Ever wondered why/how a banana browns, how a piece of meat gets those classic grill marks, why a broccoli is green (and can turn yellow or mushy green), why an orange is orange or how yeast ferments? All of those are questions that can be answered using food chemistry.
Food chemistry studies and analyzes molecules and their transformations/reactions in food.
However, before you can start doing these more complex analyses on your food, it’s useful to have your basics sorted. The articles you will find here do just that.
Considering doing a mini course on food chemistry? We’re offering one right here!
The ‘secret’ behind that yellow dal, yellow rice, or beautifully colored curry? A decent chance that it’s turmeric. A mere teaspoon can help color a sauce or dish and it’s not just used in savory dishes. In some countries it…
Have you ever made a beautiful pesto blend, full of basil flavour, with a vibrant green colour, that didn’t look all that vibrant anymore the day after? Or left that peeled banana or sliced apple for a few hours to…
Red cabbage juice changes colour when you add a squirt of lime juice or a spoonful of baking soda. Baking powder causes your cake to rise beautifully in the oven. You can ‘cook’ fish by adding lemon and lime juice,…
Only a few centuries ago, European (and likely many others) seamen died by the dozens during months long sea voyages to the East. Trips to the East, essential for European traders to get those beloved spices, fabrics and other trading…
Ever forgot to add the baking powder or baking soda to your recipe? Or used baking soda and baking powder in your cake, only to discover it resulted in a flat cake? Baking powder & baking soda have a crucial role…
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 colours in order…
In the Netherlands we have this one cookie type that’s used for a lot of different dishes. They’re popular for use in cookie pie crusts, ice cream and a bunch of other recipes. Their name: Bastognekoeken, which apparently refers to…
Whenever making caramel, marshmallows, honeycomb or just about any other sugar candy you’ll often find that recipe either tells you to boil a sugar syrup to a certain temperature. Or, they’ll tell you to cook it to a certain stage, for…
Once you’ve peeled your banana, you’d better eat it. If you forget about it and return a few hours later it will have turned an unappetizing brown. Same goes for leaving an unpeeled banana on your counter top for a…
Ever tried to make a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar? Noticed that it’s impossible to keep these two mixed without continuously stirring or adding something like mustard? Wondered how food manufacturers are able to do this? If…
Sometimes a term might be so familiar to you that you use it all the time, whereas another person, who doesn’t know that term, has no idea what you’re talking about. When talking about science that can be quite a…
Imagine having the pages of a book, but having no clue in which order they should go. Or having a recipe with only an ingredient list, no instructions on how to make the food. Or having an IKEA cupboard, with…
