Summer Career Connections Session 6, Day 4, Molecular Gastronomy
Happy Thursday Parents and Families!
Can you believe the week is almost over? I sure can’t, it feels like just yesterday I was meeting your children for the first time, ready to teach them the ropes about weird food science!
Today we covered the last 2 phase change topics for Molecular Gastronomy- Emulsification and Powdering. I had shown the class a powdering experiment back on Monday/Tuesday but I was excited to see them all play with the Maltodextrin with either Bacon Grease, Balsamic/Olive Oil, or an emulsified Raspberry Vinaigrette (from my emulsification demonstration earlier today). Though none of the mixtures reached a full powder form, we had a great time playing around with the semi-solid that we created. For the emulsification experiment, we took a look at the separation of heavy cream into butter and buttermilk. Since cream itself is already an emulsion of the fats in a liquid medium, this was a prime example of a “reverse emulsion” to show that there were fats suspended in the aqueous medium, and a little shaking was all you needed to unlock that! If you ever need a way to tire out your kids while getting some butter ready for dinner, I highly recommend a mason jar and some heavy cream 😊 We also spent the morning talking about the GI system and how the food gets digested by physical and chemical means.
Some take some notes for today include that emulsions are the combination of 2 immiscible liquids forced together (often through a physical means) to create a colloidal suspension of either a fat/oil in water or a water in oil/fat. Additionally, Maltodextrin is the go to powdering agent and it works especially well on fats because the Maltodextrin can surround the fats and encapsulate them, protecting them from each other and causing clumping to occur which looks like dust (think kinetic sand).
Tomorrow is our last day, which means that students will be doing a final project- this will include using their Molecular Gastronomy knowledge learned from the week to create a small dish or two that might be used in a science themed restaurant. They will have access to any foods that we have used this week, plus a few other options! They will be around hot plates tomorrow, so please be sure to send them with a pair of sweatpants and closed toed shoes. This is incredibly important to ensure the safety of your kids around hot liquids.
Have a great evening!
Greg