Unpopped "old maids" aren't random. A Purdue food chemist found the difference between a good popper and a dud comes down to moisture and a kernel's cellulose hull.

Clear glass looks appealing on a shelf, but for olive oil it's a slow-motion quality problem. Here's the food chemistry behind the dark bottle, and where even dark glass falls short.

The shiny and dull sides of aluminum foil come from a manufacturing quirk, not a cooking rule — and lab tests show almost no difference between them.