Chemistry of Food & Cooking Reflection:
John's Sweet & Super Hot Salsa
How does the ingredient you experimented with affect the recipe's overall characteristics? Discuss the chemical structure of the ingredient and the chemical structures of the aspects of the food the chosen ingredient interacted with as a part of your answer.
I chose to experiment with the spiciness of salsa. Spiciness is also referred to as pungency. Pungency affects the overall characteristic of the salsa because people prefer different amounts of pungency in their salsa. Some people, like me, like it really spicy. Other people don't like spiciness at all. When I made my salsa less spicy, I found that it affected both the spicy element as well as the sweet element. The less spicy the salsa was, the more likely it was to have very little taste. However, when I made the salsa spicier, I found that there was a richer taste.
The chemical that creates a pungent taste is called capsaicin and the flavor that burns in your mouth comes from compounds called capsaicinoids. Of these compounds, two of them (capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin) are responsible for 80-90% of peppers. I used 3Dchem.com's article on capsaicin to learn more about its compounds. Capsaicin is a very complex molecule and it was difficult for me to understand, but I think that I understand why capsaicin gives the spicy flavor.
In what ways are cooking and doing science similar and in what ways are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar and different?
Cooking and doing science are similar in that you are controlling and observing reactions. For example, when you're cooking a pizza, the heat causes the compounds in the dough to expand. The longer the dough cooks, the harder it gets. As a cook, you're trying to achieve the right texture and consistency of the food that you're cooking. As a scientist, you're trying to control and observe results of the things that you're doing.
Cooking and science are different because cooking is specific to food, but science is wide open and can be about pretty much anything. You can observe the universe and be a scientist, you can also study cancer cells and be a scientist.
A cook and a food scientist are similar because they both work with food and they both have to do science that deals with measurements and consistency, but they're different because you don't have to understand the chemical reactions of food to be a cook (though it helps), but you do have to understand them to be a good food scientist. For instance, a baker in Colorado could know that baking at a high altitude requires different ingredients and timing to make sure that a cake rises properly, but not really understand why the extra ingredients and time are necessary. A food scientist baking in Colorado would understand why though.
Here's a link to the recipe card for my Sweet and Super Hot Salsa.
I chose to experiment with the spiciness of salsa. Spiciness is also referred to as pungency. Pungency affects the overall characteristic of the salsa because people prefer different amounts of pungency in their salsa. Some people, like me, like it really spicy. Other people don't like spiciness at all. When I made my salsa less spicy, I found that it affected both the spicy element as well as the sweet element. The less spicy the salsa was, the more likely it was to have very little taste. However, when I made the salsa spicier, I found that there was a richer taste.
The chemical that creates a pungent taste is called capsaicin and the flavor that burns in your mouth comes from compounds called capsaicinoids. Of these compounds, two of them (capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin) are responsible for 80-90% of peppers. I used 3Dchem.com's article on capsaicin to learn more about its compounds. Capsaicin is a very complex molecule and it was difficult for me to understand, but I think that I understand why capsaicin gives the spicy flavor.
In what ways are cooking and doing science similar and in what ways are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar and different?
Cooking and doing science are similar in that you are controlling and observing reactions. For example, when you're cooking a pizza, the heat causes the compounds in the dough to expand. The longer the dough cooks, the harder it gets. As a cook, you're trying to achieve the right texture and consistency of the food that you're cooking. As a scientist, you're trying to control and observe results of the things that you're doing.
Cooking and science are different because cooking is specific to food, but science is wide open and can be about pretty much anything. You can observe the universe and be a scientist, you can also study cancer cells and be a scientist.
A cook and a food scientist are similar because they both work with food and they both have to do science that deals with measurements and consistency, but they're different because you don't have to understand the chemical reactions of food to be a cook (though it helps), but you do have to understand them to be a good food scientist. For instance, a baker in Colorado could know that baking at a high altitude requires different ingredients and timing to make sure that a cake rises properly, but not really understand why the extra ingredients and time are necessary. A food scientist baking in Colorado would understand why though.
Here's a link to the recipe card for my Sweet and Super Hot Salsa.