotus was more of a thing of poetry

19:48

then a thing of taste in

19:51

the East. However, historians

19:54

argue that eating lotus froot has

19:57

less to do with poetry in China but more out

19:59

of a necessar city and a desire

20:01

to make use of everything possible. So basically this person

20:04

was writing like, Oh, it's just sort

20:06

of a pretty thing. It's

20:09

a symbol, right, But

20:12

that did not match with the reality

20:15

of what was going on. Yeah, it should

20:17

be both? Why not both? Both? Why

20:19

not? Um?

20:22

Uh? Recently, because

20:24

because they grow in the soil of waterways,

20:27

there's been a bunch of research into

20:30

both possible contamination

20:33

of lotus roots with with heavy metal

20:35

pollution and into

20:37

using lotus plants to help clear

20:40

waterways of pollution. Like this, so

20:43

really fascinating on both ends. That

20:45

is fascinating. Um.

20:48

And then I just wanted to end here. There's

20:51

an amazing, beautifully

20:53

written piece on Oxford,

20:55

American written by SNI

20:58

and I hope I'm not butchering that scene in a chin

21:01

about the lotus and her memories

21:03

of the lotus highly recommended. Um,

21:07

it's just really beautiful. Here's a sample.

21:10

As a kid, my absolute favorite thing to do

21:12

was to walk around Westlake in my rain boots

21:14

during a summer storm, stepping into every

21:16

puddle in my path. When I finally grew

21:18

exhausted from all that splashing, I would stand

21:20

still, holding my breath to watch water

21:23

roll off the lotus leaves. Rain would

21:25

fall into the glossy leaves and form individual

21:27

drops that were so around, so full, so

21:30

perfect. They would then roll

21:32

all around the leaf as if they were teasing the other

21:34

droplets, getting bigger and rounder on their way,

21:36

eventually falling to the leaf's center, where

21:38

all the droplets beaded together. When the

21:40

bead got large and heavy enough, the wind would

21:43

inevitably make the leave tremble, catapulting

21:45

it into the pond. It made the most wonderfully

21:48

playful sound. I later

21:50

learned that lotus leaves stay dry

21:52

because of their super hydrophobic surfaces.

21:55

The nano structure of the leaves surface is

21:57

woven tightly together with micro bumps

21:59

all long its edges. This means lotus

22:02

sleeves are not only water repellent, but they are also

22:04

self cleaning. As water droplets

22:06

roll around the leaf, they attract small particles

22:08

of dirt. Because lotus sleeves clean

22:10

themselves, they also make the perfect

22:12

wrappers for our regional cuisine.

22:15

Long long before the invention of plastic wraps,

22:17

many dim sum and dessert dishes were traditionally

22:20

wrapped and dried lotus leaves. I

22:24

love that. That is so lovely, like

22:27

the painting of the picture, the setting

22:29

of the scene, and then like the sound I can imagine

22:31

that, I can hear it, and then

22:33

I love the kind of that's totally our

22:35

jam word and the perfect

22:42

yes and used for all these dishes. And

22:44

that's just another example of like, you know, how

22:46

food can transport you and these celebrations can

22:48

transport you. But also I

22:50

hadn't thought about that. I wish I

22:53

had, But like the lotus sleeves

22:55

as a wrapping.

22:59

Yeah, when we finally dive

23:02

into our dim Sum

23:05

Mini series expedition, I uh

23:09

fugue state. Yeah, it's it's

23:11

going to be. We're definitely gonna have to talk

23:13

more about all of that. Yes, Oh,

23:16

I look forward to it, even

23:19

though I'm already preemptively overwhelmed

23:21

by it, But look forward to it. Yes,

23:25

yes, so well, I think that's

23:27

what we have to say about Lotus Root for now it

23:30

is again, we would love to hear from

23:32

y'all and uh and we do have

23:34

some listener mail prepared for you, and we

23:36

will get into that as soon as we get back from one more quick

23:38

break for a word from our sponsors. We're

23:49

back than yes, thank you, and

23:51

we're back fireworks.

24:00

Oh. I was

24:02

going to do the blank ruts, but I feel

24:04

like I've done a lot of the spiral motion lately

24:07

in the listener email jingle. I

24:10

put some thought into this. I promise not

24:12

a lot, but I do put some thought

24:15

into it. Uh.

24:19

So we have

24:22

one epically amazing listener

24:24

email for you today. It's kind of long, so we're just doing

24:26

one. Um, but

24:30

it is so good. I'm

24:32

so excited about it. Um So,

24:34

if you remember Megan

24:37

listener, Megan wrote

24:40

in about being Nerd sniped

24:42

about this question of whether or

24:44

not marshmallows

24:47

and their thermo quality

24:52

make a hot chocolate cool down faster,

24:54

keep it warmer for longer,

24:58

longer, and had said that they were

25:00

going to take this question

25:02

to Uh. There were a

25:04

holiday party, yes,

25:08

and we begged shamelessly.

25:12

Uh to please please follow up if

25:14

you do it, and Megan did. Megan

25:17

did this, followed up

25:19

with an amazing thing. Laura

25:21

and I are going to split this because it's amazing.

25:24

Yes, yes,

25:27

all right, Megan

25:30

wrote, I have results.

25:33

Since I'm geeking out about this anyway, here's a

25:35

fake laboraport for you

25:38

with my findings. Motivation.

25:41

Determine how the addition of marshmallows

25:43

affects the temperature of a cup of hot chocolate.

25:46

The marshmallows on top of the liquid act

25:48

as an insulator, preventing heat being transferred

25:50

from the liquid to the air around it,

25:52

but they also melt, which is a phase

25:54

change that requires energy to be added to the

25:56

marshmallow from the liquid, which would cool

25:59

the liquid down own. This experiment

26:01

will determine which of these factors contribute

26:03

most to the final temperature.

26:07

Procedure. Heat water in a

26:09

large urn and dispense into identical

26:11

cups, so all cups of hot chocolate will

26:13

be made with the same temperature of water. Bonus

26:16

party attendees also get a source of water

26:18

for their own warm beverages. Follow

26:22

instructions on the hot chocolate mix. Add

26:24

recommended amount of mixed two cups

26:26

of hot water, stir until fully dissolved.

26:29

Add marshmallows to one cup. I

26:32

use three large ones. Measure

26:34

temperatures that both comes at regular ish

26:36

intervals without mixing or otherwise

26:38

disturbing the liquids. I used my

26:40

instant read thermometers from home, but a colleague

26:43

of mine shout out to Adam pointed

26:45

out that there are fancy thermal probes

26:47

for the lab courses that would read the tempts

26:49

and make a plot automatically. So we set

26:51

up another two cups of hot chocolate using

26:54

that thermometer, following steps one

26:56

through three, multiple

26:58

trials, Okay,

27:01

results and discussion. Marshmallows

27:04

keep hot chocolate warmer than no marshmallows.

27:07

Those setups show the same behavior. We're

27:09

both cups with and without marshmallows

27:11

cool, but the cup with marshmallows

27:14

is consistently one to two degrees

27:16

celsius or two to three degrees fahrenheit

27:18

warmer than the cup without marshmallows.

27:22

See plots top as data

27:24

taken with instant wreath thermometers. Bottoms

27:26

data from the lab thermometer red equals

27:28

marshmallow blue eagules no marshmallows

27:31

for both plots. Noticed that the time

27:33

scales are different, with the top plot going

27:35

for ninety minutes while the bottom only last

27:37

thirty minutes. As I realized while discussing

27:40

the experiment with the student, the energy

27:42

needed to melt the marshmallows will be very small

27:44

due to their very small mass, so

27:46

it will not remove enough energy from the hot

27:48

chocolate to counteract the heat

27:51

retained by their insulating effect.

27:55

Okay, she continues, Um,

27:58

there are a few caveats to the six speariment.

28:00

First, I didn't weigh the amount of hot chocolate

28:02

powder in each cup, so that might have made

28:04

some cups more or less chocolate, though

28:07

I don't believe this would have a big effect

28:09

on the outcome. A future, more precise

28:11

trial could be done to eliminate this issue. Second,

28:14

as you can see in the plots, uh, the cups

28:16

didn't start exactly the same temperature,

28:19

though the difference is only about point five degrees

28:21

celsius. I suspect this is because

28:23

of the heat lost during the time between

28:25

making the first and second cups of hot

28:27

chocolate. This amount of time could be reduced

28:30

by reversing the order of making the hot chocolate

28:32

up, put the powder in the cup first and then add

28:34

the hot water, and having multiple

28:36

people stir the cups so it happens at the

28:38

same time rather than one after the other.

28:42

Finally, as mentioned in the procedure section

28:44

um, the cups were not mixed after the

28:46

initial preparation, which is not a

28:48

good model of how people drink hot chocolate,

28:51

and left the melted marshmallow foam sitting

28:53

on top of the liquid, which may have insulated

28:56

the hot chocolate longer than would be typical.

28:59

Future your work, the first

29:01

step to expand on these results would be to actually

29:04

weigh the hot chocolate mix and each cup to ensure

29:06

each cup has the same amount, and to add

29:08

the water after so that the hot chocolate is prepared

29:10

and as close to the same amount of time as possible

29:12

to reduce the difference in initial temperature. Next,

29:15

the cups could be stirred or otherwise mixed after

29:18

the initial preparation to simulate how a

29:20

cup of liquid is mixed while someone is taking

29:22

a sip of it. We could also remove

29:24

a sip's worth of liquid each time this is done to

29:26

make the experiment even more realistic. Third,

29:29

I'm interested in how other types of marshmallows

29:32

and toppings affect the temperature. I

29:34

wanted to try whipped cream, mini marshmallows,

29:36

and marshmallow fluff during this experiment, but

29:38

I was limited by the number of instant read thermometers

29:41

that I own. With the lab thermometers,

29:43

more toppings could be included. Finally,

29:46

the department also has thermal imaging

29:48

cameras that can be plugged into a smartphone,

29:51

so it would be interesting to see what the cups

29:53

look like using those. Mostly,

29:55

the thermal imaging camera lab is one of my favorites,

29:57

so I want more reasons to use the

30:00

cameras and

30:02

then write attached attached

30:04

our graph plots UH,

30:07

which are excellent and do show right

30:09

like I mean, I believe is a statistically

30:12

significant gap in

30:14

the temperature between right no marshmallow and marshmallow

30:16

cups of hot chocolate UM in both experiments.

30:20

She continues, as always, thanks

30:22

for the great podcast. This was a lot of fun for me

30:24

to do, and the rest of the department was also entertained,

30:27

so thank you for inspiring this

30:29

experiment. UM Best

30:31

Megan ps. I wrote

30:33

this email while listening to the Christmas ham episode

30:35

and have a couple of comments at one. If

30:37

you're looking for ham recipes to try, my favorite

30:40

ham recipe comes from Julia Child. The

30:42

ham braised in madeira and a mushroom

30:45

and cream sauce. She recommends to go with it.

30:47

It's not specifically a Christmas recipe, but

30:49

it's so good. Um two. I

30:51

was delighted to hear you read my original message

30:54

and am now even more excited to share my results.

30:57

Oh, I mean the pleasure

31:00

and honor is ours is

31:03

Oh my heck? Is

31:05

this the coolest? Is so good?

31:09

There are graphs every everyone

31:11

there, listeners, there are graphs involved.

31:15

There's THIRDO imaging equipment mentioned.

31:18

It was a holiday party experiment.

31:21

People got in. People got into it

31:23

right like people. Yeah, like they had like

31:25

they had like ideas and opinions and like the

31:29

future like future work

31:31

where the improvements could be made,

31:33

which I hope you're right in again,

31:37

I I all, I also deeply want

31:40

to see these thermal images.

31:42

Yes, yes, I

31:45

agreed. I love it

31:48

and I love how many people were like, you know, we

31:50

need to take an account the sipping or like

31:52

the sitting of the marshmallow foam on

31:54

top, like really well falling

31:56

out work.

31:59

This is good science. This is

32:02

the amazing, the best science

32:04

I've I'm so happy we

32:07

kept like kind of breaking up during

32:09

it because we're just thrilled. If

32:14

there if there's I mean, I mean, I

32:17

mean and super producer Andrew was an absolute

32:19

professional. I'm sure that he made us sound just

32:21

fine but like but we had to stop and

32:23

giggle in delight a number

32:25

of times while reading through this. So yes,

32:29

it's excellent. Um,

32:32

please like follow up. Thank you for

32:34

taking the time to do this and write this. I love

32:36

that we, in our own small podcasting way

32:38

could inspire an experiment with this. Yes,

32:42

yes, yes, yes, and just to you're right

32:45

all right once again? You listeners are

32:47

the coolest. Are genuinely

32:50

yes, yes, so thank you, thank you,

32:52

Thank you so much to Megan

32:54

for sending this in. If you

32:56

would like to write to us, you can. Our

32:59

email is hello at saber pod dot com.

33:01

We are also on social media. You can find

33:03

us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

33:06

at sabre pod and we do hope to hear

33:08

from you. Saber is production of I Heart

33:10

Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, you

33:12

can visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

33:15

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks

33:17

as always to our superproducers Dylan Fagin

33:19

and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,

33:22

and we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.