Cranberries- The cranberry, a deep red and tart berry, is part of the Vaccinium family. It is mainly grow in the US, although some species do grow in Europe and Asia. Cranberries are grown in bogs; bogs are marshy lands that get filled with water. The berry grows on vines all throughout the bog. The berries can be either wet or dry harvested. Wet harvesting is when you flood the bog and take reels and loosen the berries off the vines. Dry harvesting is when you don’t soak the berries, you just pick them, and these are usually the freshest. The main time frame for buying cranberries is mid-September through December. In the 1800’s when the Native Americas and pilgrims lived in America, they used mashed cranberries to clean and heal arrow wounds because they believed it had magic healing powers. The cranberry is full of rich antioxidants and vitamins. It has been known to have high levels of Vitamin K, Vitamin C, dietary fiber, and high acid levels. Cranberries are usually consumed in a juice cocktail form. The juice can sometimes help with urinary tract infections. This is because there is a type of tannin in the juice that reduces the chance of the bacteria, such as E.coli, to attach to the urethra and bladder. Even in recent studies show that the cranberry has helped prevent cancer, reduce the risk of heart disease, raising protective cholesterol, helped people recover from strokes, and helps prevent gum disease and plaque build up in your teeth. One of the main things in a cranberry that helps fight against bacteria is the flavonoid, anthocyanin, which makes the berry its red color. It seems to help with inflammation reactions. In the past, when cranberry juice has been tested on E. coli it changed the cells structure from a rod shape to more of a spherical shape. This has never been seen before; this means that the cranberry is changing the skin of the bacteria. It causes the fimbriae, hair like projections, on the outside of the cell to go flat. This causes the bacteria unable to clutch to the tissues of the human body. In some cases Cranberry juice has been more effective on Staph A. then on E. coli.
Escherichia coli- Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E.coli, is a rod-shaped gram-negative bacterium. Theodor Esherich discovered it in 1885, after he examined the feces of an infant. Later in 1935,it was found that it caused diarrhea in babies. E.coli is usually found in the intestines of humans and other warm-blooded animals. There are over a hundred different strains of E.coli, most of which do not harm the human body, but help it. Certain strains of E.coli can cause some digestion issues. It produces a toxin into the intestine, which makes the intestine secret a fluid; or it could invade the wall of the small intestine or colon, which causes it to become inflamed. There are around 70,000 cases of E.coli each year in the United States. People can usually get over an E.coli infection within a week. The people, who are most in danger of getting E.coli, are the elderly or children under the age of 5. The symptoms the E.coli cause are, bloody diarrhea, nausea, mild fever, and cramps. People can get E.coli from undercooked beef, unpasteurized milks and juices, impure water, working with cattle, and coming near feces. The most common way of getting the bacteria is through eating undercooked beef; this is when you don’t cook your meat until there is little to no pink left. The best way of keeping your body clear of the bacteria is to wash your hands after you use the bathroom, before and after cooking, and after petting animals. Also, wash all fruits and vegetables before eating them, and don’t cut them on a cutting board where meat was just cut on it. E.coli can also help the body its living by, producing Vitamin K, and preventing pathogenic bacteria entering the intestines. If you think you have an E.coli infection, it is best to see you doctor to check and make sure it is not something more serious. Most cases will go away within five through seven days. The only known permanent damage E.coli could really do is give someone is IBS, irritable bowel syndrome. That is when your intestines cause cramping, because you are unable to make a bowel movement or have to go to the bathroom to often.
Fermentation – Fermentation is the process of when yeast breaks down the sugars in a biological liquid. Usually the things that are being fermented are fruit juices, like cranberries, grapes, and bananas. The outcome of this is the making of alcohol and carbon. The most common things that are fermented are alcohols like wine and beer. Other things that are fermented can be cucumbers to pickles, milk to cheese, and the rising of dough. You make the wine by juicing the berries, and throw away the mash that is left over. Then you add yeast to the juice, which will sit for a number of weeks. The yeast will eat away at the sugars in the juice and release carbon into the air. Fermentation can happens in the human body also. When a human who isn’t very physically active and starts to exercise, the stiffness they feel afterwards is caused by fermentation in their muscles. It’s because the body ferments the pyruvic acid in lactic acid. The lactic acid then depletes the muscles of oxygen, which is why they get sore.
Distillation – Distillation is one of the most common techniques in separating liquids. It is often used for taking the impurities out of the water. What happens is, when you heat the substance there is going to be vapor from the different chemicals at different temperatures. For instance, water and alcohol, the alcohol will turn into vapor at 78 degrees Celsius where as the water will boil at 100 degrees Celsius. Sometimes alcohol will be left over in the water. This means you can collect the individual liquids and the left over soot from which the impurities came from. The best part of distillation is it doesn’t matter what kind of heat source it is, it could be a burner, fire. This is useful for the countries that have very dirty water, so they can clean it, and not have to drink and bathe in contaminated water. It has been seen to take metals, poisons, bacteria, and viruses out of the water. Now a days, when the power goes out, or when a pipe breaks, people always say to boil your water before using it, this is another effective way of distilling the bacteria out of your water. The down side to distillation is that distillation doesn’t remove chlorine and chlorine by-products from the water, they are commonly found in impure water.
Yeast- Yeast is a unicellular fungus, that is known to eat and breakdown sugars. Fungi are different from the average plant because it isn’t green. It lacks the chloroplasts needed to grown and have a colorful pigmentation. Yeast is found all over in natural habitats, like on plants leaves and flowers. Yeast is also found on the human skin, mouth, genitals, and in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Yeast multiplies by budding, budding is when the new yeast sprouts and disconnects itself from the main yeast cell. Fats and salts slow down the growing or budding process for the yeast. Yeast contains enzymes that speeds up the process breaking down of sugars. Yeast is very often taken as a vitamin because it is almost completely protein. It also includes vitamin b, folic acid, and riboflavin. The most common kind of yeast is baker’s yeast. Baker’s yeast can also be called Brewer’s yeast depending on the way the yeast is being used. Baker’s yeast is used in the making of wine and bread. When the yeast gives off the carbon dioxide the breads dough expands because the carbon dioxide gets stuck in tiny bubbles. Baker’s yeast comes in four different type of yeast. Cream yeast, is yeast that is to sit and be used in a liquid form. It is not very common, it was known to be used in the medieval times. Another would be compressed yeast, which is just cream yeast, but without the liquid. Active dry yeast is more commonly used than any other type of yeast, it is the household yeast. And lastly rapid rise yeast, dry yeast that dissolves quickly into the dough, and immediately starts to produce carbon for the dough to rise. Only problem with rapid rising yeast is that it seems to take away the flavor of the bread.
Ethanol Alcohol- Ethanol alcohol is the alcohol that is commonly found in alcoholic beverages, such as beer and wine. It is a colorless, odorless, flammable substance made from fermented sugars. Another way of making alcohol is hydrating ethylene. Sometimes alcohol is in medications because alcohol can kill most bacteria that haven’t built up a resistance to it yet. Things that are very starchy, like potatoes, are very good for making alcohol. The starch contains a lot of sugar, which will make it easy for the yeast to turn it into ethanol. Certain alcohols are not to be consumed, they can be extremely dangerous. Ethanol has been sometimes been used as a fuel source. It is found in fuels like gasoline. To make alcohol, you will need a permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco bureau, this is because the production of ethanol alcohol is illegal in most states. When a person drinks alcohol it is absorbed into the blood stream, its taken to the brain, which causes intoxication. There are four grades of alcohol, purest, purer, pure, not-as-pure. This is based on the quality of the alcohol and the amount of impurities in it.
Flavonoids- Flavonoids are molecules that contain 15 carbon atoms. Flavonoids are also known as Vitamin P or Citrin. They belong to the polyphenol family. There are six major groups of chalcone, flavone, flavonol, flavanone, anthocyanins and isoflavonoids. Flavonoids are mostly found in plant material. Flavonoids protect the plant from invading diseases and insects. The flavonoid is what makes a fruit or vegetable the color that they are. The most common places its found is in tea, soybean, and brightly colored fruit. Most teas contain up to twenty five percent of flavonoids. The health benefit of flavonoids is that they are very antimicrobial. Another use of it is preventing tooth decay. Flavonoids have been known to stop allergic reactions, having anti-cancerous effects, and mainly an anti-flammatory. Certain flavonoids grow off a flavonoids called quercetin.
Anthocyanins- Anthocyanins are the coloring agent in fruits and wines. Most of the time the pigments, or color, will be red or a dark purple. Next to chlorophyll, anthocyanins are the most important thing in a plant, having to do with pigmentation. Most of the fruits that it’s in are blue berries, grapes, cranberries, and strawberries. It has been shown that even primitive humans ate large amounts of brightly colored fruit, because they were thought to have magic healing powers. The anthocyanins, connect with more sugar cells to make more anthocyanins. Anthocyanins have an anti inflammatory effect on allergic reactions. It has been said that drinking a glass of red wine a day with help prevent heart and other diseases; this is because of the anthocyanins
