Tag: powder

The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives

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If you are interested in pyrotechnics, then The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives is a good starting place. It is an older title but it is still relevant, as are all classics.

This book does a great job of explaining the chemistry behind energetic materials. If you have an interest in this area then you need to read his book.

It has a really nest section on making fireworks, a large section on black powder, Manufacture of single based propellants, various nitrates and nitric esters, primary explosive compounds, and great history of this field.

As I stated earlier, this is an older book, but the great thing about chemistry is that the laws don’t change according to whim. We might discover more things we can do, but the basics remain the same.

Now, the caveat, while I do think that knowledge of how this works ans the skill at doing it are important and necessary to both the security of a free state as well as vital to the industrialization of a nation, I do not condone violations of the law.

I think you should definitely buy The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives, read it, study it, and even seek out legal classes if you have the desire, but do not build anything with this knowledge until you have the proper permits, licenses, and safety protocols in place.

April 12, 2018
Tomato Pasta

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This article on tomato pasta is the next evolution from my homemade pasta experiments.

Once you get the basics down you can experiment to get your recipes tweaked to culinary perfection.

In this post we will use homemade tomato powder to make a flavored Tomato Powder Pasta. This would work with almost any other powders.

Feel free to experiment with spices, herbs, or other vegetables like spinach.

Step 1: Create Powder

In an upcoming post on my blog, I will show how to make a great tomato powder by using the leftover tomato skins from making salsa, but if your in a hurry, its really easy to make this powder by putting a can of cheap tomato paste in your dehydrator and drying it down until it is like a fruit roll up.

We used a “bullet” but any blender would do the trick. I cut the chewy tomato sheet into strips about 1×1/2 inches so that they would pulverize easier.

I choose to stop after most of the tomato was a powder, but there were still some little chunks.

Step 2: Mix pasta

Dump the tomato powder in with your flour and mix while dry.
Next make a small imprint into the center of your flour and add one egg per cup of mix.
Beat eggs and slowly enlarge your strokes to incorporate flour. Don’t rush or you will end up with a bowl of crumb. Go slowly and you will be rewarded with a lump of dough.
If you need to fix your crumbly dough because you whisked too fast, you can add a little water.

Step 3: Knead and Roll

Knead your dough until it become smooth and uniform in texture.
Then roll out the dough as thin as you possibly can.,

Step 4: Cut Boil and Serve

Cut your noodles however you wish
Boil for two minutes in slightly salted water
Serve immediately with a tasty sauce.

January 27, 2014
How to Make Homemade Baking Powder
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Here is a recipe for homemade baking powder, which is an essential ingredient in many baking recipes.

I add it because it can be cheaper to make it in bulk on your own (depending on if you can get cheap cream of tartar – a byproduct of wine making), and because many commercial baking powder products contain aluminum sulfate.

Homemade baking powder also keeps aluminum out of your food.

Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon corn starch (optional – used to reduce caking, which what the sulfate does)
Procedure:
- Mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together until well combined.
- Use immediately
If you want to store it, add a teaspoon of corn starch to the mixture, and stir.
This will absorb any moisture from the air, store in an air-tight container.

A lot of people may wonder why go through all the trouble to make something you can easily go to the store and buy and it is hard to explain to them.

Partly the reason is because most of the time homemade is more healthy, but that’s not the real reason.

Sometimes, homemade is cheaper – but that is not it either.

Homemade may be the only thing available in a disaster, and that is a great reason to know how to do it.

But its the same reason some people climb mountains – because it is there, and because I can.
December 31, 2013