Chemistry of Food and Cooking Ice Cream
Chemistry Behind Ice Cream Reflection
Hanna Barney
My experiment was very helpful in helping me understand the chemistry behind making ice cream, and here's why. Through stirring the ice cream at different amounts of time I was able to observe the way that thickness in ice cream is created. The more time that was added to the process, the more thick and textured the ice cream became. This is because the more it spun, the less water there was and instead it turned into ice. To increase my confidence in this experiment, I would have added a more accurate way of measuring the ice cream and more testing at each round. My independent and dependent variables were accurate with the IV being the amount of time, and the DV being the thickness and density. My choice of dependent variables was relevant to my food because it helped to increase the thickness of the cream which makes ice cream more enjoyable. I would love to continue to investigate what temperature the ice cream changes at as the time continues.
The process I used to change my ice cream affected the overall thickness of the cream by changing its characteristics. In the ice cream making process, there are many things that can change the texture of the cream; amount of materials used, the type of cream, and different ingredients. In my experiment I chose to change the amount of time that the cream was being stirred. As time went on we concluded that the ice cream became thicker the more time it spent in the ice cream making machine. This is due to a loss of water as the ice cream is being frozen. When the ice cream is being stirred it is getting more frozen and the water slowly becomes ice crystals. Small ice crystals get formed due to the mixture of two particles that usually don’t mix together. These are fat and water, but when the milk is added it acts as an emulsifier.
Through doing this experiment, it has opened my mind to a different way of cooking. As someone who doesn't cook very often it was very interesting to observe and research the way that cooking is very similar to doing a science experiment. In my 9th grade science class we were asked the question if everything was related to science. I never understood that until I was able to get a hands-on lesson on how cooking and science are the same. It was definitely more enjoyable to eat my food after knowing what chemistry was behind it. Observing the physical change and molecular change of ice cream was very interesting and I would love to learn more about the chemistry behind cooking.
Hanna Barney
My experiment was very helpful in helping me understand the chemistry behind making ice cream, and here's why. Through stirring the ice cream at different amounts of time I was able to observe the way that thickness in ice cream is created. The more time that was added to the process, the more thick and textured the ice cream became. This is because the more it spun, the less water there was and instead it turned into ice. To increase my confidence in this experiment, I would have added a more accurate way of measuring the ice cream and more testing at each round. My independent and dependent variables were accurate with the IV being the amount of time, and the DV being the thickness and density. My choice of dependent variables was relevant to my food because it helped to increase the thickness of the cream which makes ice cream more enjoyable. I would love to continue to investigate what temperature the ice cream changes at as the time continues.
The process I used to change my ice cream affected the overall thickness of the cream by changing its characteristics. In the ice cream making process, there are many things that can change the texture of the cream; amount of materials used, the type of cream, and different ingredients. In my experiment I chose to change the amount of time that the cream was being stirred. As time went on we concluded that the ice cream became thicker the more time it spent in the ice cream making machine. This is due to a loss of water as the ice cream is being frozen. When the ice cream is being stirred it is getting more frozen and the water slowly becomes ice crystals. Small ice crystals get formed due to the mixture of two particles that usually don’t mix together. These are fat and water, but when the milk is added it acts as an emulsifier.
Through doing this experiment, it has opened my mind to a different way of cooking. As someone who doesn't cook very often it was very interesting to observe and research the way that cooking is very similar to doing a science experiment. In my 9th grade science class we were asked the question if everything was related to science. I never understood that until I was able to get a hands-on lesson on how cooking and science are the same. It was definitely more enjoyable to eat my food after knowing what chemistry was behind it. Observing the physical change and molecular change of ice cream was very interesting and I would love to learn more about the chemistry behind cooking.