Hit the 10 day mark here in Puerto Rico! Todays activites started once again at 7am and somehow ended up going on until 5pm. They included a visit to the Tropical Agriculture Research Station with a quick tour through their garden, a presentation on by PPQ-USDA quarantine officials at the Mayaguez airport, lunch at the UPRM-CITAI Food Science Technology Lab, and then hands on experience in the process of ice cream, cheese and sausage elaboration. It was non-stop day of activites and while it was pretty tiring overall it was a great educational experience.
So the day started off with a visit to the USDA Tropical Agricultural Research Station, There we went on a quick tour of the place and were able to view the plants around! Lots of beautiful trees! We also were able to stop by the experiment greenhouses where we me up with one of the professors who was working on an experiment dealing with building disease resistant bean strains. We also met two students from Angola, Africa who were also working on research projects at the place.
After that we left for the Mayaguez airport where we were given a presentation by USDA quarantine officials. It was pretty cool learning about their procedures and practices to prevent the spread of pests. We learned about the different pests they deal with and also about some high risk ones they are on the lookout for. After the presentation we were given a chance to look at some of the fruit fly specimens under the microscope. When we left we were given some USDA goody bags which contained cups, pens, flashlights, etc.
The next stop during today's activities was at the UPRM-CITAI Food Science Technology Lab on the University campus. When we got there we were treated to a beautiful display of Italian food presented by Prof. Sally Gonzalez and the others at the lab! The food was delicious! I grabbed a huge plate and cleared it all up! I even went for desert after which was a custard like cheescake pie with pumpkin. Also amazing!! Thank you Sally for the awesome food!!
So yesterday we dropped off the canisters of milk at the campus and today we were able to process it into cheese and ice cream. We also were able to make our own sausages using fresh meat and intestines. The Food Science Lab was a brand new building and they had all the up to date equipment for doing this stuff. We working under the supervision of Miguel, Dr. Leyda Ponce de Leon and Prof Aixa Rivera. The first thing we did was work on the ice cream. While it might seem like complex process I think it was pretty simple with equipment they had. Basically you put the ingredients in a mixer that keeps it frozen and add air. This gives it the creamy texture. We made strawberry cheesecake ice cream and it was delicious. It took about a half an hour and it tasted way better than store bought ice cream. Definitely gonna have to try this again.
The next activity we worked on was making sausages. Sausages are basically and kind of meat with season added thats grinded and placed in links. We broke up in to three groups and each group had a different sausage recipe. Hertin and I grouped up and we chose to make langonisa, which is my favorite. Once again it was a pretty simple process. First we mixed the dry ingredients then added garlic. The next thing we did was weigh the meat and after that we added the dry seasoning. Our recipe called for one extra ingredient at the end and that was achote oil (in Guam we use achote to cook the famous red rice). Once we mixed all the ingredients by hand we used the sausage processor and filled the intestines. Once filled we twisted them into links and tied them off at each section. After doing this we had to leave it to marinade for a day or two. We left it in the fridge at lab and next Thursday we would come back to barbecue it!! Cant wait to try our own!!!
The last activity we did in the lab was making cheese. Once again I thought it was a pretty complex process but found its a lot easier that it seems. Basically for making our cheese (white cheese) we heated up the milk to boiling in a double boiler then added vinegar to the mix! This caused the pH to lower and created curdles of cheese . After the curdles formed we drained the remaining water and gathered the cheese. Salt was added to the desired tast and then the curdles were placed in box for pressing. The box was then placed in the presser where it would be pressed over the next day. We will also be able to try this out next Thursday when we return. In the end, I learned a whole lot today and also gained a new interest in the food sciences. Definitely way better than yesterdays animal science activities :P
The last highlight of the day was at home. For the first time we cooked dinner at home and all sat down at the table and ate together! It was good finally eating some real food for dinner and it was nice to be at the table with the rest of the interns together. Thanks again to Jonathan and Hertin for whipping up the meal. We definitely are going to do this more often now!
Tomorrow is gonna be another long day so Im gonna end with this! Thanks again to everyone who is checking out the blog. Feel free to comment or leave feedback! So far Ive been recieving kind words about the blog and Im really glad you all enjoy it.
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