YES to Genetic Engineering! -Maryann:)

 I was just thinking of what I could post that would interest you guys. The idea on genetic engineering cropped up when I was reading about GM foods and arguments. Genetic Engineering is the future of this world. However, with so many people disagreeing with it strongly because of health reasons it is really difficult to fully allow it to take place. Well let me start of by stating the NEED for GM foods. Although we would love to argue on the negative aspects of GM foods we should agree that when there is a need that may question our survival than we should take it. With natural disasters occuring and destroying of the crops and nuclear radiation seeping into foods I feel it to be a contamination on its own and definitely a risk to our health already.

Well to do countries have been buying foods from affected countries because prices fall so low when the country's currency falls due to the disasters(natural or human inflicted). Do we even know whats really in our foods? Its all out of desperation. So having mentioned the current status quo, GM foods seems like a safer bet doesnt it?  Lets look at the benefits of GM foods that could support what I am saying.

-Pest Resistance (reduce use of chemical pesticides and to yield stronger crops)
-Herbicide Tolerance (to have stronger crops)
-Disease Resistance (plants that are eaten to have resistance from diseases caused by fungi)
-Cold tolerance (to have stronger crops)
-Drought/Salinity tolerance (to have stronger crops)
-Nutrition(malnutrition)
-Pharmaceuticals(medicinal contents in common foods)
-Phytoremediation (to clean up pollution using plants)




Would love to hear your thoughts:)
References
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/gmfoods/

Pandan Cake - 'Ain

Hey guys, since we are doing on pandan cake for our Package 1, I would like to share with you what I've found out while doing some research on the product. 


Pandan cake is actually Asian's Angel Cake, and is popular in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.


It is usually baked with these ingredients; eggs, sugar, pandan leaves juice, oil and flour. However, in the recipe given by the company, fresh milk, pandan paste and sponge gel is added into the ingredients list of making the pandan cake.


Instead of using pandan leave juice, pandan paste is used instead. This is to ensure consistency in flavour of the pandan cakes, as different pandan leave juice would produce different taste due to factors such as the season. Sponge gel, also known as ovalette,  is a stabiliser used in baking sponge cakes. It helps the eggs to rise rapidly and stiffly. It's acidic nature also helps the beaten eggs to remain stable and not lose the airy and voluminous texture, thus making the sponge cake softer and smoother. Also, the addition of milk in the pandan cake will actually enhance the pandan cake's flavour. Thus, it can be said that the additional ingredients are added for a purpose, which is to boost the pandan cake's quality.

References:
http://nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com/pandan-chiffon-cake/
http://www.dianasdesserts.com/website/forum/printthread.cfm?Forum=9&Topic=78
http://pickyin.blogspot.com/2011/03/pandan-chiffon-cake.html

Microbial experience!!

Haha cultivating microbes is what i have been doing since last month, The following pictures are some air vents, and also a surprising microbial growth!! enjoy :)