Questions tagged [food-chemistry]
For questions related to the chemistry of food.
447 questions
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What were the crystals I saw in a package of caffeinated mints?
I opened a package of caffeinated mints this morning, and I noticed that they seemed to sparkle in the light. When I examined it closely, I saw that the "empty space" in the package was full ...
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How could you make gummy candy without gelatin
Most gummy candy uses animals products such as gelatin, what foods could imitate that chewy gummy flavor. Agar powder is great, but gives a flaky not chewy texture.
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Is it possible to remove caffeine from brewed coffee?
I'm testing how the coffee brewing method influences its caffeine content. I had originally thought about using ethyl acetate, methylene chloride, or Swiss water processing to remove the caffeine, but ...
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In cooking does KCl draw water from food "same as" NaCl? [closed]
For medicinal/health reasons, cardiac and high blood pressure in particular, Potassium Chloride (KCl) is often used in place of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) AKA table salt for food purposes. It is offered ...
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Why does pectin/agar jelly taste sweet, if they stay solid at 36.5 °C, entrapping sugar?
When we eat pectin jelly(fruit jelly) or agar jelly, they taste sweet.
This should imply that sugar entrapped in gel network is somehow exposed and dissolved to saliva.
However, pectin and agar gel ...
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Why does my EBT indicator not turn pink in EDTA titration?
I am working on finding the calcium content lost upon cooking kale, using complexometric titration. For my indicator, I am using Eriochrome Black T indicator (EBT; solid form, not the liquid).
...
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Cheap way to mix satured fat (beef tallow) with water?
I want to mix beef tallow (satured fat) in water. I want to prepare food or edible product.
I know I must use a emulsifier, but I seen in this video, I can do it by a vacuum chamber.
That means I have ...
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Will Hydrogen Peroxide Remove Sulphites From Vinegar?
I've been using a couple of drops of 2% hydrogen peroxide to remove sulphites from wine.
I'm tempted to try the same thing on malt vinegar, since that's a fermented product and likely to have ...
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About whitish layer that formed on chocolate bar
I noticed a whitish layer on the surface of a chocolate bar that I ate yesterday. I looked at the pack where it was mentioned that,
"Temperature and humidity changes may cause product to develop ...
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Nutrients in translucent bottles/boxes
Nutrients e.g vitamin C, calcium etc are sensitive to light and that is the reason that major companies have juices and milks in boxes and opaque packages.
But there are some companies that the recent ...
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What chemical(s) in peanut butter cause it to glow under UV light?
It is relatively well known that peanut butter glows in the dark under UV light (if you don't believe me, see this short YouTube demo by NileRed).
I've tried it myself and it is clearly a real thing.
...
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Why are the latent heat of vaporisation values unavailable for cooking oils?
Oil evaporates. We know this, it's called the "smoke point". So why is it then, that whenever I try to find reference values for the latent heat of vaporisation for cooking oil, such as ...
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Can fats be composed of fatty acid esters other than triglycerides?
Fats are mainly referred to triglycerides. In triglycerides, a glycerol molecule form three ester linkages with fatty acids.
I think it is also possible for a butane-1,2,3,4-tetraol molecule to form ...
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What is that substance coming from tractor tire?
I have old tractor with Bridgestone tires. When I press a clean white tissue against the tire, a black spot show on the tissue. Is that substance carbon black and it’s harmful to soil?
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Why have my recent boiled eggs contain water within the membrane?
My wife recently boiled eggs from the grocery. Every single one of the eggs has contained water with in the membrane where the hollow portion of the egg is normally. I have only seen this if maybe the ...
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Why does brandy have a higher methanol-to-ethanol ratio than beer, despite the distillation?
From my googling, beer tends to contain around 16mg/L of methanol. While for brandy, typical methanol content is around 1000mg/L (give or take a factor of 3, depending) The distillation that brandy ...
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Raw green onions are spicy, but heated green onions are sweet. Why is this?
Raw green onions are spicy, but heated green onions are sweet. Why is this? More specifically; what change in the raw green onion's organic chemicals makes it no longer spicy when the green onions are ...
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What equation can be used to determine the mass of water evaporation over time, when cooking?
When baking, cooking or writing recipes, it would be useful to have a ballpark estimate of evaporation rates. This question asks about water, although the answer would ideally include an ...
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Reduction of static in lyophilized materials that have been powdered
I have recently been working with lyophilized products mostly food based items and sometimes medicinal plants (not cannabis) but I keep running into an issue when I grind the items into a powder the ...
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Mysterious violet-purple compound in "Gerber Method" & "Banana oil synthesis"
During the determination of fat in milk (Gerber method), in a milk butyrometer are mixed milk + $\ce{H2SO4}$ 90% w/w + isoamyl alcohol (isopentyl alcohol) and heating.
The acidic mixture separates ...
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Could there be any reaction between piperine and Pink curing salt #2 [closed]
EDIT: I originally (incorrectly) asked this question re: capsaicin; but found that the actual compound of concern in black pepper is "piperine".
This question originates on a forum dedicated ...
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Reduction of gingerol content in ginger using kitchen equipment
The single topic that this question focuses on is - how to remove gingerol and only gingerol from a piece of ginger in a manner that it remains safe to eat using equipment found in a well stocked ...
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How to dissolve beeswax/carnauba wax to spray
I’m trying to make an edible hydrophobic coating for a tart shell. If anyone knows of a way to lower the viscosity of an edible wax enough to make it sprayable I’d really appreciate it.
I have a paper ...
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Chemistry of a proposed Capsaicin extract [closed]
Background:
I’d like to make an extract of capsaicin using the following ingredients: Capsicum powder, Fractionated coconut MCT oil, apple cider vinegar, and saline. The idea is for the capsaicin to ...
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Properties of glyceral with respect to cooking/baking?
Out of curiosity I went looking for information or videos of people taste-testing monosaccharides and I came away surprised that I could find this for virtually every sugar except for the simplest (...
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Correctly converting the weight of compounds (e.g. Alpha GPC) to the weight of their FDA-recognized essential nutrients
Chemicals such as Magnesium L-threonate have to have a conversion ratio applied based on their molecular formula and molar mass to determine their nutritional value. In the case of Magnesium L-...
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What is the standard industrial method for measuring caffeine content in food and drinks?
There are a lot of questions here looking for simple methods to measure caffeine content (or extract it), including one of mine here and on the Coffee site:
Home science optical absorption test for ...
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What is the difference between technical-grade and food-grade tripotassium phosphate?
There is an article about tripotassium phosphate that states the following:
Consumers may have health concerns about why this cleaning agent can
be used in food, but that is the technical grade, not ...
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Rotten chicken smell
My boyfriend and I have a camper and he forgot to take a package of chicken out of the refrigerator before parking it. The chicken sat in the fridge which was off in the heat for a few months. We ...
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If I knead my dough long and fast enough, can it be cooked itself?
May be Seasoned Advice question, but I thought that it's more of a scientific question. Correct me if I was wrong.
Kneading generates friction between dough chemicals(gluten, starch, etc.), thus ...
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Understanding grades of steel for cookware. 18/10 vs 18/8
I am looking for a stainless steel cookware and while researching on the best kind of stainless steel cookware, I came across this comment on youtube:
Actually 18/10 steel is better and costlier. You'...
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Is there any way to measure or otherwise quantify the extent of caramelization experimentally?
I've been trying to design an experiment where I want to compare the efficacy of caramelization of a monosaccharide under different pH conditions (the sugar would be placed in buffers of varying pH). ...
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how to keep kappa-carrageenan lasting at room temperature for weeks or months? (art project)
I'm helping an artist make an outdoor gelly structure (not for eating) and we want to keep it from molding. The temperatures are around 10-30 degrees celsius and it's in Copenhagen, Denmark in ...
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Buffer when testing soda with DCPIP
We are testing a range of sugary drinks (coca cola, orange juice, and chocolate milk) with DCPIP to detect vitamin C. The coca cola has given a false positive and we were wondering if this is due to ...
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Purpose of measuring chloroform soluble extractives
I noticed that tests such as the FDA ones are measuring "chloroform soluble extractives". I understand that chloroform is toxic and its effect to human if exposed to it. But does that mean ...
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How to make a paste out of vinegar?
I am trying to make a smooth vinegar cream for short term use of up to about 3 months (i.e. no preservatives are needed if stored in a cool place).
Vinegars such as apple cider vinegar or pure acetic ...
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Why does chickpea flour need to rest for several hours?
Many traditional Italian recipes make use of chickpea flour (e.g. farinata and cecina). Before cooking the recipes suggest to mix the flour with water and make it rest for several hours (in some ...
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Can a plain sheet of stainless steel adhering to the 316 grade be regarded as food safe at every finish level?
My question is not purely about chemistry but it definitely involves it.
I was looking for a while to buy a food-grade stainless steel plate that would fit my home pizza gas oven (to have the dough ...
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Why is instant coffee powder not as dark as the coffee resulting from it?
Instant coffee granules generally are of a light brown colour, while coffee made from it is a deep black. Pigments are far more concentrated in the dry form, to add water is to dilute them. Still, ...
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Would the addition of Citric and Phosphoric Acid or Potassium Carbonate to agricultural water supply result in health/safety concerns?
I am doing a small greenhouse project for fun. As a side benefit of this project, I was hoping to consume the food that I will be producing. I have been checking all of the products that I will be ...
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What is the difference between milk and cream that causes disparate result when freezing and thawing?
If you freeze milk and then let it thaw/melt again you just need to shake and it is more or less indistinguishable from unfrozen milk. That is not true for cream - after letting frozen cream (40 % fat)...
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What is the relationship between content of elemental magnesium and magnesium ʟ-threonate?
Looking at some supplements descriptions and comparing with recommendations of magnesium intake. From magnesium ʟ-threonate supplement description:
Recommended daily intake (4 capsules) contains 2000 ...
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Will a liquid-liquid emulsion and the separated emulsion have same volume?
Let's assume that there is no dispersed gas (bubbles). Not sure about dissolved gas; maybe you can tell me if that matters. Ordinary liquids (aqueous solution and biological oil). Surfactants are ...
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How can semicarbazide occur during meat processing other than from nitrofuran treatment/feeds?
Since nitrofurans are banned e.g. in the EU from use in food-producing animals, but not entirely as medications for humans, there have been some stories/reports of possible diversion of human-intended ...
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Why are some colorings called "Fast", i.e. Fast Yellow AB (E105)?
Every time I look into things like this, I keep seeing talk about "fast food logos", so I've hit a dead end. What makes a specific color "fast"?
I see Fast Yellow and Fast Green ...
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Which form does Casein take in milk (before and after extraction)? [closed]
In this video, NileRed said
casein is exists in milk as a salt Calcium caseinate. And that structure of the salt is composed of ...
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Is there a way to put helium or any other gas into food?
Kinda like pop rocks puts bubbles of carbon dioxide gas into their candy to make it pop, If someone put bubbles of helium into some sort of food light enough then would it float? And how do they even ...
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Storage solution for oxygen sensitive liquid chemicals?
I'm needing to transfer oxygen sensitive liquid chemicals from a 5 litre bottle to many 100ml storage solutions. Since I'm transferring a large quantity I plan on operating within an inert atmosphere ...
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I mix table salt and baking soda with water to make mouth rinse, and leave them for several days. It started to form precipitation, and a bad odor [closed]
I mixed 2 spoons of baking soda with 1 spoon of salt and mixed them with water (but not mixing totally) and left them for several days. At first I saw some bubble but the water was clear, but then it ...
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Deactivate lectins in beans by baking
Having dried uncooked beans,
I read that the lectins can be deactivated by boiling and soaking for a while. What I could not find any information on is if dry baking beans would eventually deactivate ...
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