Carrots trigger productive thoughts. Bugs Bunny was right.
Earlier I noticed that carrots in a bowl in the fridge were frosty though the ambient temp in the fridge was 38. The same thing happens to surfaces like roofs when the outside ambient is around 40. This forced me to recognize that ambient, like all statistics, removes time from the world. Carrots are frosty because the fridge circulates MUCH colder air to keep the ambient down, and roofs are frosty because small currents of MUCH colder air are moving in amid warmer air. Motion is what counts, but we only measure the unchanging mean.
Last week I started buying a larger bag of raw carrots instead of the processed “mini” carrots. The bag won’t fit easily in the fridge, so I keep it in this mouseproof metal box. Previously the box held inanimate stuff like pearled barley and dry soup mix. My hands are accustomed to how it feels when I reach in there, and they noticed it’s warmer with the carrots.
Carrots are unquestionably alive, growing out rootlets and sprouts. Are they “warm blooded”? Do they metabolize enough to make a noticeable difference in a closed space?
Yes. Fruits need to be cooled in storage, otherwise they’ll warm up the area and spoil.
I should have remembered this! The construction company mentioned last week specialized in aeration systems for grain elevators to prevent metabolism from causing spoilage or spontaneous combustion.
…. Which reminds me of my pet theory that humans picked up fire from spontaneous combustion. Reprinting another 2017 adventure of good old Guk and Ik.
= = = = = START REPRINT:
We generally assume that humans picked up the idea of fire from BIG lightning-caused wildfires. Good old Guk and Ik wandered BAREFOOT through the burned savannah, smelled the cooked sabertooth tiger, sampled it, and then figured out how to “store” fire. The “storing” is the hard part. Guk picks up a branch that’s still burning and takes it home. Guk says to Ik: “Hmp. Me like hot sabertooth. Me makeum TEDX clip. Show other tribe how makeum hot sabertooth.”
Doesn’t make much sense when you examine it.
Wouldn’t it make more sense if we learned cooking as part of fermentation? We were definitely fermenting stuff from the start. Fermentation can EASILY get hot enough to spontaneously combust. It’s a serious problem in grain elevators.
What do you have then? It’s ALREADY food, already in the context of preservation, and it’s a controlled smolder in the food itself. To remake the fire, you don’t need to wait for a T-storm. In any season, just reproduce the way you fermented the barley. Same size of pile on same stone: presto!
One more step:
Here Guk has placed a strip of Sabertooth meat on the fermenting barley. What happens? The fat melts down into the barley, and the top layer of barley fries and solidifies.
What do you have then? SANDWICH. And if Guk uses the stick to turn the Sabersteak over for more complete heating, the barley will grease up and fry up on all sides of the Sabersteak.
What do you have then? Pita or pierogi or pasty or pie. The universal meat-inside-frybread envelope with universal bilabial name.
So I’d argue that barley gave us everything that makes us human. Fire, beer, bread, pita, money, measurements. All from barley.
