Learn the science behind:
Understanding food production, whether it’s at home are in a factory, starts with science. Once you have a grasp on some of the more basic science concepts, which you can find below, a whole new world opens up!
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…
Within the food industry it is very important to understand how your food will behave. Will it be deformed (too) easily (a muffin), will it flow through a pipe (a pasta sauce), will it stay on your product (caramel topping…
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?…
Ever read the labels on your food products? If yes, ever wondered how they come to the nutritional values stated on these labels? Or what they mean? Whereas people tend to think these are hard fixed numbers that have been…
Food Science is at the heart of this blog, however, in most cases we’ll be applying food science, assuming you’ve got a basic understanding of the food science concepts. Realizing that not everyone knows these basics, we’ve got a series…
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…
When you’re eating your ice cream, your caramel or a nice piece of fudge you might not realize that you’re actually consuming a scientifically highly complex product! The interactions between concentrations of sugar and water combined with temperature make for…
Not too long ago I got a question from someone who wanted to know the freezing point of caramel. Thinking about it, caramel in ice creams are just about always soft… This got me interested, because answering this question allows…
(Dis)coloration of foods is a well-beloved topic of food chemists. Colour pigments are highly complex, as are the reactions to form them. Browning especially is a favorite. It’s interesting because there are various chemically completely different ways to turn something…