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Food is full of chemistry! Food chemists study and analyze molecules and their transformations in food. You need chemistry to explain why a banana turns brown, how broccoli turns yellow over time, why cinnamon tastes like cinnamon, and more.
Looking for a structured, guided introduction, why not consider our Food Chemistry Basics course?
Would you buy a raw brown steak? What about a blue apple? Green coconut flakes? Or a grey orange? Probably not. If the color of food isn’t ‘right’ consumers won’t buy it anymore, even if it is perfectly safe and…
The secret behind that yellow dal, yellow rice, or beautifully colored curry? Chances are, it’s turmeric! A mere teaspoon can color a sauce or dish. Aside from those ‘typical’ dishes, you might also find it added to cheese, butter, or…
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…
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…
After writing about making your own extracts (vanilla & orange/lemon) and how to use these it is time we start talking more hard core science. What is extraction from a chemists perspective? And is there something we can calculate here?…
Why does red cabbage turn blue, purple or pink in different liquids? Why does a steak turn brown when heated? Why can an oven bake muffins? Why does a higher temperature oven burn your carrots more easily? All of this…
When you zoom in on your food, what will you see? First thing you’ll notice is the detail in all the complex structures of food. Zooming in closer you’ll probably run into some cells. When you ‘look’ even closer though…