Measure Taste, Smell, and Texture Science Projects (29 results)
|
Apple pie is one of America's traditional desserts. It can be enjoyed on its own or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cool sweetness of the ice cream combines with the warm apples and flaky pastry to create a taste sensation. However, if the pastry that surrounds the apples is heavy or chewy then that can really affect how much you enjoy this treat. But how do you make a pastry that is light and flaky? In this cooking and food science fair project, you will find out by experimenting with…
Read more
If you like to bake, this might be an interesting project for you. When you're following a recipe, do you ever wonder why certain ingredients keep showing up time after time (e.g., baking powder in quick breads)? Do you notice that certain ingredients tend to occur in a particular ratio to one another (e.g., amount of shortening and sugar, or amount of shortening and flour, or number of eggs and amount of flour)? What happens if you use more or less of an ingredient than the recipe calls…
Read more
Caramelization is the name of the cooking process that occurs as sugar is heated and the molecules begin to break apart. But what happens to the sugar as it breaks apart? And what do the physical changes mean for the flavor of the sugar? Using the Internet or cookbooks, read up on the chemistry of caramelization, then head to the kitchen with an adult to caramelize your own batch of sugar. With an adult's help, dissolve 1 1/3 cups of sugar in 2/3 cup of water. Heat the mixture in a pan over…
Read more
Have you or one of your pets ever been sprayed by a skunk? Hopefully not, but if you have, you probably know that the smell can be very unpleasant and hard to get rid of. There are many "folk remedies" for getting rid of skunk scent, but if you ever do get sprayed by a skunk, how will you know which one to try? In this science project, you will test the ability of various mixtures to remove the bad scent from rags that have been contaminated with bottled skunk scent, and determine which one…
Read more
What do you look forward to when the holidays arrive? Spending time with friends and family? Having lots of free time? How about the delicious food that comes out of the kitchen? You bet! What kinds of food do you have on your table during those special times of the year? For many people, mashed potatoes and gravy are usually on the holiday menu. Whether light and fluffy or smooth and silk-like, mashed potatoes are very satisfying. What is not satisfying is when the cook makes a mistake in…
Read more
Fruit is a strategy some plants use to attract animals to disperse seeds. The animals eat the fruit and disperse the seeds through the digestive system. To attract animals, fruit needs to ripen and develop an odor that acts as an attractant. How much more successful are ripe fruits at attracting animals? Try setting out an over and under ripe piece of fruit, and compare how many many insects are attracted to each fruit. How does ripening occur? You can do an experiment using a very ripe…
Read more
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
Yogurt is a very versatile dairy product. It's yummy eaten straight from the container, it is good for your digestive system, and it can be used in several ways for cooking. There is historical evidence that yogurt-making developed 4,500 years ago! Humans depended on yogurt-making as a way to preserve milk. Yogurt is the result of bacterial fermentation of milk. In fermentation, the bacteria consume the milk sugar, lactose, and produce lactic acid. The end-product is a thick, creamy, and tangy…
Read more
Peanut butter is a popular ingredient in sandwiches, cookies, and many other common foods. In this cooking and food science fair project, you will roast peanuts in the oven at 350 degrees for 20, 30, and 40 minutes to produce variable levels of color and flavor. Roasting not only adds complex flavors to the peanuts, but it also destroys enzymes that produce off-flavors.
Each lot of roasted peanuts will be used to make a batch of peanut butter. You will evaluate each batch of peanut butter for…
Read more
|








