You can make a cake with very few ingredients, equal amounts of flour, butter, eggs and sugar will give you a delicious pound cake. However, you can tweak the flavour and texture of your cake in an unlimited...
Welcome to FoodCrumbles.com!
Here we love to dig just a little deeper into food and science. We explain how food is made, how it's preserved & packaged and what the role of the ingredients in your food are. We also analyze recipes, so you understand why a recipe is the way it is! Last but not least, we give you tools to develop a basic understanding of food science! Have fun browsing around and don't forget to ask a question if you can't find the answer here!
Latest articles
Food Science Basics
Just getting started in the world of food science and want to get your fundamentals straightened out? No problem, we've got a good selection of articles for you.
The science of distilling liquors
We know how to make spirits (we discussed that here), and we know that to make spirits (or liquors) you need to distill fermented grains. Distillation isn’t just used in spirits production though. It is one of any...
Chocolate milk & Sedimentation
Nothing fits a good wintery day better than a warm chocolate milk, don’t you agree? The heat of the milk warms you up just a little and it gives you enough of a boost of energy to get going again. It’s a...
Colours in fruits & vegetables
Have you ever noticed how fruits and vegetables have a wide variety of colours? The spectrum goes from orange to purple to green to bright red. It’s amazing how nature has developed all these bright and beautiful...
Cake Science
Eggless orange cake – Using custard as a substitute
A lot of ‘western’ recipes for cakes, cookies and pies contain eggs. But if you don’t eat eggs, no matter the reason, that can be quite a challenge. In most recipes you can’t just leave out the...
Cake donut science – How they’re made
There was a time when I thought a donut was a donut. Just a light brown fried ring with a glaze on top. Of course, there are a tons of glazes & fillings but, being non-American, I never realized there are quite...
Bread Science
The benefits of using Maltogenic Amylase when baking bread
This is a guest post by Morgan Walker Clarke. Morgan is from Dallas, Texas, works in the hospitality industry and has an interest for food and science that he loves to share with us! Using enzymes in baking is not a new...
Vegetable Science
Ice Cream Science
Philadelphia style ice cream – An eggless chocolate ice cream
Before reading the book ‘Hello, my name is ice cream‘, I had never heard of Philadelphia style ice cream. Most of the ice creams I made myself were either by making a custard which I then churn in the ice...
How ice cream is made in a factory
Whether you make one bowl of ice cream at home, or 1000 liter in a factory, the science of ice cream stays the same. You’d still want small ice crystals, to make a super smooth ice cream and you’d like to...
Meat Science
Fruit Science
Vegetable and fruit texture – On turgor and plant cells
Poached pears are soft and juicy, whereas a ripe fresh pear has a nice crunch to it. Raw carrots crunch and you need a firm bite to break a bit of, but, the carrots which have been boiling in your soup for more than an...
The power of lemons – Lemon science
After reading Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat I became a lot more aware of the importance of acid in food. Not just in a lemon meringue tart (even though those are delicious), in lemon bars or as a drizzle over a salad. Instead...
Cheese Science
Pie Science
Preventing soggy pie crust – On moisture migration
Water can be a food’s best friend, but also worst enemy. Water keeps a cake moist, strawberries juicy and ice cream solid (thanks ice crystals). But water can also make a cookie soggy, make oil splash and lack of...
Choosing & Using pears – On pear texture & pear pie
Ever wondered why there’s ample recipes for apple pies and barely any for pear pies? Besides the difference in taste and texture, it’s probably a cultural thing as well (we have >8 varieties of apples in...
Cookie Science
Almond tuile science – Flexible when hot, crispy when cold
If you’re a fan of cooking/baking shows you will have probably seen them come by: almond tuiles. Pretty, delicate and tasty cookies, but, the special bit is that they’re very flexible when they come out of...
Role of flour, butter and sugar in cookies – Shortbread science
Take some butter, mix it with sugar, add some flour and you’ve got a cookie going. Three ingredients is all you need to bake a decent cookie. Of course, you add more ingredients, nuts, fruits, some chocolate, the...
