Food Science
10 questions tagged Food Science — spanning every one of the seven Ws.
Why Does Bread Rise?
Bread rises because yeast ferments sugars in the dough, producing carbon dioxide gas that gets trapped in the elastic gluten network, causing the dough to expand.
Why Does Honey Never Spoil?
Honey resists spoilage because its extremely low water content, high sugar concentration, low pH, and natural hydrogen peroxide production create an environment where bacteria and moulds cannot grow.
Why Does Salt Preserve Food?
Salt preserves food by drawing water out of microbial cells through osmosis, dehydrating bacteria and moulds so they cannot grow and spoil the food.
Which Food Has the Highest Caloric Density?
Pure fats and oils have the highest caloric density of any food at about 9 kilocalories per gram; among common whole foods, macadamia nuts (~7.2 kcal/g) and pecans (~6.9 kcal/g) are among the most calorie-dense.
Why is coffee bitter?
Coffee’s bitterness comes mainly from compounds formed during roasting, plus a smaller contribution from caffeine.
Why does chocolate melt in your mouth?
Cocoa butter melts at around 34°C, just below body temperature, so chocolate stays solid in hand but melts on the tongue.
Why does garlic make your breath smell?
Garlic contains sulphur compounds, and one of them passes into the blood and is breathed out from the lungs.
Which Vegetable Has the Most Protein?
Edamame (young soybeans) tops the list at about 18 grams of protein per cooked cup.
Why does bread go stale?
Bread goes stale mainly because its starch recrystallises (retrogradation), squeezing water out of the gel structure — not simply because it dries out.
Why does chewing gum lose its flavour?
The sweeteners and flavourings in gum dissolve in saliva and get swallowed. What stays in your mouth is the gum base, which is designed not to dissolve and has almost no taste of its own.