The Science of Ingredients
The science behind cooking: how proteins set, carbohydrates thicken and brown, fats trap air and hold mixtures together, and fruit and vegetables brown in the air.
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The science of ingredients 🍳
Cooking changes ingredients in ways you can explain with science. Different food groups behave in their own ways: proteins set, carbohydrates thicken or brown, fats trap air or hold mixtures together, and fruit and vegetables can brown in the air. Knowing these functional properties lets a cook control the result.
Words for the science 🔑
Learn these four terms before you match each change to its food group.
Protein and carbohydrate 🆚
Two food groups change in clearly different ways.
Grade 9 thinking 💡
To reach the top grades, name the correct process for the correct food group, such as coagulation for protein and gelatinisation for starch, rather than saying the food just changes when cooked.
Match the food group to a change 🔗
- protein
- carbohydrate
- fats and oils
- fruit and vegetables
- coagulates and sets solid when heated
- gelatinises to thicken a hot liquid
- emulsify to hold oil and water together
- undergo enzymic browning in the air
Match the term to its meaning 🧩
- denaturation
- caramelisation
- aeration
- oxidation
- when a protein loses its natural shape
- when sugar browns on heating
- when air is beaten into a mixture
- when a food reacts with oxygen in the air
What is coagulation? ❓
What is coagulation?
- When a protein sets solid, as in a cooked egg.
- When starch thickens a sauce.
- When sugar browns on heating.
Changes to carbohydrate ✅
Select the TWO changes that happen to carbohydrates.
- Gelatinisation.
- Caramelisation.
- Coagulation.
- Emulsification.
Order the thickening 🪜
An interactive activity.
Summarise the science 📝
When an egg is cooked, the protein sets solid, called _____. When a sauce is heated, starch swells and thickens it, called _____. Sugar browns when heated, called _____. In a mixture, egg yolk holds oil and water together as an _____. A cut apple goes brown in the air, called enzymic _____.
Count the food groups 🔢
An interactive activity.
Spot the two protein changes 🖍️
An interactive activity.
Which food group? 🧭
An interactive activity.
Explain gelatinisation ✍️
An interactive activity.