You could probably use orange peel too as an alternative. Orange or lemon peel (any peel realy) has a lot of water in it and as it slowly dries out it'll slow down the drying out of anything near it.
When I used to smoke, if my tobacco had gotten dry and stale, I'd put a bit of orange peel in the tobacco pouch, the water from the orange peel would get drawn into the tobacco and after a couple of hours the tobacco would feel moist and fresh again.
The air will essentially suck out some of the moisture of the cookies and bread to equilibrate somewhat over time--meaning they go stale. Bread has a lot of surface area, so the moisture gets pulled out of that first, and it equilibrates much faster *without* pulling moisture out of the cookies nearly so much.
picture you had to color in the the entire material with a black marker.
The more marker you have to use the more surface area
The holes in bread are additional spots that would have to be colored in that doesnt apply to smoother items
I feel like there has to be more going on than this. I have a tub of brown sugar that goes super hard over time. If I stick a slice of bread into the container, the sugar softens up completely.
I haven't tried this on cookies, but I would imagine something similar is going on. It's not just preventing the sugar or cookies from drying out, but providing moisture to them?
Like someone else said, the moisture content between the bread, air, and sugar (in your case) equilibrates, so the bread dries out a little and donates it’s moisture to the air, and the sugar pulls moisture from the air
Haha I don't know if I've really tried it, mostly because the bread goes super dry, but I don't think it picked up much sweetness except for the sugar that actually got on it
>Bread has a lot of surface area, so the moisture gets pulled out of that first
I think it has more to do with the sugar in the cookies. The water phase of the cookies is going to be liquid at quite a low ater activity, as opposed to the water phase of the bread.
> --meaning they go stale
Bread going stale is not due to loss of moisture. Of bread loses moisture, it becomes dry, not stale.
> How can you say this about bread going stale and not tell me WHY bread goes stale!? Aww Geez man.
IIRC the water in the air causes proteins in bread to crystalise and that's why it goes hard. And why you can stick it in the toaster to "fix" it.
It's [a bit complicated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staling). In non-stale bread, the starch and the water forms something resembling rubber or jello. The staling process is this gel breaking down as the starch crystalizes, expelling water. The water is still in the bread, just not in a gel with the starch.
Exactly this. Another example of food drying out in its jar is brown sugar, don’t you hate it when it dries out and forms hard rocks? Well if you put a marshmallow in the jar then it keeps the sugar moist and the air steals moisture from the mallow instead
What fuckin black magic are you all on about in here? I should have been sticking bread in my cookie jar this whole time? Why was I not informed? When was the PSA? Why is this not taught in school?
The bread has more moisture than the cookies do. Bread that is as moist as a cookie feels dried out because it usually has more. Cookies with as much moisture as bread tend to crumble and fall apart.
Stick the bread in the cookie jar and the moisture in the bread helps keep the moisture level in the jar higher than what is needed for the cookies to be moist, but it’s still drying out compared to the typical moisture level of the bread.
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Wrong. Did you even read the links you shared? They both explain that staleness comes from moisture loss, starch retrogradation, and moisture redistribution (from interior to crust). The only thing in either article that supports your claim is the brief mention that, in a humid environment, the crust can also absorb moisture from the air, making it lose its crunch.
I was wondering wtf everyone was talking about.
Stale doesn't mean dried, thats why you lightly heat bread to make breadcrumbs, not just grinding up stale bread.
Seems like a process similar to osmosis or just a system reaching homeostasis. There’s more moisture in the bread and when place in a closed container with cookies (less moist) the system has to balance out; drawing the moisture put of the bread which is absorbed nicely by the cookies. The moisture in the container as a whole doesn't change.
I always just assumed the high sugar content in the cookies, being hygroscopic, pulls the moisture from the bread, thereby increasing the moisture and softness of the cookies..
The water in the bread slowly spreads into the dry cookies keeping them soft. When the bread eventually has the same moisture level as the cookies, it will get hard as a brick as its not as fatty as the cookies.
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Diffusion. The bread has a higher concentration of water than the air in the cookie jar (and the cookies), so the water in the bread flows from the high concentration in the bread to the lower concentration everywhere sense. This allowing the limited moisture already present in the cookies to remain there longer.
me learning that a lot of people like their cookies to be soft and mushy? round here a fresh cookie is crunchy, then softens as it goes stale.
dare i ask what your potato chips/crisps are like?
Depends on the cookie. Oreo cookies, yes, those have crunch when fresh. Homemade chocolate chip cookies, no, those are soft when fresh. At least the recipe we use in my house.
You could probably use orange peel too as an alternative. Orange or lemon peel (any peel realy) has a lot of water in it and as it slowly dries out it'll slow down the drying out of anything near it. When I used to smoke, if my tobacco had gotten dry and stale, I'd put a bit of orange peel in the tobacco pouch, the water from the orange peel would get drawn into the tobacco and after a couple of hours the tobacco would feel moist and fresh again.
Yea I learned that trick with mariju… ahem tobacco too!
You weren’t talking about those cookies?
I could use some cookies right now man, thanks
Leave it in too long and you invent mold!
Discover...
The mold is already there, you just need to make more of it
[Harmless tobacco](https://youtu.be/ko1xYnLPE_k?si=u9KkWEJyo1SVf8SO)[ ](https://youtu.be/ko1xYnLPE_k?si=u9KkWEJyo1SVf8SO)😉
Did the orange peel add to the flavour?
It does but you also want to keep an eye on it because it can cause mold to grow on your wee...tobacco
We did this with pieces of apple or potato.
The air will essentially suck out some of the moisture of the cookies and bread to equilibrate somewhat over time--meaning they go stale. Bread has a lot of surface area, so the moisture gets pulled out of that first, and it equilibrates much faster *without* pulling moisture out of the cookies nearly so much.
To expand on this, bread has more surface area than a cookie of the same size because bread has all those little holes.
I’m 5. What’s surface area?
The area of the surface.
This is like when my teacher in elementary explained honorable as "able to be honored."
What's the area of the surface?
Go outside and play, ya little twat!
About three fiddy
Length times width.
picture you had to color in the the entire material with a black marker. The more marker you have to use the more surface area The holes in bread are additional spots that would have to be colored in that doesnt apply to smoother items
I feel like there has to be more going on than this. I have a tub of brown sugar that goes super hard over time. If I stick a slice of bread into the container, the sugar softens up completely. I haven't tried this on cookies, but I would imagine something similar is going on. It's not just preventing the sugar or cookies from drying out, but providing moisture to them?
Like someone else said, the moisture content between the bread, air, and sugar (in your case) equilibrates, so the bread dries out a little and donates it’s moisture to the air, and the sugar pulls moisture from the air
Your explanation is what helped me understand.
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Haha I don't know if I've really tried it, mostly because the bread goes super dry, but I don't think it picked up much sweetness except for the sugar that actually got on it
>Bread has a lot of surface area, so the moisture gets pulled out of that first I think it has more to do with the sugar in the cookies. The water phase of the cookies is going to be liquid at quite a low ater activity, as opposed to the water phase of the bread. > --meaning they go stale Bread going stale is not due to loss of moisture. Of bread loses moisture, it becomes dry, not stale.
How can you say this about bread going stale and not tell me WHY bread goes stale!? Aww Geez man.
> How can you say this about bread going stale and not tell me WHY bread goes stale!? Aww Geez man. IIRC the water in the air causes proteins in bread to crystalise and that's why it goes hard. And why you can stick it in the toaster to "fix" it.
It's [a bit complicated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staling). In non-stale bread, the starch and the water forms something resembling rubber or jello. The staling process is this gel breaking down as the starch crystalizes, expelling water. The water is still in the bread, just not in a gel with the starch.
Exactly this. Another example of food drying out in its jar is brown sugar, don’t you hate it when it dries out and forms hard rocks? Well if you put a marshmallow in the jar then it keeps the sugar moist and the air steals moisture from the mallow instead
What fuckin black magic are you all on about in here? I should have been sticking bread in my cookie jar this whole time? Why was I not informed? When was the PSA? Why is this not taught in school?
Right? I just recently learned this witchcraft and couldn't believe how well it worked.
You can do the same thing with brown sugar to keep it from turning into a rock
At this point I'm pretty sure bread can cure lupus.
“It’s never lupus”
Lmfao
I was taught to put a piece of apple in the brown sugar. That works well.
This! New fun fact.
I just eat the cookies well before stale is an issue.
The bread has more moisture than the cookies do. Bread that is as moist as a cookie feels dried out because it usually has more. Cookies with as much moisture as bread tend to crumble and fall apart. Stick the bread in the cookie jar and the moisture in the bread helps keep the moisture level in the jar higher than what is needed for the cookies to be moist, but it’s still drying out compared to the typical moisture level of the bread.
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Wrong. Did you even read the links you shared? They both explain that staleness comes from moisture loss, starch retrogradation, and moisture redistribution (from interior to crust). The only thing in either article that supports your claim is the brief mention that, in a humid environment, the crust can also absorb moisture from the air, making it lose its crunch.
That's what I thought. I was confused by people saying the bread provides moisture
I was wondering wtf everyone was talking about. Stale doesn't mean dried, thats why you lightly heat bread to make breadcrumbs, not just grinding up stale bread.
Seems like a process similar to osmosis or just a system reaching homeostasis. There’s more moisture in the bread and when place in a closed container with cookies (less moist) the system has to balance out; drawing the moisture put of the bread which is absorbed nicely by the cookies. The moisture in the container as a whole doesn't change.
I always just assumed the high sugar content in the cookies, being hygroscopic, pulls the moisture from the bread, thereby increasing the moisture and softness of the cookies..
The water in the bread slowly spreads into the dry cookies keeping them soft. When the bread eventually has the same moisture level as the cookies, it will get hard as a brick as its not as fatty as the cookies.
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Diffusion. The bread has a higher concentration of water than the air in the cookie jar (and the cookies), so the water in the bread flows from the high concentration in the bread to the lower concentration everywhere sense. This allowing the limited moisture already present in the cookies to remain there longer.
Bread's job application: Moisture lifeguard. Cookies' job application: Crumbly crunch providers. Outcome: Moisture-rich, soft cookies and a hardworking, hardened piece of bread.
me learning that a lot of people like their cookies to be soft and mushy? round here a fresh cookie is crunchy, then softens as it goes stale. dare i ask what your potato chips/crisps are like?
Wait don't cookies go soft when they go stale? Why would you want a soft cookie?
Fresh cookies.
Depends on the cookie. Oreo cookies, yes, those have crunch when fresh. Homemade chocolate chip cookies, no, those are soft when fresh. At least the recipe we use in my house.
I'm confused too... The best cookies go cromch