Our lab students produced ice cream for the second time this year. It was absolutely delicious — and most impressively, using a hand-cranked ice cream maker, they achieved an overrun of 28.8%. A great result! Next time, we’re aiming to break the 30% mark!
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Reiwa 8 sugared sour milk beverage
This year, our third-year students spent three months crafting Calpis, a sugared sour milk beverage, from scratch. A delicate flavor, a full sweetness, and a perfectly balanced dilution ratio. They did a wonderful job.
Continue readingCulture medium for lactic acid bacteria
M17 medium is a widely used culture medium for lactic streptococci. When it was first reported by Terzaghi & Sandine (1975), one of the reference media used for comparison was T5 medium (Thomas et al., 1974). T5 medium contains phosphate salts and shows buffering capacity equivalent to that of M17 medium, making it an excellent choice for lactic streptococci that produce large amounts of lactic acid. However, T5 medium was found to form a precipitate, and the authors concluded that the clear M17 medium was superior. Fifty years later, M17 medium has become the standard. When I read the description that T5 medium produces a precipitate, I thought, “Hmm, is
Continue readingBeetles on a desiccator
While walking through the laboratory, I came across the universe beetles on a desiccator.
Continue readingWelcome party (hanami)
Yesterday, we held a welcome party for the new third-year undergraduate students (a cherry blossom viewing at Hirosaki Park). The cherry blossoms were in full bloom at just the right time. In this same spirit, we were delighted to welcome two new members to our laboratory. We look forward to working together over the next two years. We are grateful to the fourth-year undergraduate and graduate students who handled all the preparations.
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