WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Don't Throw the House Out the Window 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:12.680 Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to Stuff to Blow Your 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:16.400 Mind Listener Mail. My name is Joe McCormick. My regular 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.520 co host, Robert Lamb is out today, so I'm going 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.560 to be recording this episode. Sol one announcement. Rob and 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:25.840 I are both going to be out the rest of 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.840 this week and the very beginning of next week. So 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.200 we've got some vault episodes lined up for you starting tomorrow. 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.040 But I should be back with all new listener mail 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:39.599 on Monday then, and we'll have other new episodes for 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.319 you sometime that week, I believe on Wednesday. So right 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:48.200 on to your messages. This first message comes from Raphael 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:57.080 and it's a response to our episodes on t Rafael says, Hello, 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.160 Robert and Joe. I just finished part three of your 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.280 Exploration of Tea, and I wanted to say I really 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.720 enjoyed these episodes. I'm not a big tea drinker, though 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.720 various tea varieties seem to proliferate in our kitchen cabinet. 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:14.000 That said, Rob's poetry readings made me brew a cup immediately. 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.679 As a food scientist, I always appreciate episodes where you 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.880 get into the history, science, and culture of foods. What 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:23.240 put the t series over the top for me was 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:27.319 the digression in part three on the topics of reology 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.720 and philosophy. This is why I love your show. I 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:32.920 wanted to expand on a few comments you made in 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.520 part two while talking about you lose preference for blue 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:41.040 glazed teacups. Uh and plenty of the elder I couldn't 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.560 agree more with your point that visual presentation can really 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.320 influence our perception of the flavor of foods and beverages. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.960 I've been involved in proprietary research that showed that changing 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.240 food color can influence taste perception. Broadly speaking, the effect 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.400 of color on food is well known and significant. A 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.680 quick web search found an open access review by Charles 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:08.480 Spence titled on the psychological impact of food color. Flavor, intensity, 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.600 detection thresholds, and even basic flavor identification can all be 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.520 manipulated with color changes. It is amazing what a little 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:21.040 food coloring can do. Uh. Yes, Raphael, that is true, 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.239 and so we made general reference in the episode to 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.200 the idea that say, changing the color of the plates 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:31.800 or cups in which food and beverage are presented can 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.079 affect the perception of the properties of that food or beverage. 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.360 I wanted to highlight a few specifics about the background color, 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:44.000 in particular because that was the original context youlu talking 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.720 about blue glaze teacup. So how much does the color 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:51.399 of a cup or a plate affect what you taste 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.079 or or how you consume food? I found a review 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.680 article but the same author you mentioned, Raphael This is 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.600 also by Charles spin Charles Spence is a psychologist at 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:07.160 Oxford University who studies food perception. UH. This was a 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.520 different review. It was called Background Color and its Impact 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:14.240 on Food Perception and Behavior, published in Food Quality and 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:19.440 Preference in the year eighteen and so after reviewing the 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.320 existing research as of this year, Spence writes, UH, this 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.639 year being when it was published. Spence writes that there 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.800 is clear evidence that quote, while people obviously cannot literally 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:35.440 taste the plate, the color of the plate, bowl, glass, cup, cutlery, pot, 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.200 and package in slash against which a product is seen 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.240 can certainly influence how appealing of food looks, what it 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.680 tastes like, and even how much we end up consuming 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:52.200 and or serving ourselves. However, that the interesting thing I 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:56.120 found from reading His conclusions is that background color and 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.560 food perception relationships are not static and linear, they are 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.800 dying amic and complex. So it's not just like, oh, 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.440 food tastes better on a red plate or something like that. Instead, 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.680 Spence writes that one example is a trend of findings 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:15.240 that desserts taste sweeter when served off of white plates, 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.240 then when served off of black plates. And meanwhile, black 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:23.120 plates may enhance the experience of savory dishes. And so 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.400 the dynamic aspect is that whether these effects are desirable 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.799 or not may depend on the properties of the food 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:34.000 itself and the expectations of the diner. So uh, if 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.479 a if a dessert tends to taste sweeter off of 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:40.679 a white plate, and that dessert is already considered too 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:44.640 sweet in isolation, it may actually be more enjoyable if 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.600 it's consumed off of a black plate, dulling the sweetness, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:51.400 Whereas the opposite holds true as well. A dessert that 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.680 people consider not sweet enough can be enhanced by a 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.800 white plate, heightening the perception of sweetness. And there are 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:03.200 other interesting findings well that Uspence mentioned and his conclusions. 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.640 One is that when a food is considered an unhealthy indulgence, 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:10.800 people seem to naturally eat less of it when it 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.640 is presented on a red plate, and the reasons for 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.440 these effects of color on food perception and consumption behavior 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:22.039 are still up for debate, like do the colors function 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:27.760 by triggering environmentally salient associations between certain colors and certain 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:30.200 types of nutrient contents? You know? Could it be that 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.279 when you see this color in the natural environment, it 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.560 often has this kind of uh, maybe a poisoning danger 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:41.880 associated with it, or this kind of nutrient reward associated 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:45.960 with it? Or are these associations learned or are they 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.920 simply a result of color effects on mood? And questions 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.640 like that, uh, And I think those are not fully 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.840 solved yet. But anyway, back to Rafhaile's message, however, I 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.440 think you may both have done Plenty wrong. There was 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.039 a bit of chuckling over Plenty. This is our reference 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.560 to Plenty the elder. Uh. There was a bit of 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.480 chuckling over Plenty writing that sappa boiled in copper pots 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.760 tasted bitter, while the same beverage boiled in lead pots 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.039 tasted sweet. At least in this case, Plenty may have 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.200 been accurately reporting a real phenomenon. If his starting grape 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.520 juice had been sitting around long enough to form some 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.960 acetic acid, Plenty may well have been cooking up some 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:30.159 lead acetate, also known as sugar of lead. Lead acetate 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.279 is a toxic compound with a sweet taste. By the 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.919 same token, dissolved copper has a metallic and bitter taste 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.760 at least according to determination of the taste threshold of 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.360 copper in water by Zacharias. At all the lead pot 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:48.200 might actually have made the sappa taste sweet, though also poisonous. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.400 And to come back on this, Yes, Raphael, this is 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.159 a great point to explore for those of you who 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.560 don't know or don't remember the original context of this 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.400 little digression we did some years back. Rob and I 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.039 had an episode where we talked about people intentionally consuming 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.120 lead acetate as a medicine or a food additive, which 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.880 you absolutely should not do. It is highly poisonous. But 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.360 one of the examples we discussed was a passage in 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.400 Plenty of the Elder where he writes that leaden pots 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.960 and not copper pots, should be used for the production 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.840 of sappa. Sappa was a like a sweet syrup used 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.200 by the ancient Romans, I think used kind of in 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.960 the way that you know a bartender might use simple 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.880 syrup today. It was a sweetening agent, though not as 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.960 sweet as today's simple syrup would be, but um, it 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:39.440 was a It was a sweetening agent to syrup that 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.280 the ancient Romans made by boiling down and reducing a 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:46.760 liquid called must, which was a type of lightly fermented 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.320 grape juice, kind of a weak wine. And the reasoning 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.960 we discussed in that episode is exactly what Raphael is 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:59.119 saying here that Plenty's recommendation was probably because boiling must 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:02.200 in a metal pot would cause some chemical reaction between 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.760 the acetic acid, which is the type of acid that 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.880 is in vinegar, uh and uh, the acetic acid in 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:10.960 the juice and the metal walls of the pot. So 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.560 if it's copper pot, this is going to result in 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:19.960 copper acetate salts, which tastes disgusting, bitter, nasty, metallic flavor. 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.800 And uh. If you boil it in a lead pot, 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.000 on the other hand, the same thing happens, but it 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:29.040 forms lead acetate, which is very poisonous but is also sweet. 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.319 So yes, Raphael, your analysis is spot on. I think 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:36.440 Plenty's advice about pot metal selection was exactly right from 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.080 a flavor point of view, just without any understanding of 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.640 the dire health effects that could flow from this. Uh 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.360 And to supplement this, I wanted to read from the 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.880 entry on sugar of lead in the Oxford Companion to 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:51.960 Sugar and Sweets. This entry was written by the American 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.800 chemist Michelle in FRANCEL. Francile Wrights quote. Chemical analysis of 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.280 sappa produced according to the recipes dating from the Ascle 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:04.680 Roman period using kettles of similar metallic composition as those 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.880 found at Pompeii and other sites, suggests that the lead 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.920 content of sappa was eight hundred and fifty milligrams per leader, 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.960 many thousand times higher than what is generally allowable in 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:20.840 drinking water, even diluted and used sparingly. Sweetening with sappa 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:25.120 posed a serious risk. However, to come back on what 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.800 you said, Raphael, about the validity of Plenty's idea that 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.640 that it really did make the sapa sweeter to use 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.280 a lead pot France, Will argues in this entry in 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.800 the Oxford Handbook here that the amount of sugar of 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:42.640 lead produced by boiling down a pot of must probably 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.760 would not have made a major contribution to the sweetness 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.160 of the syrup, because it would only represent a taste 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.520 change equivalent to adding a pinch of sugar to a 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.319 product that was already pretty sweet. So you know this, 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:59.080 sappa would already have levels of glucose and fructose equivalent 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.960 to roughly one cup of table sugar per leader of liquid. 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.520 So in the specific example of sappa, the preference for 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.760 lead pots over copper might be more due to the 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:13.640 fact that lead pots do not produce the disgusting bitter 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:18.439 copper flavor than to the small amount of additional sweetness 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:21.640 that the lead would add. And while we're on the subject, 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.320 I just thought I should add that the practice of 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.880 intentionally adding lead to food products was not limited to 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.480 this sweetening effect for sappa. In ancient Rome. Up until 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.440 the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, lead metal and lead salts 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.079 were used in a number of ways. Were used as 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.760 a preservative and an antimicrobial agent, and just got into 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:46.120 foods because people used lead machinery and cookware to make 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.880 foods with, but it was used as an antimicrobial agent 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.560 and beverages like wine and cider because sugar lead is 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.960 poisonous to bacteria. In the same way it's poisonous to 0:10:56.080 --> 0:11:01.520 us and Francile writes quote Vintner's observed the filtering fermentation 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.640 mixtures through lead sieves or dropping some lead shot into 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:11.240 bottled wine noticeably reduced spoilage. A firm connection between ingesting 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:14.319 low levels of lead in these beverages and lead poisoning 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.320 was finally made in the early nineteenth century, in part 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:22.520 because of the correlation between outbreaks of colic of Potu 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.280 uh and the arrival of wine shipments containing lead. Colic 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:28.880 of Potu, by the way, is the name for an 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:33.959 originally mysterious condition also known as Devonshare colic, which was 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.120 observed I believe beginning in the seventeenth century, but it 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.000 affected uh people in France I think, mostly through wine, 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.720 and people in Devonshire, England through their cider. In both 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:48.600 cases it was eventually determined that lead was the was 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.559 the culprit lead used as a preservative in some cases, 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:56.800 or because of production processes using lead lined machines. Finally, 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:01.080 coming back to the end of Raphael's message here file rites. Lastly, 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:05.320 I have noticed Joe building confidence in understanding rayology and 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:09.320 fluid dynamics over the years. I don't know about that, Raphael, 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:13.360 but I appreciate uh. He says, you both did a 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:17.599 great job making the physics behind the teapot effect more accessible. 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.800 Reyology is one of those areas where the concepts can 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.200 be really hard to understand, but once you do, you 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:27.840 will see its principles in action everywhere, especially in the kitchen. Also, 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.480 I can confirm that the periodically mentioned on the rayology 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:36.920 of cats is hilarious to rayologists in equals three sample 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:41.920 of three. I think thanks for the great show, Rafael. Ps. Unsurprisingly, 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.120 I'm also a fan of Lauren and Annie over at Savor. 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.240 Everyone should go listen to them too. So yes, thank 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.080 you for the message, Rafael, and absolutely people should go 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.120 check out Savor. That is a podcast hosted by our 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.240 friends Lauren Vogelbaum and Annie Reese and it's a wonderful 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.319 home for food nerds everywhere. Again, it is called Savor 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.079 s A v O R. You can find it wherever 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:15.160 you get your podcasts. Tell him we sent you. Okay, 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:19.800 This next message about Tea comes from Stephanie. Stephanie says, Hello, 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.640 I was listening to the first episode on t and 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.520 you've got about nine of the way to explaining one 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.800 of my favorite facts about tea. In English, the word 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.080 tea can refer to all sorts of beverages, including those 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:36.400 made with Camillia senensis, but also herbal teas and other 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:42.880 usually hot steeped beverages. The French language differentiates between unta 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.800 rhymes with bay made with Camillia senensis and untizan made 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.840 with other plants. The lack of this easy distinction in 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:57.680 English can definitely cause some confusion. Interestingly, French also differentiates 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:01.719 between caffeine and teen or I think in English, I've 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:06.480 heard it pronounced theene, but tayene or theene the caffeine 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:11.079 found in Camilia senensis in common parlance. At least that 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.920 distinction is made in the Quebec dialect of my husband 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.800 and in laws. I had wrongly assumed that this was 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:22.040 another example of French being more precise about tea related 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.720 vocabulary than English, and thought there were two different chemicals, 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.480 caffeine and taine. I only realized through listening to your 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.840 episode that they are in fact the same compound, despite 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.760 the different names. I also learned today the English word theene, 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.160 which means the same as the French one, but which 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.040 I had never heard before despite being an avid drinker 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:46.280 of teas and tissan's. Thanks for always expanding my knowledge 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.680 and my concept of what stuff can be fascinating. Stephanie, 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.840 Thank you, Stephanie. Okay, this next message is from Andreas. 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.640 Andrea said, Dear Robert, Dear Joe, I'm a longtime listener 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.640 and currently very much enjoying your episodes about te I 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.520 write in to tell you a little bit about a 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:12.440 t tradition in Germany, especially in the region called East Frisia. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.480 Even though I live around two hours removed from that area, 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.440 several vacations there made me really appreciate the fine drink 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.920 called post freeze and tea. It is a quite strong 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:26.960 blend of black teas, almost exclusively a psalm tea, and 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.120 it never fails to pick me up on those gray 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.760 and rainy days. There is a special ritual to drink it. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.000 I copied a text from a German website of one 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:39.440 of the traditional suppliers of the tea and ran it 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.560 through an Ai translation for you to enjoy. Thanks for 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.160 all the great content. I hope you will do this forever. 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:50.600 Regards Andreas. Okay, so this is how you make the 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.200 post freeze and tea, at least as mediated through an 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.720 AI translator. It says placed the loose tea leaves in 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:01.240 a well preheated pot of fresh boiling water so that 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.840 they are covered. Allowed the tea to steep for three 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.560 to five minutes, preferably in a kettle or teapot. Then 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.200 fill the fragrant infusion with the remaining water. It is 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:13.960 best to pour the finished teeth through a strainer into 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.640 a preheated serving pot and keep it warm on a 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.440 tea warmer. Now comes the pleasure in the cup, as 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:25.680 East Frisians love it. First, a cluntia, a white sugar candy, 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:27.760 is placed in the cup. When the hot tea is 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:32.480 poured over it, the rock candy crackles, creating anticipation and 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.840 giving the tea a fine sweetness as it melts. A 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:39.720 few drops of fresh, high percentage cream, which is not 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:45.040 stirred in the East Frisian way, conjures up the famous vulcia, 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:48.760 the little cloud, which makes the enjoyment of the tea perfect. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.000 The cream is added to the tea counterclockwise to symbolically 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:59.160 stop time. That's nice. East Frisian connoisseurs divide the unstirred 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:02.680 experience in to three phases. The first sip of tea 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.320 with cream is followed by the second sip of tea 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.959 with cream. Something might have been lost in translation there. 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.800 I'm not sure which completes the three tiered pleasure with 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.479 the sweet finish. It offers the courtesy to enjoy at 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.119 least three cups, which is why it is not called 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:24.920 for nothing. Dree u dree dry dree st uh ost 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:30.200 Friesian wrecked or three is East Frisian right, It's better 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.879 by a country mile. The small teaspoon is only used 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.919 to signal to the host after the tea has been 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.400 poured into the cup that you do not want any more. 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.280 So thanks for sharing this, Andreas, and I've never heard 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.159 of this before I looked it up. I encourage everyone 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.240 to go look up images of East Friesian tea to 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:55.080 see the patterns left by the unstirred cream. That seems 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.119 to be the most interesting thing about it, the the 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.400 visual uh flower. Coming back to the how the appearance 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:05.200 of food affects the flavor, the appearance of the unstirred 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:10.400 cream dropped into the cup forms mostly beautiful but occasionally 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.919 disgusting shapes, and I only say, disgusting, because there are 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.440 some cases where it looks like maybe it's when there's 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.879 a bit more dribbling of individual drops. To me, this 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.320 has the unfortunate effect of looking like the spots that 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.640 form in a petrie dish when bacterial colonies are blooming, 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.159 especially when the you know, the translucence of the tea 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:36.000 naturally somewhat resembles an agar plate. But in most cases 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.919 this tea looks lovely. I think it's a nice variation 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:43.320 on that other beverage art tradition, the designs that people 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.159 make in latte foam. So if latte foam is a 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.120 bit more controlled, a bit more representative, maybe making a 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.880 hard or a cat face or whatever, the East Frisian 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.080 tea is a bit more abstract. It's kind of fractal, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.720 an emergent, but very cool. Thank you, Andreas. Okay. I 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.120 think we're gonna finish up to day with a message 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:04.760 about weird House cinema. This one comes from Pat and 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:07.560 it's in response to our Weird House Cinema episode on 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:12.240 let Sleeping corpses Lie, which was the nineteen seventy four 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:16.040 Italian Spanish horror movie about how science is bad and 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.600 if we don't kill Science once and for all, it 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:24.200 will inevitably raise the dead from their graves with ultrasonic radiation. Uh. 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:26.760 This movie was a real hoot to cover, and one 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:29.919 thing we discovered in that episode was this movie has 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.960 a very long list of alternate titles. One was let 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:38.000 Sleeping corpses Lie, which is okay, but others were things 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.800 like the Living Dead Manchester Morgue, which is strange because 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.359 the movie does not take place at a Manchester morgue, 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.639 though I think some scenes were shot at a Manchester 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.640 adjacent morgue or hospital. Uh. And finally, there was one 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:54.440 title of the movie which was Don't Open the Window, 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.679 which as far as we could tell, has absolutely nothing 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:01.639 to do with the film at all. A onto the message, 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.760 Pat says Robert Joe. The last Weird House was a 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.200 good one. I'll have to see this one. You guys 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.040 talked about the strangeness of one of the release titles, 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:18.400 don't Open the Window. Seems that this phrase is idiomatic 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.840 in Spanish and means quote to bring something to light. 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.200 It seems the title suggests that the enemy Science is 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:30.160 invoked and leads to horror. Thanks for all the fun, Pat, 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:33.399 Pat I've never heard that idiom before. I tried to 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:35.159 kind of look it up and didn't find much. But 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.240 I believe you other Spanish speakers in the audience please 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.320 right in about that. What's the deal with with opening 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.960 the window? Is science opening the window of knowledge? And 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.240 thus according to this movie, uh, you know, don't open 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.280 the window, like don't don't do those experiments. I'm not sure, 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:54.560 but despite never hearing that one, I do know of 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:58.440 a a window idiom in Spanish which is tire lacasa 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:03.640 poor love antana, which basically means uh to well, literally 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.200 it means to throw the house out the window, and 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.440 from what I understand, this means like to go all out, 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.320 as we say in English, to spend a lot of 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.359 money on something, to spare no expense. That's a really 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.199 good one. Okay, I think that does it for the 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.000 mail bag today. Just a reminder that we will be 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.840 running Vault episodes this week and Tuesday of next week 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.080 while Rob and I are out. But I should be 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:32.640 back with a new Listener mail episode on Monday, and 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:35.879 then we will have more new episodes for you that week, 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:40.040 probably on Wednesday, March one. In the meantime, if you're 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.440 new here, this is the Stuff to Blow your Mind podcast. 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:46.199 Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts uh we. We 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:49.159 do different episodes throughout the week. Our core episodes publish 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:53.240 every Tuesday and Thursday. Those are most often about science 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:55.080 in one way or another, but we like to jump 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.720 across disciplines. On Monday's we read back listener mail in 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:01.280 episodes like this one, though usually my co host Robert 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:04.399 Lamb is here with me. On Wednesdays we do a 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:08.680 short form scripted episode called The Artifact or the Monster Fact. 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:11.880 And then on Friday's, when the week is done, it's 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.720 time for Weird House Cinema, which is an episode where 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:18.119 Rob and I feature and discuss a weird movie. They 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:20.480 can be good, they can be bad, they can be classic, 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:23.320 they can be obscure. All movies are fair game as 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:27.440 long as they are weird. And then, finally, on Saturday's 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.800 we uh we highlight an episode from the vault from 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:34.760 the olden days uh Big thanks to our audio producer 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:37.720 J J. Pauseway. If you would like to get in 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:40.880 touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:43.280 to suggest a topic for the future, or just to 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.359 say hello, you can email us at contact at Stuff 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:56.320 to Blow Your Mind dot com Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.080 It's a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:02.240 my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:04.080 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.