The Kitchen Chemistry in a particular class

A new chemistry course has turned up the heat and transformed a campus kitchen
into a lab that analyzes one of the oldest applications of chemistry and chemical research:
Cooking. Dr. Benny Chan’s “Kitchen Chemistry” course is a hands-on, experimental class
that has senior chemistry students donning aprons instead of lab coats, as a way to
breakdown chemical principles such as extraction and denaturation.

“I’ve always had an interest in cooking in general,” Chan said. “Chemistry and
cooking just go together. And teaching this class really lets students see the science
behind something that is so basic and comprehensive.”

Inspired by programs on the Food Network, especially Alton Brown’s show “Good
Eats,” Chan let the idea of a scientific cooking class simmer on the back burner for a
couple years. After a spring ‘13 School of Science colloquium about the intersection of
science and food, however, Chan became seriously motivated to launch his self-designed
class for the fall 2013 semester. “Since this is the first time this course is offered, I
restricted it to be open to only senior chemistry majors,” Chan said. “After this semester,
though, I plan to unleash it to the general public as a non-major’s course.”

The class that meets in the T-Dubs kitchen, usually opens with a very brief lecture
about the objectives of the lab ahead, then proceeds to the students breaking into small
groups to get their hands dirty and mouths watering. Students decide what aspects of the
recipe they want to study and then find resources to explain the science behind the recipe.

Students are required to read various articles about upcoming experiments, as well
as Harold McGee’s book “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.”
Every week there is a new topic, such as the science of bread leavening or food safety
techniques, and the reading materials provide preliminary insights for the labs.

Although cooking pizza to learn about thermodynamics and baking cookies to study
the different crystal structures of chocolate very much captured the attention of the
students, it was Professor Chan’s “tripping parties” that really stole the show. “How taste
works is a really interesting part of the class; it was one of the first things we did,” Chan
said. “So to experiment with our taste buds, we drank a tea that blocks your sweet
receptors. And then later, we studied the miracle berry, which makes sour foods taste
sweet. This was a lot of fun, we called it ‘tripping parties.’”

The tea, provided by Dr. Jeff Erickson in Biology, is derived from the plant
Gymnema sylvestre and suppresses the students’ sweet taste buds to experience foods
like sugar, salt, and candy in a new way. Eating a bar of chocolate after sipping on the tea,
showed students the chalky, bitter side of the usually sweet treat. On the other hand, the
miracle berry, derived from the plant Synsepalum dulcificum, had students devouring
lemons and limes by the handfuls. A glycoprotein, in the miracle berry binds to the
tongue’s taste buds and cause sour and acidic foods to taste sweet.
Jhosep Nagee V-29.538.889

URL: https://science.tcnj.edu/2013/12/28/kitchen-chemistry/

Instrumental English (Chemistry) Section: 07