North Central College in the News
North Central College alumna featured in WBEZ-FM
May 26, 2022
Mirachelle Anselmo ’16 shared her story—chemist-turned-baker on Chicago’s NPR affiliate
North Central College graduate Mirachelle Anselmo ’16 is a chemist by training but a food scientist by temperament.
As an undergraduate student she conducted research on the Maillard reaction — the scientific name for the browning of food — to see if different kinds of sugars formed different products post-reaction. While working toward her master’s degree in organometallic chemistry at DePaul University, she helped customers at Floriole, a patisserie in Lincoln Park.
When Chicago went into lockdown during the spring of 2020, Anselmo, like many others, began baking more at home. She progressed to braided chocolate babka and other enriched dough pastries and started selling her baked goods at local fundraisers. Eventually, Anselmo set her sights on what food writer and chef Claire Saffitz declared “the highest achievement in all of pastrydom”: the French croissant — with a nod to her own Filipino roots.