User:Foodienut/sandbox

History

Balut is a fertilized egg that is 14–18 days old, boiled or steamed and eaten from the shell. The embryo is well developed, and includes a chicken flavored broth in the shell. It also contains the developed embryo bones, soft enough to chew and swallow as a whole. In the Philippines and areas where Balut is a very traditional food, it is so common that it is often compared to what we know as hot dogs. It is sold in essentially all stores, malls and street vendors. It can be eaten at any time of the day, and is a substantially higher source of protein and calcium compared to a regular

unfertilized egg, and it is relatively cheaper. Some say that the Philippines were influenced by the Chinese around 1885, and ever since, have included Balut as a natural, traditional part of their culture . It was known that wherever Filipino people had to migrate around the country for work, there would be a high market of Balut available. Controversies arose as the word began to spread around the South East Asian countries and then all over the world. People questioned other people’s values as eating this embryo was a symbol of life being taken away, that it was inhumane, disgusting, and cruel. Many other controversies arose and are still commonly discussed, such as men consuming it as an aphrodisiac while women would eat it because it gave them energy and nutrition. Women that were pregnant and those that were very ill were also urged to eat them because it is said to give them strength and virility. There was mixed feelings about whether or not balut was something that should be eaten, but those in the Philippines believes that “if you don’t have the stomach for it, then don’t eat it” instead of being culturally insensitive about it and taking away this food which is like their country’s signature.

Chemistry of Cooking

Food Chemistry is a sub category of food science which takes into account and monitors the changes in the foods texture and chemical composition throughout cooking.

When monitoring the food chemistry changes in balut, it is important to acknowledge different dispersions and chemical reactions taking place. At some stages of cooking Balut, when a broth type liquid appears at the top, this can be considered a 'sol' dispersion. A sol dispersion is a suspension of large molecules within a liquid, generally water. Here, the liquid is the broth and embryotic fluid, where as the solid are the parts of the duck within the egg, sometimes disambled from the egg and partially floating within the liquid. Next, another dispersion present within balut is an emulsion. Although balut is mainly made up of protein, there is still fat present within the fertilized bird. An emulsion is a suspension of liquid droplets (fat or water) within a liquid solution (fat or water). The broth found inside balut, is a dispersion because of the liquid fat floating within the broth, this can also been seen in chicken broth, in chicken noodle soup. Finally, after the Balut is cooked, it can be considered a protein gel (depending on the length of time it was cooked for). Heating foods high in protein such as a chicken egg, or balut, can cause the chemical changes to take place and fully or partially denature proteins, causing the surface to become thick and essentially causing an irreversible gel protein formation to take place.

The production of Balut requires maturation cycles, where the egg begins developing and changes in texture. Throughout these various maturation periods, different temperatures are required in order to accent the specific maturation period. At the beginning, within the first few stages of maturation, Balut is known as ‘balut sa puti’ where it is white, and no feathers are present – where they were made from very specific egg types, less than five days old and with no visible surface cracks.

After the eggs are picked, they are baked in the sun for several hours. A chick would hatch after about 26 to 28 days in incubation. Instead, to make balut, after about 14 to 16 days in incubation, the Balut is called mamatong which is when it is in the stage of the embryo floating on top of the egg white and yolk. The two days following mamatong, the embryo is wrapped in a thin layer of embryotic semi- fluid to allow for the further development of the duck. Although, at this stage it is not as commonly kept as it is at the younger stages, as consumers tend to drive towards a visible, easily detected embryo.

In order for the embryo to develop normally, it must be exposed to the heat in incubation for a correct period of time, while ensuring that the temperature is not too hot to harm the eggs or too cold to prevent growth. The embryo is very sensitive to high temperatures, and is killed easily upon cooking in sun or by boiling within the traditional production methods of balut. It appears that temperature has a huge impact on the final taste and texture of the cooked balut. Warm temperatures (29-30 °C) changes the taste and texture of the yolk, for example making it more grainy. This can be attributed to the changes in proteins (and partial denaturation of proteins) with the heating and incubation process. Physical and chemical changes in the final Balut product can also be attributed to microbial infections and the rate that microbes can infect the balut at various stages. For example, while cooking and storing Balut, it appears that at low temperatures (such as refrigeration) and high temperatures (29-30 °C) do not promote the growing of microbes as much as room temperature would. If microbes were to infect the Balut, either during cooking or during storage, this can have consequences on the chemical changes of the product, possibly reducing its nutrient value, its texture, and its quality.

Besides intentionally buying an egg with an embryo, most of the time, eggs are very closely monitored to not have any development of an embryo present (meaning they did not come into contact with a male duck and are not fertilized). Instead, with balut, consumers want an embryo and a fertilized baby duck egg to enjoy. While we can cook normal chicken eggs, without an embryo by boiling them, we can also cook balut by boiling. When boiling or cooking eggs, the white of the egg tends to solidify, as the proteins are denatured in an irreversible reaction and turn from a transparent color into white. This is why cooking Balut takes a lot of skill, since it is a very rich source of protein, cooking it can easily denature the proteins and cause undesirable, irreversible reactions.

While balut can be cooked a number of ways, it is most common to boil eggs after fertilization and incubation. There are many chemical changes that occur inside the duck egg as it is being processed, and these changes can vary depending on how or what the duck egg is cooked with. While boiling, salt can be added which can contribute a number of chemical changes in the duck egg as it is being cooked into balut. Adding salt during cooking time seems to increase the weight of proportion that is the egg white within the shell. This can be due to the weight differences between the embryo and the egg white itself. Next, it was found that adding salt during cooking can increase the hardness of the egg yolk and affect the overall texture of the final balut product. Other chemical changes that are observed in nutrient content of the duck egg as it is processed as a slight decrease in the amount of available amino acids, water soluble vitamins and minerals after the processing is complete.

Nutrition

Here are the nutrition specifications for egg-type chicken (balut):

In Philippines and Southeast Asia, balut is one of the common food that people eat. balut is a fertilized chicken or duck egg with an almost developed embryo. The egg will be eaten in the shell once it has been boiled. There are different nutrition facts about balut since it can be either fertilized chicken or duck eggs. However, the nutrition data for chicken egg balut or duck egg balut are almost the same.

Here are the nutrition specifications for egg-type duck (balut):

In general, balut nutrition specifications between egg-type chicken or duck have minor differences. Both eggs have around 14 grams of crude protein, 188 calories each, and around 100 milligrams of calcium. Egg-type duck might have a higher value of nutrition than egg-type chicken but overall, egg-type chicken and duck balut have around the same nutrition value.

Balut has high nutrient even it is as little as it may seem. Balut has high calories which is the first among the health benefits of balut. Calories are human energy source or booster; they help human body to work, human cells to live, and internal organs to function. On the other hand, even though balut has high calories in each egg, it might not be enough for other people who have to intake even more calories on a daily basis. Different human bodies needs different amount of calories to live throughout the day. Therefore, it is hard to recommend how much balut a human body can absorb in a day (it is suggested to consult your doctor). The second major health benefits of balut is protein. Protein helps the human body to repair and build tissues. Protein and fat are important building most of the important parts of human body such as muscles, skin, and cartilages which helps our body move. Moreover, the balut egg contains iron, which helps human body’s blood circulation and will help the body to last throughout a day without easily to get tired. Last but not least, balut contains calcium that plays a big role on strengthening our bones and teeth. Consumption of calcium in balut will at least help human beings from osteoporosis and cancer.

Here are the nutrition specifications for egg-type duck (Balut):

Consumption and Uses

Locations of Balut Consumption

Balut is consumed in high amounts in countries such as Southeast Asia including Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, China.

Pateros is a first-class municipality in Metro Manila, Philippines and is famous for a duck-raising industry and producing balut. Balut is recognized as Philippines’ food, but possibly originated from China - it is said that the origin of balut was brought by Chinese traders and migrants to Philippines, as the Chinese may have sparked the interest and excitement for the Philippines' love of balut. It is commonly sold as street food and recently served as appetizers in restaurant, with a taste similar to chicken soup, but a texture quite like any other.

Balut is found worldwide, including the countries and locations of North America. While it cannot be found in every store in North America, specialty stores such as T&T, and particular Filipino stores in the Greater Vancouver location often sell balut. For example, if you are in the Vancouver region and looking for Balut, New Town Bakery & Restaurant in Richmond, Canada, often have balut available on their menu to try! In the United States, Some special farms, such as Metzer Farms specialize in balut production, spreading the knowledge of balut and its awareness.

A reason it may not be found and consumed as frequently in North America as it is in special countries of its origin is that the majority of people outside of Southeast Asia still recognize balut as novel and taboo food and often, are scared to try it, as it is still an uncommon food to many people.

The consumption of Balut

In the Philippines, it is traditionally preferred to eat balut eggs with salt and/or a chili, garlic and vinegar (white or coconut sap) mixture to season, depending on personal preference. Balut is cooked adobo style, fried in omelets or even used as filling in baked pastries. Balut can be cooked in many ways, although traditionally as an adobo style, it can also be cooked, boiled and fried, alone or with some other ingredients. Some countries and locations will serve balut raw, although not common. As well, it is important to note that ‘raw’ can mean just a light boiling or very light, brief cooking method. This is not the best choice as it is very susceptible to microorganisms. A huge reason why balut is required to be cooked for a specific time is to preserve it, and decrease the consumers susceptibility to disease.

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvY9ocWOCso

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCsa_Doev7Y

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZPWYAEksHk

-http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanpanlasigui/americans-try-balut-duck-embryo#.hhX1BxDMQZ

The Recipes of Balut

There are some recipes of balut available in Southeast Asia. Balut is most commonly consumed alone or with little bit of salt and pepper for taste. However, restaurants have started serving balut as appetizers recently. Here’s the two most common and famous balut cuisines.

Balut Ala Pobre

Ingredients: 2.3 teaspoons of olive oil, 4 cloves garlic, minced, 1 medium shallot, finely chopped, 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced in slivers, 4 Balut eggs, peeled and sabaw (‘soup’ inside) reserved, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, red bell pepper, sliced for garnish, green onion, cut on a bias, for garnish, rock salt, to taste.

Procedures : remove shell of Balut and reserve the juice inside. In a pan, stir-fry garlic with olive oil. And add Balut, soy sauce, and salt in the pan. And then add the reserved juice. And serve it with red bell pepper and green onion for garnish

Adobong Balut

Ingredients: 4 Balut eggs, peeled, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 3 teaspoons of canola oil, 2 cloves garlic, finely minced, 1 small sized onion, ½ cup soy sauce, sliced, ½ cup of vinegar, 3 pieces of bay leaf, freshly ground black pepper, thinly sliced onions for garnish.

Procedures: remove shell of Balut and reserve the juice inside. Stir-fry the Balut in canola oil for a minute. And add soy sauce, the juice, water, bay leaf and peppercorns then boil it. Then, add vinegar and keep boiling, and add some water if needed. And serve it with some black pepper and sliced onions for garnish, and with steamed rice.

Food Beliefs about Balut

According to many people in Southeast Asia countries where in Balut consumption is high, Balut is believed as a folk medicine, a stimulator of sexual drive, and a traditional hangover cure. Such belief may be due to its high and extra value of nutritions. Men usually eat balut for sexual stamina and believe so. In the other hand, women usually eat balut due to its high value of nutritions. Because of this folk medicine-like belief, many pregnant women eat it; actually balut has high calcium levels and extra nourishment. These food beliefs and actual facts about balut have led the food so popular that it is recently served as appetizers in some restaurants in Southeast Asia countries.

Storage and Cultivation

In the Philippines, balut is developed for a period of 14–18 days before being boiled for consumption. However, there are other versions of balut, including the Vietnamese version, hot vit lon, which is developed for a longer period of 19–21 days. The Cambodian version, called the ‘Pong Tea Khon’ ranges from 18–20 days old. According to the FDA Food Code, balut can turn bad due to time or temperature changes. After being cooked, Balut should either be handled at 57 degrees celsius and above, or kept at 5 degrees celsius. balut is considered to be a food that is capable of supporting growth of pathogenic organisms or producing toxins from those organisms and therefore it should be handled properly to ensure safe consumption.

Balut is considered to be a street food, and as with many street foods, ideally, balut should be eaten as soon as it is prepared. Sources suggest that at most, the shelf life of a cooked Balut is one day, but can be kept for up to one week in the refrigerator for up to one week. While most countries have specific regulations and standards for food, Canada has certain egg regulations pertaining to what can be products can be labelled as an egg. Balut eggs are not subjected to the Egg regulations in Canada under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, meaning they do not require the specific labelling requirements and rules of the traditional chicken egg.

Varieties and Controversies

The controversies surrounding the traditional Filipino food balut, is on a constant rise in various ethical and religious groups. The most prevalent of which is from the Islamic religion. Part of the Quran, the Islamic religious book, includes understanding and respecting the law that you should not eat any animal products if it has not been slaughtered properly, this is known as maytah. Balut is an egg that contains an undeveloped embryo in it. Muslims believe that the underdeveloped embryo makes it haram. Thus, because balut is considered a maytah food product it is not permissible to consume and if one does, that act is considered haram. Muslims believe certain deeds are “haram”, meaning forbidden by Islamic law- eating Blut is considered to be haram.

Aside from the religious perspective of Blut controversies, there are also many ethnic groups, fighting to band this delicacy. In the past few years several new Filipino restaurants have opened in New York City, and with these new restaurants has come animal activist group. One activist in particular has become extremely passionate about this topic and has started a petition to get 5,000 signatures to get the food item labeled “ fertilized duck egg with embryo” off the menu in Maharlika restaurant, New York. The battle doesn’t end there. As a response to this petition, Filipino New Yorkers have created a counter petition, fighting the animal activists and asking them to leave the food item alone. Days after the petition was created it obtained over 50,000 signatures from fellows Filipinos. The battle is still in existent and so is the menu item. Besides environmental or animal welfare controversies, there are other reasons why one may choose not to eat Balut. The incubation tempatures and environment required for the proper development of Balut during processing are ideal growth conditions for many bacteria including S. enteritidis. As well, pathogenic organisms can collect on the surface of the egg shell when the eggs are hatched form the mother leaving a possiblibity of fecal contaimination of the egg shell. Balut, is therefore also labelled a "Hazardous Food" in Canada, under the Regulation 562 on Food premises (in subsection 1(1)). A Hazardous food is ' Any food that is capable of supporting the growth of pathogenic organisms or the production of toxins of such organisms'. It is important to monitor where one obtains there Balut from and to get it from a safe, well known producer.

Take a quick google search and you will find many articles, videos and blogs about the harmful effects of balut. There are people who travel the world in search of weird, traditional and just plain wrong foods, and Blut seems to be at the top of most of their lists. Some say it is torture, to allow an animal to partially grow, but kill it and consume it whole, essentially. Others say that it is a great snack and would never stop eating it. To the modern eye, it may not be the prettiest sight, but to a traditional filipino family, it is delicious!

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/12/eating-balut-going-too-far.html

http://kickerdaily.com/animal-rights-activist-stop-balut-serving-in-new-york/

http://adobochronicles.com/2015/04/18/filipino-new-yorkers-to-animal-rights-activist

Who has studied Balut?

While there have been many researchers of Balut, determining how the egg grows, how it is processed and how different environments affect the texture and product outcome, University of British Columbia (UBC) in British Columbia, Canada, has had a great opportunity to be involved with a food from the Philippines, Balut. It was studied at UBC by Dr. Kim Cheng and colleagues to test Balut and its changes on quality as a function of storage. Changes were determined using the triangle test with trained panelists. A triangle test is a difference test used to determine if there is a difference between samples. In a triangle test, participants receive samples (for example 3 samples at a time). They need to chose, based on tasting the sample that is different out of the three. For Dr. Kim Cheng’s testing, the researchers obtained research participants around campus, with preference given to participants that have previously tasted balut. Their paper discusses the making of Balut, as well as incubation and fermentation before the Balut is produced, along with specific cooking and storage procedures, such as refrigeration at 3-4 degrees C and 20-21 degrees Celsius, and finally the outcomes from participants. It appears as though research participants on average, have troubles determining the difference between Balut samples which may mean that the storage has little effect on the flavor profile of balut eggs.

8. Exam Questions and Explanations:

As little as the Balut egg may seem, it is known for its high nutrient value in order to benefit the human body. It has a higher source of nutrients compared to a regular egg such as:

a.) Calcium, Iron, Protein, and Sodium

b.) Calcium, Protein, Calories, and Iron

c.) Calcium, Iron, Zinc, and Vitamin D

d.) Calcium, Protein, Vitamin D, and Iron

e.) None of the above

Answer: B - Balut is high on calories, and can be seen as an energy source or booster. Balut has a high source of protein which helps repair and build the tissues in the human body. Balut contains iron, which helps the human body’s circulation.There is around 100 milligrams of calcium which helps strengthen your bones and teeth. Balut does not contain an excess amount of sodium, compared to a regular egg. As well, Balut does not contain a lot of Vitamin D compared to a regular egg. Vitamin D is found in only a few foods and most commonly synthesized in our skin from the sun.

An emulsion is a suspension of liquid droplets (fat or water) within a liquid solution (fat or water). Which part of the egg is known to be the dispersion?

a.) egg yolk

b.) embryo

c.) broth

d.) egg shell

e.) all of the above

Answer: C - The broth can be considered a ‘sol’ dispersion. It is a suspension of large molecules within a liquid, generally water. The liquid inside the egg consist of the broth and embryonic fluid, where as the solid are the parts of the duck within the egg. The egg yolk is not really a suspension, although it has both fat and liquids. The embryo is more of a thick substance and again not really suspended in fat, or water. The egg shell is not a dispersion because it is solid.

There are many chemical changes that occur inside the duck egg as it is being processed, and these changes can vary depending on how or what the duck egg is cooked with. Which ingredient can result to chemical changes?

a.) flour

b.) sugar

c.) yeast

d.) salt

Answer: D - Adding salt during cooking time seems to increase the weight of proportion that is in the egg white within the shell. Adding salt can also increase the hardness of the egg yolk and affect the overall texture and final product of Balut. We also know that salt can act as a preservative in foods, by decreasing the amount of free water available to micro organisms. Salt is often added onto and eaten with cooked Balut, for taste as well as chemical changes.

In order for the embryo to develop normally, what is required during incubation?

a.) cooler temperatures

b.) exposed to heat

c.) stored in room temperature

d.) there is no requirement

Answer: B - It must be exposed to the heat in incubation for a correct period of time. If it is too hot it will harm the eggs and if it is too cold it will prevent growth. Consistent growing temperatures are required to prevent the egg from maturing too much or too little.