Measure Taste, Smell, and Texture Science Projects (Page 3)

Old Salty: Does Age Affect the Ability to Detect Salt?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Sauerkraut, pickled fish, pickled vegetables, kimchi, corned beef, processed cheeses, smoked lunch meats. Do you like these high-salt foods? What about your grandparents, do they? Do your grandparents seem to like most foods to be a bit saltier than you do? Try this science fair project if you want to find out more about the incredible, edible rock known as salt, and why people vary in how much of it they like to eat. Read more

Smelly Science: A Sniff Test

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

Take a deep breath: freshly baked cookies, smoke from a wood fire, or a rose—your nose is an amazing smell detector! Your sense of smell can not only identify a huge variety of odors, but it is also incredibly sensitive. Think about how easily you can detect if someone in your neighborhood has a barbecue just by smelling the hints of smoke from the grill far away. How strong or weak you perceive an odor depends on its concentration. What do you think is the lowest concentration of a… Read more

What's the Point of Boiling?

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

You know that water can exist in three separate phases: solid (ice), liquid (water), and vapor (steam). To change from one phase to another, you simply add (or remove) heat. When water boils, what happens to molecules (for example sugar or salt) that are dissolved in the water? Do they boil off too, or do they stay behind? Read more

The Art & Science of Making Yummy Yogurt

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

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

Smashing for Mash: The Science of Making Memorable Mashed Potatoes!

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

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 Ripening

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

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

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

The Sweet Beginnings of Caramelization

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

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

The Effect of Roasting on Color, Flavor, and Texture of Peanut Butter

Science Fair Project Idea

Scientific Method

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

Measure Taste, Smell, and Texture Science Projects (29 results)

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