Chemistry of Food and Cooking “Brownies For Shea”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19HDcWDYjSw0PpoU7x1rN2NsI9nHNXZvpV4SVwrn0Rfk/edit?usp=sharing
How successful was your experiment in helping you understand your food and/or improve its characteristics? What would be next steps if you were to continue research on this topic? In support of your answer you might choose to discuss any of the following or other questions of your own design:
- To what extent did your experiment yield conclusive results?
- What might be altered in your experiment to increase your confidence in your results?
- Were your measurements of the IV and DV accurate and precise?
- Was your choice of DVs relevant for the desirability of the food?
- Were you asking a relevant question? What question do your results make you want to investigate?
I believe that my experiment was decently successful, there is always room for improvement especially when you’re feeling curious about the results after research. I believe that my results were correct, I’m still on the edge of my scientific explanation and I think that is exactly where I should probably focus on, that’s the main area I can refine my work. The components that could probably be altered to boost my confidence is a change in flour, I might do an experiment on a variety of flours, the only variables I used were milk and cocoa powder though from my research the impact is mainly from a reaction between the flour and cocoa powder, the milk didn’t affect much but fluffiness and taste. My measurements were precise, I had gotten more measurements of the results that weren’t added which is found in my sources page. I measured volume and had done a replicate test to conclude my results of hardening my brownies from added cocoa powder. The choice of cocoa powder was first introduced to me as a suggestion and became a great variable to do my experiment on. Because it changes a number of variables in the experiment such as taste, rise, and density. Writing my Recipe Card arose a number of questions such as what if I changed the brand of flour, will the same results occur if I use a Gluten Free Brand? I wrote the next steps for continued improvement in my sources that will help me in the future for exhibition.
Refinements Noted for Final Recipe Card:
- Extra Quantitative Measurement of the Brownies (Density), -No Extension- -Mass Divided by Volume-
V = 628
[Mass = ?]
M = ?
Density = ?
- Hinting at Quantitative / Qualitative Data rather than blandly pointing them out.
- Possibly: I might add the results of a taste test in a larger setting with a greater number of people.
- Extra Page of Scientific Explanation: The Particles of the ingredients (DV) (IV) while undergoing the heating process.
- Description of Secondary Experiment: Gluten Free Flour (to further prove results)
B. How does the ingredient(or process) you experimented with affect the food’s overall characteristics? Be specific and discuss the chemical structure of the ingredient and the chemical structures of the aspects of the food the chosen ingredient interacted with as part of your answer!
Question B:
I worked with Cocoa Powder and Milk, hypothesizing the change in bitterness and rise. It seemed to changed much more than these specific characteristics,
Cocoa Powder: The cocoa powder changed a number of characteristics that were easy to decipher because of how the experiment was conducted, from what I had seen the cocoa powder changed the rise, taste, density, and weight of the brownie. When the Blind Taste Test was conducted (me being the only exception in this test) the things I noticed were that the brownie hadn’t rose at all, second the brownie was more like a fudge rather than a brownie, wasn’t as “cakey” as the other brownies including #2 (1 tbsp CP, 1 tbsp Milk) It is clear that the cocoa powder had mainly reacted with the flour, the flour being the only ingredient that affects the rise, I knew that the cocoa powder must have done something to the flour to stop it from rising, I had found from a secondary experiment and research the flour’s gluten had simply been changed by the hardening of the cocoa powder in the heating process causing a reaction in the brownies particle structure.
Milk: Milk didn’t affect the rise as much as the cocoa powder, which can be seen in photos of the rise, which that leads me to my new refinement of my recipe card, I should maybe accurately show which brownie is which in this photo,
The Four Different Samples:
#1 (+1tbsp cocoa powder, +1tbsp milk)
#2 (+1tbsp cocoa powder, no milk)
#3 (regular, +1tbsp milk)
#4 (regular, no milk)
#1 - Right / Back
#2 - Right / Front
#3 - Left / Front
#4 - Left / Back
Anyways, from understand #2 and #3 are the milk, you can see that the brownies in the front are a little taller than the one behind them, it isn’t a illusion from the camera, I had found that the brownies were larger when milk was added, then when the brownies with milk were opened and I could see the inside, The milk brownies were more cakey and had more air pockets inside of them, so it did affect the fluffiness and rise though clearly not as much as the Cocoa Powder. It also affected the taste, the brownies with milk added were sweeter and not bitter in the results of my blind taste test.
For a simple answer, Cocoa Powder changed the characteristics much more than I initially thought it would and it sparks my interests. (and my cravings)
D. In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a scientist investigating food similar or different?
Question D:
Surprisingly, cooking and scientific investigation are very similar which surprised me while continuing on my journey as a student in Steve's class. This approach to teaching chemistry is definitely different from what I initially thought it’d be like. The main similarity that I see between cooking and investigations are that each takes a number of times and an amount of research to create the best recipe / investigation. Chefs take a lot of time trying and failing to create the best recipe that same process applies to trying to understand an experiment or why and how you had gotten your results. The main way Science and Cooking is different is that even though cooking has a large amount of categories of food, recipes and styles. Science and Chemistry have a large variety of concepts and theories to study, there are only so many foods to experiment with, there are unlimited elements, some that we don’t know about, Cooking can fall into the category of Science, Science cannot fall into the category of Cooking. Yet, Cooks and Scientists Jobs are very similar in that they basically have the same process of finding their final results; they just have different reasons for finding their results.