High School, Cooking & Food Science Science Experiments (Page 10)

Find the Missing Ingredient

STEM Activity

1

2

3

4

5

3 reviews

Food advertisements and labels bombard us with enticing slogans and attractive images, luring us into consuming the food. But have you ever wondered how nutritious the food is? Have you ever looked at a nutrition facts label and wondered what the columns of words and numbers meant? This activity will shed some light on the label. You will explore serving sizes and nutrients, and might find a discrepancy. Why would the sum of the nutrients not always add up to the total? Like a detective,… Read more

Get Saucy with the Thickening Power of Starches

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Who doesn't love soaking up the last bit of gravy on Thanksgiving? Or dipping a crusty cube of bread into a cheese fondue? Or scooping up the thick juices from a fruit pie? Sauces make eating a joy! They provide concentrated flavor in a thickened liquid form, with a pleasing texture and consistency that carries or compliments the flavor of the rest of the food. No matter if they're salty, spicy, savory, or sweet, sauces make foods richer and more special. There are many ways to thicken sauces,… Read more

Have Your Chips Lost Their Chomp? Understanding How Food Becomes Rancid

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

You are looking under your bed for that video game you want to play, when you come across a real treasure—an open bag of potato chips that you forgot about! A crispy and salty potato chip is a tasty treat. But wait! This potato chip is not crisp and does not taste as great as it should. What happened? The chips have gone rancid! In this cooking and food science fair project, you will look into what factors turned your chips rancid. Read more

Hey, Do You C My Potatoes? Determining Vitamin C Amounts in Cooked Potatoes

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

As you know, vegetables not only taste good, but they are good for you. Many vegetables are a great source of vitamin C. Vitamin C is a water-soluble antioxidant that plays an important role in protecting the body from infection and disease. Humans do not make vitamin C on their own, so we must get it from dietary sources. Potatoes, like the ones shown in Figure 1, below, are one good source of vitamin C. Does cooking them affect how much vitamin C they have? In other words, if you boil a… Read more

Hot Pot: Choosing the Right Pot in Which to Cook Your Meals

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

What is cooking? Cooking is applying heat to food in order to help make it taste good. But the decision to cook your food doesn't end there. Do you want to cook it at a low temperature for a long time or do you want to apply high heat and cook or sear it right away? You might think that a pot is just something in which to cook your food, but it is also a cooking tool. Pots and pans are made from different kinds of materials, such as aluminum, stainless steel, iron, and ceramics. Each of these… Read more

How Can Tofu Pack Such a Flavorful Punch?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Spicy fried tofu. It's a delicious and savory main dish at many Asian restaurants. Stab a golden-brown piece, bite into it, and the juice inside rushes out, filling your mouth with rich flavors. Continue eating and you find the texture is very chewy and meat-like. Did you ever wonder how those white blocks of tofu you see in grocery stores are transformed into the chewy little sponges packed with flavorful juices you see in Asian restaurants? Try this cooking and food science fair project to… Read more

Is the Soup Ready? Measure How Much Water is Absorbed by Dried Beans

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Dried beans are a major ingredient in dishes served all over the world. In their dried form, they can be stored for years and then "brought back to life" by soaking them in water. In this cooking and food science fair project, you will measure just how much water is absorbed by beans when they rehydrate (soak up water). Can such a little bean really hold that much water? Read more

Mac and Cheese Science: What Makes a Thick Sauce?

STEM Activity

1

2

3

4

5

2 reviews

There’s nothing like your favorite comfort food after a long day, right? Maybe it’s beef stew or a really great salad, or many people’s favorite, macaroni and cheese. The sauce has got to be just the right texture, though, or your noodles are either swimming in the sauce, or just one big glob! So how can you get just the right texture? Get ready to invite some friends over to taste-test. With this science activity, you can be a scientist, a cook and a crowd pleaser all at the… Read more

'Make Mine Medium-Rare': Heat Conduction in Steak

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

How do you like your steak? The internal temperatures for beefsteaks at various levels of "doneness" are as follows: medium-rare, 145°F; medium, 155°F; medium-well, 165°F; and well-done, 170°F. What factors determine how long you have to cook a steak to reach the desired temperature? The temperature of the steak before you start to cook it will clearly be important. The temperature the steak is cooked at will also be a factor. And of course, the thickness of the steak will… Read more

Making a Sugar Thermometer

STEM Activity

1

2

3

4

5

1 review

Bakers (and those who help bakers!) know that at some point in every baking recipe, the instructions will tell you to preheat your oven to a certain temperature. But if you’ve ever tried to bake cookies and they come out flat, or take too long, it’s possible that your oven is to blame. You might set your oven to 350°F, but how do you know that the inside of your oven actually reaches that temperature? You could use a thermometer…. or you could use sugar! Because we know… Read more

High School, Cooking & Food Science Science Experiments (120 results)

Explore Our Science Videos