Food science is concerned with the whole of the supply chain from farm to fork. And it was this in mind that the Branch organised a visit to Redland’s Farm hop farm near Salehurst on 16th September. All 13 of us met for lunch at the Salehust Halt pub where we sampled Harveys Brewery’s excellent Sussex best bitter made with eponymous hops from last year’s harvest on the farm we were about to visit.
We owe a big thank you to all those who made Love Food Love Science possible, especially:
Holly Cuthill
Food Teachers Centre
Hydra Creative
London South Bank University
Michelle Cheng
Jessica Giovanni
Read on to find out how Love Food Love Science came to be
Enzymic browning experiment
A number of mechanisms are responsible for browning reactions in foods. This experiment will examine the action of an enzyme called polyphenol esterase which is naturally present in many fruits and vegetables.
Materials
Method
Wash & chip 200g of potato.
Place 40g of potato chips into each of the four “potato” beakers.
Coagulation temperatures of egg white, egg yolk and whole egg.
Fill 3 test tubes to a depth of 3cm with raw egg white, raw yolk and raw whole egg. Put the test tubes in a large beaker of water and heat slowly, stirring the egg all the time. Record the temperature at which each coagulates. Which coagulates first, the yolk or the white? Why?
Effect of added substances on the coagulation temperature.
Repeat (a) with the addition of a small amount of milk to each of the 3 test tubes and note the new coagulation temperatures.
Stability of egg white foams
Object: To study the effect of various additives on the stability of egg white foams.
Materials
Method
Effects of ageing on eggs
For all these experiments, use eggs which are very fresh and repeat with eggs that are fairly fresh (1-2 weeks), at least one month old and if possible, even older.
Method
