Food and Cooking, Apple Toss Up (Apple Butter)
How can we design an experiment and measure the qualities and desirability of a finished recipe both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to determine the success of our recipe experimentation?
I think there are a few things we can do in order to create a refined project. One thing I would consider is using a control group and surveying their preferred tastes. Especially in a project related to mine. If you're testing a preferential idea it's important to monitor factors like that. If you're testing a the change in spiciness and only use people who hate spicy foods you're only going to get a negative response. This is something I wish I paid more attention to in my project.
Another thing to pay attention to is what the domino effect is when you're changing one thing in a recipe. I'm not necessarily sure how that would apply into a quantitative sense. I think it would have to be multiple tests and a longer amount of time writing and researching why certain things happened within a particular experiment.
In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Science takes more thought, analysis and precaution. It is the study in details, the beginning, middle, and the end. While cooking is the mixing and play of the ingredients. Science is the paint itself and the canvas it is applied to, it is the wood of the paintbrush. Cooking is the art produced from all of its elements.
A cook is the artist, he doesn't necessarily care about the calories, fats, sodium content etc. A food scientist is the one who studies how it all connects and burns and the changes in the molecules with heat added. All in all, I believe that anyone who is a cook has to have some background in food science and exactly the same for a food scientist needing cooking background. If you understand one, it can help you understand the other.
Apple Toss Up (Apple butter)
Ingredients/Instructions-
2 pounds of apples
½ cup apple juice
½ cup apple brandy
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons lemon Juice
¼ teaspoon salt
Preparation-
Experiment-
Hypothesis-
If I change the types of apples(more sour/acidic apples) and acidity in the apple butter. There will be a change in taste and favorability. Women will prefer more acidic apple butter compared to the men.
What I Tried-
I compared two different types of apple butter. A being our control, following the original recipe. B2 being my experimental piece (it’s called B2 because Baylee also had a B and we were using the same control). Instead of using standard apples, I used sour green apples. Along with that I kept the original amount of lemon juice needed. Our batches were smaller than the original recipe so we didn’t need three tablespoons of lemon juice but I kept it to enhance the sourness.
I think there are a few things we can do in order to create a refined project. One thing I would consider is using a control group and surveying their preferred tastes. Especially in a project related to mine. If you're testing a preferential idea it's important to monitor factors like that. If you're testing a the change in spiciness and only use people who hate spicy foods you're only going to get a negative response. This is something I wish I paid more attention to in my project.
Another thing to pay attention to is what the domino effect is when you're changing one thing in a recipe. I'm not necessarily sure how that would apply into a quantitative sense. I think it would have to be multiple tests and a longer amount of time writing and researching why certain things happened within a particular experiment.
In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Science takes more thought, analysis and precaution. It is the study in details, the beginning, middle, and the end. While cooking is the mixing and play of the ingredients. Science is the paint itself and the canvas it is applied to, it is the wood of the paintbrush. Cooking is the art produced from all of its elements.
A cook is the artist, he doesn't necessarily care about the calories, fats, sodium content etc. A food scientist is the one who studies how it all connects and burns and the changes in the molecules with heat added. All in all, I believe that anyone who is a cook has to have some background in food science and exactly the same for a food scientist needing cooking background. If you understand one, it can help you understand the other.
Apple Toss Up (Apple butter)
Ingredients/Instructions-
2 pounds of apples
½ cup apple juice
½ cup apple brandy
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 ½ tablespoons lemon Juice
¼ teaspoon salt
Preparation-
- Combine apples, cider, and brandy in large pot, and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until apples are very soft. About 30 minutes
- Working in batches, transfer apples to food mill and process. Discard skins and transfer puree to now empty pot. Stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt.
- Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture is browned and thickened and rubber spatula or wooden spoon leaves distinct trail when dragged across bottom of pot. 1-1 ½ hours.
- Transfer apple butter to jar, with tight-fitting lid and let cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Apple butter can be refrigerated for up to 1 month.
Experiment-
Hypothesis-
If I change the types of apples(more sour/acidic apples) and acidity in the apple butter. There will be a change in taste and favorability. Women will prefer more acidic apple butter compared to the men.
What I Tried-
I compared two different types of apple butter. A being our control, following the original recipe. B2 being my experimental piece (it’s called B2 because Baylee also had a B and we were using the same control). Instead of using standard apples, I used sour green apples. Along with that I kept the original amount of lemon juice needed. Our batches were smaller than the original recipe so we didn’t need three tablespoons of lemon juice but I kept it to enhance the sourness.