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My name is Flora Chan!

Flora_Chan_155179

Hi there! I'm Flora and I'm currently a high-school student living in Hong Kong! As a child, I've always been very passionate about food; peeking through the kitchen door to watch my parents cook, reading recipe books whilst my classmates read comics etc. and I'm so so lucky that I come from a family of hard-core foodies who are so open to trying different cuisines!

Baking is one of my biggest hobbies and I can't thank ChefSteps enough for providing this online platform for us foodies to interact and share opinions. Hence, I hope to share any knowledge that I have regarding areas that I'm more familiar with (Chinese, Japanese cuisine). I also hope to learn more about the science (as I want to pursue a science-based career in the future) behind the formation of different food products e.g. hydrocolloids, foams etc. from all my fellow chef-steppers.

P.S., I have a science project coming up and I'm really stuck on ideas but I really want to incorporate food science into it... Help!

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Comments

fisher23

欢迎, please tell us more about your science project.

Ellen_212162

I second @John_Fisher_218893's request! I'd love to hear more about what you're thinking, too!

brian_martin2001

I second what @Ellen_212162 and @John_Fisher_218893, what are you thinking about doing? What would you like to do?

Flora_Chan_155179

@John_Fisher_218893 @Ellen_212162 @Brian , Thank you for replying! My science project is actually more of a lab report where I have to manipulate an independent variable e.g. changing the concentration of lactose in ice cream, and then measure how this affects the e.g. texture, time taken for the ice-cream to stiffen etc. It can be about anything and there's marks for personal engagement so obviously I turned to my biggest passion-food! There's quite a few areas that I'm interested in researching (I'll list them below) but my main problem is the dependent variable: e.g. how do I measure "smoothness" or flavour-do I calculate the concentration of the compounds that cause flavour in the food product?

My Ideas so far:

Enzyme Related:

Ice-cream (soft serve too): Using lactase, I was wondering if separating milk into beta-galactose and beta-glucose (changing the concentration of glucose&galactose : lactose) would have an effect of the time to make ice cream crystallize?
Steamed Milk: Similarly, I was wondering whether the glucose&galactose : lactose ratio would have an effect on e.g. texture, time taken, or optimum temperature for steaming milk?

Others:

Gluten Free-Baking: I've been interested in gluten free baking lately but I was wondering how the gluten concentration in the batter would affect measureable variables in baking--I'm not too sure the effects on gluten content... *sorry*
Ice Cream: 1) I was reading the Egg-Free Vanilla Ice-cream and I was wondering how the ratios of locust bean gum: xanthan gum: carrageenan, kappa were formed and hence, whether these ratios would have an effect on the minimum churning time required? 2) In French-Style Ice cream, does the temperature that the egg heated to have an effect on the time taken to churn (stiffen up) the ice cream?
Herbs: What are the compounds in herbs which increase smell or flavour and how can we manipulate variables in the process of growing the herbs to increase the flavour output?

Thank you!!! (:

brian_martin2001

So, I'm not going to touch on everything, simply because I don't know the answer to everything. Instead of giving you bs, i'll tell you what little i know, and hopefully it'll be usable.

For measuring the smoothness, I would recommend using a consistometer or a viscometer. it won't measure grit or ice crystal size, however, it will let you know quantitatively the texture, consistency, etc.

I'm not sure how you would go about changing the various concentrations of lactose, unless you were going to alter in in proportion to glucose, galactose, etc. You might try playing with the concentration of various gums (if you're using them). A few years back, a lab group I was in did something similar. I can look around and see if I still have the data if you want it.

I have no idea with the steamed milk.

I'm a big fan of gluten, so I cannot help you there (never bothered to try to figure it out).

Your gum ratios idea is a good one if you have the the equipment (see above) to measure the effects of the various concentrations of gums.

The temperature of egg is also a great idea, as it will be easy to quantitatively see the effects (so long as you have the equipment).

I have no idea with the herbs, however, there are scientific articles and journals written to that effect. If you were going to test this yourself, you will probably need a mass spectrometer. There was an episode of one of the shows Heston Blumenthal did where he went to a laboratory and there was a machine that isolated the individual smells of a complex ingredient. You might also consider contacting International Flavors and Fragrances http://www.iff.com/ as they have turned flavors and fragrances into a multi-billion dollar industry.

I hope you have found something useful in this. If you have not, sorry.

Good Luck! Let us know what you end up doing, and how you do on it after it's completed!

fisher23

Brian thank you for your response. You have much more of the science than I do.

brian_martin2001

We all know something that someone else here doesn't. What's the point of knowing tidbits if you're not willing to help someone out?

fisher23

Here is an egg-less ice cream that uses G.M.S (Glycerol monostearate) and C.M.C (Carboxy methyl cellulose). Both of these are available at Modernist Pantry or you might find them in at an Indian Food grocery store or bakery in HK.

For your herbs, I grow micro greens and have grown basil and cilantro and others, but the point is that they have an intense flavor. Harvesting them as microgreens instead of full grown plants increases the flavor. ChefSteps has a short tutorial

I hope this helps, I probably didn't answer your questions. @brian_100903 knows the science much better that I.

Flora_Chan_155179

@John Fisher, Thank you so much for the recipe! I am so so grateful for your help! (: I'm still deciding my topics but I will make sure to share with you and @brian my results at the end of this project!

Flora_Chan_155179

Firstly, thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't believe that I woke up this morning to this wonderful surprise! You and @John Fisher are so terribly kind, I can't believe that you would go to all this trouble to answer this!

Unfortunately, I do not have a consistometer nor viscometer at my school which makes this extremely difficult to do. I'm sorry if I didn't clarify but I did intend to alter the proportions of glucose to lactose and I was wondering if there were any other variables that I could measure for ice cream?

Secondly, I know it seems awfully rude of me to ask this but I was wondering if you would be so kind to share your data for the lab on gums you did, with me (no pressure!). Assuming that the gums are to substitute for the functions normally carried about by eggs, the gums would also affect the density of the ice cream...
Hence, would the density of ice-cream be something to that would be affected by the ratios of the different gums or even the proportions of lactose to glucose? Also could I assume that the denser the ice-cream the more flavourful it would be?

I'm so sorry to spring so many questions upon you and I can't thank you enough for just replying to my first post! (:

brian_martin2001

I skimmed over your posting when I answered it, my bad. I went back and read through it again, and did see that. You could play around with fat concentrations: milk to cream ratio.

As for the data: seeing as I did offer it to you, it would be a bit rude of me not to get it to you. You're going to need to be patient with that, I'm just getting in now (12 am EST), I'll go through some old college stuff to try to find it.

Gums will have an impact on density, but not as much as you think. The gums (if memory serves, pun fully intended) are used in fractions of a percent by weight. Though this does change the density, not nearly so much as to make that much of difference. The gums are added for texture or mouth feel, and stability. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I believe it also helped with the prevention of large ice crystals. Could be wrong about this, as it was some years back.

I see where you're coming from regarding the density, however, I'm not sure that is the case. Flavor has a lot of variables: ratios of ingredients used, levels of fat, even temperature of the product when served. I really have no data on density to flavor, but this also would be a great subject to research. That would be a project in and of itself.

I will get back to you when I'm able to locate the lab data, or if I've exhausted all the places it could be. Few days tops.

Never apologize for asking questions. Some of the information that I know, I know others do not. I didn't have all the knowledge I currently do when I started my degree, and I didn't have all the knowledge I currently do when I graduated. I recommend always doing some research, even if it's just an internet search, before asking questions, but if you can't find the answer, or if it's something that only a select few know, how else would you get the information if not by asking? Questions, and the pursuit of answers, are what drive us forward as a whole.