Stale foods

I see that Brian has posted Big Boy, and Mark is talking about muffins and cupcakes, and Dad reports the death of the Doughboy. Must be holiday munchies, because I also have a food-related topic in mind.

For some reason, I found myself wondering why some foods get harder when stale, and others softer. Once reading it, the answer seemed obvious. But science has never been one of my strengths.

In case anyone who reads this is as ignorant as me, here is a brief explanation.

Softer foods generally start out with more moisture than the surrounding air, and so lose this moisture and harden over time. Hard foods are less moist than the surrounding air and so gain moisture over time and get softer.

Yep, I know. I should have been able to figure that out on my own. But what's the point of paying for internet access if I still have to think for myself?

And Mark, I researched your question, too, and as it turns out there are some fairly detailed descriptions of the difference. But this one seems adequate: "If you threw a cupcake against the wall, you would hear something of a "poof!" If you threw a muffin, you would hear a "thud!"


That was from http://www.englishforums.com/English/CupcakesAndMuffins/ghvm/post.htm

I also created this helpful side-by side comparison.

I do believe that if you threw Joanie Cunningham against a wall she would also 'thud'.