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MUNDANE MYSTERIES: The White Stuff On Your Baby Carrots

As my wife & I were having salad for dinner last night, my curiosity got piqued as I was about to add some baby carrots into the mix. “What’s that white stuff showing up on my baby carrots?”, I asked. Seriously, what is it really? I say seriously because, when you talk about carrot-themed misconceptions, the old “carrots help you see in the dark” sits at the top of the list. But, not too far behind that, there’s the myth that the white stuff that sometimes shows up on baby carrots is chlorine. Thankfully, that’s not true. But, like plenty of other rumors, it IS rooted in fact.

In case you didn’t know, baby carrots are actually just pared-down regular-sized carrots, usually made from irregularly-shaped full carrots. Newly-made baby carrots get rinsed in a highly diluted chlorine solution to kill bacteria, which is a process recommended by the FDA to mitigate the risk of food-borne illness. But that chlorine solution ultimately gets washed off with tap water before the baby carrots get bagged. So, if that’s the case (which it is), then what is the white stuff then?

Well, that “white blush” (or “carrot blush”, as it’s sometimes called) is actually unrelated to chlorine, mold, or any other toxic substance. Whole carrots have a fairly thick skin that can retain water, but baby carrots (being pared down from whole carrots) are more exposed to the air. And, when they lose too much moisture, their outer layers start to look white. So, in other words, that white stuff is merely a sign of dehydration. All you need to do is soak them in water to rehydrate them & restore their color. Seriously, it’s that easy.

Now, once you’ve soaked your baby carrots, if they still show signs of that white blush then there could be a different issue (possibly damage to the baby carrot’s exterior). You see, the baby carrots’ cells respond to stress with a process that produces lignin, a polymer which forms on the surface of the baby carrot that also happens to look white. The good news, however, is that your baby carrots are still perfectly safe to eat.

So, remember: white spots on your baby carrots = totally fine. Blue, purple, green, or any other color, however…well, you probably just need to get new carrots.

Hungry to get a particular Mundane Mystery solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airton Heating & Air Conditioning

Wake Up Crew – July 12, 2021

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MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Why Ritz Crackers Have Ridged Edges

When you talk about crackers, one particular name comes to mind: Ritz. The delicious Ritz crackers, with their 7 holes & golden-brown exterior, are instantly recognizable & enjoyed around the world. But one design feature has puzzled diners for years: why do Ritz crackers have those scalloped, ridged edges? Well, according to a TikTok video, originally posted by the official Ritz Crackers account, it’s because Ritz crackers double as cheese cutting tools.

Food hacks & secrets are popular on TikTok, but they aren’t always accurate. This video, however, is different from most in that it comes from the official Ritz TikTok account. So, in this video, a Ritz employee uses the scalloped-edged cracker as an improvised knife. After rolling the ridges across a thin slice of Swiss cheese, they were able to easily pull the slice apart. The cheese square that was sliced was the perfect size for serving on a Ritz cracker, and, after snack time, there were no dirty utensils to clean.

Now, not everyone is convinced of the cracker’s hidden purpose. Some folks have pointed out that the cheese in the video was pretty thin to begin with, and that the person still had to pull the slice apart after pushing into it fairly hard. So, for most snacking situations, you would still need a knife to cut the cheese.

Do the scalloped edges on Ritz make it a better cheese-cutting tool than other crackers? Possibly. It’s also possible the design was chosen to give the snack a sense of class, since, during the Great Depression, Americans were looking for fancy items to enjoy on a small budget. Heck, even the Ritz’s upper-crust name was chosen for that very reason.

So be classy & clean by using your Ritz crackers to cut your cheese from now on. It’s the way they were intended!

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning

Wake-Up Crew- July 8, 2021

5 things that we use wrong everyday, Wake-Up Whiz, Joe Exotic “Bachelor King,” What’s something that annoys you more now that you’re an adult?, Ridiculous news and more!

MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Sunscreen FAQs

At this past Sunday’s “Parking Lot Party”, everybody had a great time…some more than others. I was there from 11am until almost midnight, and it shows…I got a bit of a sunburn. I should’ve used sunscreen, I admit. But just how good & effective is sunscreen? Here are the answers to some of the most-asked questions about sunscreen:

1. When was sunscreen invented? Chemists have been working on it since the 1930s. A guy in Austria came up with one in 1938 that only had an SPF of 2, but then we had SPF 15 by the ’70s. And the first waterproof sunblock hit stores in 1977.

2. How does sunscreen work? Well, some of the chemicals in it reflect UV rays, so they don’t hit your skin, while other chemicals absorb the rays, so that your skin doesn’t.

3. How long does it last? If you’re talking shelf life, 3 years. Or, if you mean how often should you reapply, it’s every 2 hours (especially if you’re swimming).

4. Is sunscreen bad for you? While there’s been talk that a chemical called oxybenzone might cause cancer, there’s not a lot of solid proof yet. Harvard recently made a blog post that said stats linking sunscreen to cancer are likely skewed. They pointed out that people who wear a lot of sunblock might just have a higher risk of skin cancer because they simply spend more time in the sun, not because sunscreen causes it. So, in the end, you’re better off using it than not.

5. What’s the best sunscreen? “Consumer Reports” does an annual ranking. This year’s list includes the Walmart brand Equate Sport Lotion, with an SPF of 50. They also say Hawaiian Tropic’s Sport Spray is good.

So now that you know all the pertinent stuff about sunscreen, just don’t forget to actually use it.

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning

MUNDANE MYSTERIES: How Fireworks Get Their Colors

On Sunday (7/04/21), we light up the night sky with an amazing fireworks display. But, while you’re watching all those amazing fireworks, the question may cross your mind: how do they get their colors? Well, it comes down to basic chemistry.

Small pellets, appropriately called “stars”, are the secret to the fireworks’ colorful success. Those stars are filled with different combos of metal salts, with each adding its own distinct bright color to the firework as it explodes.

Different chemical elements correspond with different colors: red comes from strontium carbonate, yellow from sodium nitrate, orange comes from calcium chloride, green from barium chloride, and copper chloride for blue. Purple fireworks are created pretty much like you’d make purple paint (by mixing the red & the blue).

Whenever you light the fuse on the outside of the thick tube of the firework, that flame ignites the internal “lift charge” (a pouch of black powder), which causes the shell containing the stars to spring into the air. As the shell rises, there’s a time-delay fuse that begins to burn inside and, by the time it goes as high as it’s gonna go, the shell bursts & causes the stars inside to color each strand of the bright burst.

According to fireworks experts, red & green are the easiest colors to make, while blue is a tad more difficult. But, if you want your firework to keep its color for the longest amount of time possible, then you should definitely opt to “go for the gold”.

The trick behind everybody’s favorite fireworks, the ones that change color after they explode, is fairly simple: the stars are coated in a variety of those metal salts I mentioned. Once you see the firework’s second color, that means the stars have burned through their outer layer & reached a different metal salt.

Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via social media (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at [email protected].

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning

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