How to grow monosodium glutamate (MSG) crystals
crystalverse.com
crystalverse.com
Generally, the most energetically favorable outcome is for these condensing molecules to incorporate into the 'ideal' location within the crystal lattice, forming a single-crystalline mass. From the images we can see condensation on walls of the container which indicates that 'non-ideal' incorporation is prevalent.
One way to combat this is to the raise the growth temperature, such that molecules that condense into non-single-crystalline locations are more likely to just dissolve back into the solution. Finding this optimal temperature where molecule-glass condensation is unlikely but molecule-crystal lattice is likely is, naturally, difficult.
Lots of nobs to turn in a process like this. It's fun to imagine how you might construct a proper growth reactor that allows more precise control of temperature and mass flux.
I'm sure with some more digging others already have designed chambers for controlling heat and humidity. Might be fun extension/dual use for 3D printing and crystal growing. Overlapping hobbies are the best!
The chemists talked about all sorts of rituals and superstitions, to coax a compound to crystallize. Usually it was just in good fun, something to talk about when a particular compound was being stubborn.
With drug compounds, a different crystal structure of the same compound is a different drug. And complicated compounds can have multiple stable structures. Getting particular crystal structures to grow reliably in large quantities is a big deal for the drug business.
So it's definitely more than a hobby, but yet everybody enjoys seeing these nice big crystals.
Tree nuts are inflammatory, which I didn't realize could get me, and almond butter kicked off the digestive issues I started getting in 2018. I believe what happened is that I was chronically dehydrated, drinking too much alcohol due to work stress, and eating a harsh diet of legumes and nightshades as part of a low-budget workout diet. That weakened my gut lining enough that the bad stuff got into my blood while my body was trying to absorb water from the intestines, which triggered an autoimmune response. I believe a similar mechanism happens with gluten, which cascades into an autoimmune response to protein in the thyroid. So the cost difference between cheap foods made of fillers like gluten/sugar/etc and high end/organic food is eventual autoimmune disease and obesity.
Pumpkin seeds are so much better. But of course, anyone can grow pumpkins. Where's the profit? $$$
For anyone dealing with digestive issues, this quite literally saved my health (no affiliation):
https://www.naturespath.com/en-us/products/natures-path-food...
Brussels sprouts, switching from wheat to rice, digestive enzymes, psyllium husk capsules and cutting dairy and other inflammatory foods by half put my symptoms into remission.
I took the Everlywell (again no affiliation) test of 200+ foods which showed the smoking guns of almonds and dairy in my immune response:
What a contradiction?
First "Oooh cool crystals, I use crystals to keep my chakras aligned. What kind are they?"
"MSG????" They quickly walk away, their sandals with white socks never moved faster.
Cheers
Edit - apparently it is not banned in the US, though it is limited to 10g/kg of food in the EU. Sorry for the mistake, I could've swore I saw it banned somewhere.
Edit 2 - I think I was thinking about Sodium Cyclamte instead, a sweetener in the Non-US Sweet n Low variants amongst other uses.
Where did you read that? It would be all over the news if it was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given MSG its generally recognized as safe (GRAS) designation
Edit: I think it's Sodium Cyclamte I was thinking about, a sweetener in the Non-US Sweet n Low variants amongst other uses.
I think it's Sodium Cyclamte, a sweetener in the Non-US Sweet n Low variants (I'm guessing because I had researched sweeteners pretty thoroughly at one point too).
Can you expand on this? I’m looking at a bag of Doritos in my pantry that has MSG as its 12th ingredient.
Borax is available at major retailers nationwide for purchase in-store.
edit: if for some reason you just don't want to buy a shaker of MSG.
Hard if you want to optimise yield (as you would industrially), but seems not so hard to happen across a yeast strain that will produce some glutamate.
You can buy it by the kg from Metro/Selgros, though.
And the funniest part is how some people claim they don't tolerate Asian food because of the glutamate, but when they eat at traditional Austrian restaurants they have absolutely no issue with all the glutamate in the beef soup.
Or how every steak restaurant has the chefs secret spice mix which is basically just some herbs mixed with a generous scoop of MSG.
MSG: The tastiest nocebo.
A salt crystal growing guide from the same site was on the front page a couple (?) of months ago. Looked interesting and easy enough, so I gave it a try. So far it has been a complete fiasco second in scale only to my attempt at making pancakes at the ripe age of 5. Pretty much I just got salt back so far, lol.
So, caveat emptor.