Pitchfork and Madison, WI

         Another benefit of having UCD friends staying in Chicago, is the amount of connections created!! First, free tickets to the Cubs game, and now a free VIP pass to the Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in Chicago. How'd I manage that?! When have I ever gotten to be a VIP at a concert?! My friend Evan's brother is the band manager for one of the bands playing at the festival. The artist is Giorgio Moroder, the "Father of Disco". He is now 74 and has officially won the title of "Oldest DJ". I also got to see Beck, and drink unlimited Goose Island beer, local to Chicago. It was a great day!!

      For my next part of my weekend adventure, I ventured with Scott, my mentor at Kraft, to Madison, Wisconsin for the farmer's market!! This market is HUGE compared to that of Davis --it surrounds the entire Wisconsin State capitol, and overflows down State Street. I am  considering University of Wisconsin Madison for graduate school, and this farmer's market experience just bumped up my interest in U of W Madison! Who knows, maybe one day I'll be wearing red and jumping for the Badgers!!

Pepper plants for sale!

So much produce! And all at great prices. I can see myself
coming here every Saturday, if I was a UWM student.

An actual bee colony on display at a Honey vendor's tent.

Jellies, jams, and sauces of every color, fruit, and spice!
I personally purchased a Scotch Bonnet fruit jam --spicy.

Enjoying a handheld Stella's
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

Ella's Deli: Unique to Madison and a kid's dream restaurant and ice cream parlor.
The restaurant is pretty much a food carnival experience!

What's that blue ribbon?? This cheese seen at the Farmer's Market
received First Place at the 2013 American Cheese Society Conference!
Wisconsin is known for its amazing cheese and I expect to see a lot of
Wisconsin cheese next week, when I attend the 2014 ACS Conference!!

Thank you Scott for showing me around Wisconsin, yet again!!

The Looking Glass

     On Thursday, the Kraft interns received a presentation about The Looking Glass, a social media monitoring hub for Kraft. It's basically a way for the company and brands to watch what consumers are saying about their products, respond, make changes, minimize uproar, and use public information for the company's benefit.





      For example, we discussed a case study of how the Looking Glass can use free information that is out there to solve a consumer need using creativity. With social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram blowing up with posts about the World Cup, Kraft Comida was able to make a strategic move to develop recipes themed to Argentina! The recipes were prepared by families for game times and exploded in popularity. It was the ability to harness information from social media that allows Kraft to connect to its consumers and fulfill their needs. Kraft is doing a great job at keeping with the times and using the power of technology and social media!!! What do you think?

Smokin' T's & Tighthead Brewery Dinner

        Just check out this menu. Does it really say Smoked Beef Brisket with melted gouda pretzel bites paired with a Tighthead Chilly Water ale? That's just the beginning of an incredible dinner at Smokin' T's BBQ. My UCD brewing friend, Rachel, is a native to Evanston and her uncle is the chef! As her graduation present, he gave her this gift certificate to enjoy a truly gourmet dinner with beer pairings for each course. I was lucky enough to be invited to come along!!
       Each course was presented with a variety of Tighthead beer, and both the chef and the brewmaster gave insight and commentary about the pairing. Each course was delicious, innovative, and washed down with delicious ales, maibocks, and blonds.
   
        I think this will be good practice for cheese and beer pairings at the American Cheese Society Conference in a week!!

Chilean Sea Bass
Watermelon Beurre Blanc
Purple Milled Potatoes

Paired with: Comfortably Blond

Kraft puts the FUN in FUNctional

Scott, a mentor and friend, employee of Kraft for 24 years, gave me a homework assignment!
He drew 4 quadrants on a sheet of paper, each section with a question about my dreams, my
experience and expertise, and why I want to teach food science. He said "extra points for creativity".
Scott is using this paper as a guide to help make my 10 year plan for my career in Food Science!!

Benchtop Hot Dogs!

Intern shenanigans

UPDATE: The battle of Carbs vs. Protein continues!
Who shall prevail??

The Taste of Wrigley

      On the 13th, I went to the world's largest outdoor food festival hosted on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Millions of people arrive by train, bus, Metra, subway, cab, and bike to participate and partake in "The Taste". This festival began in the 80s, for the purpose of showcasing the diversity of Chicago's dining community. Since its inception, the festival has grown exponentially in size and popularity! A foodie's paradise!!

        Local Chicagoan restaurants each have a booth, serving unique fare in full portions or tastes! The currency for acquiring these delicious treats is tickets --making me feel like a child at an arcade running around to get prizes!! Noteable edibles that I sampled: Brazilian feijoda, fried alligator, a huge hunk of watermelon ($1 equiv), acai bowl, elote, and tomato barley salad! The grounds are crowded with people, each ravenous to try the next big thing, tickets clenched in tight fists, and sample cups littering the ground. The whole festival is very raw and exciting --definitely a unique and delicious experience!!

Buckingham Fountain
Chicago is a beeaaautiful city!!

My UCD friends and Taste companions, Evan and Aaron

Our version of Flat Stanley!
The photo is a UCD friend, Flatt Matt, who we wish was with us for the fun!

           After The Taste, Evan, Aaron, and I scored free tickets to the Cubs vs. Braves game at Wrigley Field from another UCD friend, Rachel!!

       Wrigley is known for its ivy-covered brick outfield wall, the non-electric, hand-turned scoreboard, the winds off of Lake Michigan, and the iconic red marquee over the main entrance to Wrigleyville. The Cubs lost, 7-10, but it was a beautiful day and a great experience!!

Rachel, the Cubs, and our Flat Stanley
Thanks again for the tickets!!

Work Update

        Every work day starts off the same --Check the weather for rain, 20 minute jog around Lake Glenview, quickly prepare for the bike ride to work. I bike whenever the weather permits, in the spirit of exercise and the Davis lifestyle. Most interns drive separately. The bike ride is about 4 miles from the Glen to the Tech Center and passes through quintessential parts of Glenview --around the lake, across train tracks, past the library, and to Waukegan Avenue. There's a bike rack near the back entrance, closest to my lab, and I sometimes park next to a bike with a bike plate that reads "Leland". Jane Leland, a Kraft Fellow and one of my sponsors for the Evan Turek Scholarship, also rides her bike to work!

     Each intern has a desk, a laptop, lab coat, and a workspace. I spend most of my time in my workspace, which the employees call the "Bat Cave". The lab is on the top floor, located near my supervisor (Andy. M), my mentor (Jen K.), and my buddy (Stacey). It's also a short walk from Scott O's desk!
       The Bat Cave holds many kinds of starches, gums, syrups, flavors, and everything that Andy uses for his projects. As I was in the midst of the waiting portion of a preliminary experiment for my frank project, I made a fun sign for the lab door.

        The background was starch molecules --loved by the local starch employees. Jen, who is a protein guru, thought that it was inadequate and made a sign of her own! It says "Protein to the Rescue". These signs are a fun way to show that starches, proteins, and lipids all play an important role in structure-function relationships of foods. We have a lot of fun here!!





         Speaking of fun, Kraft sponsored a Midwestern favorite country singer, Brad Paisley  and his concert tour. Part of the contract was that Paisley would perform a set at Kraftown in Northfield. It was a huge event, with themed cafeteria food, a karaoke booth, free t-shirts, and a huge stage for the concert! Employees and Interns at Kraft are lucky to have these fun opportunities! It was awesome.

4th of July and Summerfest

        After a short work week, I was invited to spend Fourth of July driving north through Wisconsin up to Sheboygan. Wisconsin is so green and spacious! Perfect for cows and cheese. I drove with Amy K., last year's recipient of the Evan Turek Memorial Scholarship to hike around the beach at the Kohler-Andre State Park. Midwestern lake beaches are so different than Santa Cruz ocean beaches --they're littered with dead fish instead of kelp with flies.
        Amy took me to Culver's to try the classic Wisconsin ButterBurger, deep fried cheese curds, and frozen custard. It was delicious!
        Amy and I watched fireworks back in Glenview on a large golf course --it was an excellent show set to synchronize with a local symphonic band!

The Kohler-Andre state beach dunes!
Funfact: Kohler makes water fountains and sink faucets everywhere.
They call fountains "bubblers" here!

On the golf course with brews, chips, and guac!

Summerfest 2014 is an 11-day music festival in Milwaukee, WI held on the 75-acre Henry Maier Festival Grounds. I was invited to attend a day of the festival by a long-time Kraft employee, Scott O. Scott lives in Wisconsin and insisted that I "see how Wisconsin fests". The festival has 11 stages and over 700 bands perform over the course of Summerfest! In 1999, Guinness World Records certified the title of the "World's Largest Music Festival" and also contains the Marcus Amphitheater, which seats 23,000. It's huge.

Scott O. and I listening to Steely Dane!
I also got to see Matisyahu, Phantogram, The Crystal Method, and Tove Lo!

Leinenkugels, the pride of Chippewa Falls, WI.
A truly delicious beer, especially if you like flavored beers.

Deep fried cookie bites with salted caramel --Yum!!

Night time at Henry Maier

Phantogram concert

        Scott O. tells me "Summerfest is so great because they have to fit a year's worth of festing into 3 months of summer. We've been waiting all winter for this and we fest hard." Check it out here for more information!

Chicagoland Bike Ride & Sunday Funday

Bambi has been spotted!!
On a 16 mile bike starter ride through
the Forest Preserve.

      I am so lucky to live in this area, not only due to the proximity to Chicago, but for the large, open spaces. There is plenty of recreation in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, including fishing, biking, running, walking, horseback riding, and swimming. This huge greenbelt spans over 68,000 acres of public land—about 11 percent of Cook County, and has a bike path that can connect Glenview to the northern Skokie Lagoons and to the Chicago Botanic Garden! I can't wait to explore this whole area on my bike!!

      Sunday was the last day that I could use my Kraft Employee ID card to get into the Shedd

 Aquarium for free, so I leaped at the opportunity and took the morning train to Chicago. Also, I got to meet up with 3 other UCD students who were in the area for the summer! A. Goodman is working at the Field Museum (free admittance for himself and 3 guests), E. Angelico is working at UChicago, and R. Gescheidle is newly graduated and living in her home in Evanston, IL. What a great opportunity to see these friends again!

        The Shedd Aquarium was incredible! They had aquatic exhibits of the Great Lakes, the Caribbean Reef, the Amazon, touching Sturgeons and tide pool organisms, and even an exhibit dedicated to Jellyfish!! I also got to see otters, beluga whales, and penguins!

      The next part of the adventure was the Chicago Annual Pride Parade! Even though I live so close to San Francisco, this was actually my first pride parade! There were a ton of people dressed colorfully, parade floats, portable bars, hot dog stands, and a lot of great music. It actually reminded me a lot of New Orleans, where everyone is there to have a great time and be wild.  It is considered the culmination of the larger Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, as promulgated by the Chicago City Council and Mayor of Chicago. Such fun!

I love Chicago!



From vine to jar in 8 days

       Kraft sponsored another fun summer intern excursion, this time to Woodstock, IL to tour the Claussen pickle manufacturing plant! Who doesn't love pickles??
       Claussen is a unique brand of pickled cucumbers because their cucumbers are never cooked. The company has been a part of the Oscar Mayer brand since 1970, and Oscar Mayer is a Kraft Brand.



At this facility, they produce all of the following Claussen products:

• Kosher Dills (whole, halves, spears, mini dills, and sandwich slices)
• Bread 'N Butter (chips and sandwich slices)
• Deli Style Hearty Garlic (sandwich slices and wholes)
• Hot & Spicy (spears and chips)
• Sauerkraut
• Pickle relish (from pickle byproducts i.e. misshapen, miscut, etc.)

These products are found in the refrigerated aisle and are not shelf stable, unlike other brands.

The interns geared up in their PPE (Proper Protective Equipment, no jewelry, and no pen caps) and headed into the plant to see all parts of pickle production, from the semi-automated processes, to the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). Unfortunately, I couldn't take any photos or videos, but I can do my best to summarize what I saw and understood about the pickling process.

1. Raw material received: Cucumbers are received daily by the truckload (7, to be exact) from farms in the US (Florida, Illinois, Delaware++), and Mexico during the off-seasons. Garlic and other seasonings, as well as glass jars and labels are also supplied by other manufacturing companies.

2. Wash/Sort: Within 2 days of arrival, fresh cucumbers are washed with an automatic process and are sorted for defects (such as gauges, worms, seediness, translucence, etc.)

3a. Cutting: Cucumbers are transported to the next step with various belts and aqueducts to the cutting unit operation, where the cucumbers are cut with automated blades to their desired shape. There are multiple lines of production, each with a different style of cut in production (spear, half, sandwich slice, etc.)

3b. Garlic bottom Glass: Meanwhile, the glass jars from pallets stacked sky-high are moved along on a conveyor belt, prepared to have the bottom filled with the garlic and spice mix prior to being filled by the cut cucumbers.

4. Jarring: Cut cucumbers are automatically placed in the jar; the quantity of cucumbers in the jar depends on the cut. Then, the jars are filled by over 20 workers on a line to ensure standardization and that they are nicely packed.

5. Brining: A fountain of paracetic acid brine flows continuously into jars, filling them to the top as they pass through on a conveyor belt.

6. Cap & Label & Seal: Caps are automatically added to the jars and a metal detector controls the process to ensure that each jar is capped. There are several metal detectors during the process which are critical control points to detect contamination of the product from equipment parts. The label is glued onto the jar, as it spins around the labeler. Then the tamper evident seal is added as the finishing touch.

7. Secondary Packaging: The finished and sealed jars are then packaged into small cardboard pallets with a plastic wrap to be moved to the warehouse so that they can cure for 3 days minimum.

       And there you have it-- this is how Claussen Pickled Cucumbers are made.  After the tour, the HR Manager treated the interns to an official competitive category taste assessment. We sampled spears, halves, kosher dills, bread and butter chips, and hot & spicy pickles. Note: Spicy Lovers, try the Hot & Spicy pickles!! They use habanero oil, which is extremely effective!! The brands we compared were Mt. Olive, Claussen, Vlasic, and Nathan's. Mt. Olive and Vlasic both heat treat their pickles for to attain shelf stability, while Nathan's and Claussen do not. Here are some other notes that I had, with ranks:

#4 Mt. Olive - shelf stable (due to heat treatment), very yellow, contains polysorbate 80, yellow No. 5, very jelly center and not a good crunch

#1 Claussen - refrigerated, nice flavor, pretty salty, BEST CRUNCH

#2 Vlasic - shelf stable, salty, yellow No. 5, Polysorbate 80, super crunchy, nice flavor

#3 Nathan's - refrigerated, salty, not much flavor

 

I love pickles, and this was a dream come true-- I now have a fridge full of pickle jars. 

I would like to thank Claussen and Kraft for arranging such a great tour!