Intro: In this lab Maia made raspberry ice cream over spring break using the Cuisinart ice cream maker that I have at my house. After we finish we will research the chemical changes that occur in the process of making ice cream.
Looking Back: The results of the lab were pretty good. It was thick and you could see the tiny ice crystals that had formed. Although it did not look as consistent and thick as ice-cream that you buy at a store. Because we did not know the scientific way to do it, instead we just followed a recipe. I would say that our experiment worked because are goal was to successfully make ice cream and that's what we did. The consistency wasn't as desirable as we had wanted maybe because we did not let it churn long enough and we may have put too many toppings in it. Our experiment turned out fairly thick and creamy and almost fully crystallized. It was a light brown from maple syrup and a little lumpy from the toppings. I will have pictures of the final product bellow.
Looking Beyond (on a molecular level): Making ice cream is actually more complicated than you would think you need to make sure that it is solid, yet soft and should stay that way as it melts. I you just put the ice cream mixture in the freezer it will freeze into a solid block. Science occurs even while making food is called molecular gastronomy. Most ice-cream consists of successful frozen emulsion of these five components; ice crystals, fat sweeteners, air and other solids. Each one has it's one chemical structure and it's part in making perfect ice cream. The ice crystals are formed when the water in the base starts to freeze; they put the ice in ice cream making it more solid. The size of the ice crystals determines how liquidity, or thick, the ice cream eventually turns out. The fat is like the whip cream or milk which as churned helps with the density and texture. The sweeteners like the sugar and syrup, of course improves flavor, but also lowers the freezing point of the mix so that it does not freeze into a solid block. The air spaces in the ice cream is made while it is being churned.The tiny air cells whipped into the base mix make the ice cream smooth and adds volume. Over run is the technical term used to indicate how much air an ice cream holds, since air increase the volume. And lastly other solids such toppings or minerals which are not essential but help create air spaces and will degrees the iciness of it. The toppings make less free roaming water that would turn into ice. While the ice cream is churning I key component that must happen chemically in order to product successful ice cream is something called emulsion. Emulsion is a perfect distribution of water droplets which are not soluble. In context of ice cream that you need to have occur emulsion in to make good ice cream. Emulsion happens while combining different substances which under normal circumstances would separate from each other and instead turn them into a smooth, lightly thickened mixture like the ice cream. Store ice cream makes emulsion artificially using chemicals like Monoglycerides and Diglyceride. Another popular commercial emulsifier is Polysorbate 80 that comes from sorbitol, that you can see in the picture bellow. Another thing that essential to perfect ice cream is homogenization, which is breaking up the fat droplets in order to enhance emulsion. The improved capacity of the ice cream will hold on to air making the ice cream more smooth. The ice cream needs to 'age' before serving because the fat molecules need to settle. Aging allows the fat droplets to solidify and have their surface covered in proteins. Making ice cream in a ice cream maker should be and ideal place to for the ice cream to freeze. Because while it the bowl the ice cream is in is frozen and continuously freezing molecules one by one the middle part of the ice cream maker is churning it keeping it from forming into a solid block.
Looking Back: The results of the lab were pretty good. It was thick and you could see the tiny ice crystals that had formed. Although it did not look as consistent and thick as ice-cream that you buy at a store. Because we did not know the scientific way to do it, instead we just followed a recipe. I would say that our experiment worked because are goal was to successfully make ice cream and that's what we did. The consistency wasn't as desirable as we had wanted maybe because we did not let it churn long enough and we may have put too many toppings in it. Our experiment turned out fairly thick and creamy and almost fully crystallized. It was a light brown from maple syrup and a little lumpy from the toppings. I will have pictures of the final product bellow.
Looking Beyond (on a molecular level): Making ice cream is actually more complicated than you would think you need to make sure that it is solid, yet soft and should stay that way as it melts. I you just put the ice cream mixture in the freezer it will freeze into a solid block. Science occurs even while making food is called molecular gastronomy. Most ice-cream consists of successful frozen emulsion of these five components; ice crystals, fat sweeteners, air and other solids. Each one has it's one chemical structure and it's part in making perfect ice cream. The ice crystals are formed when the water in the base starts to freeze; they put the ice in ice cream making it more solid. The size of the ice crystals determines how liquidity, or thick, the ice cream eventually turns out. The fat is like the whip cream or milk which as churned helps with the density and texture. The sweeteners like the sugar and syrup, of course improves flavor, but also lowers the freezing point of the mix so that it does not freeze into a solid block. The air spaces in the ice cream is made while it is being churned.The tiny air cells whipped into the base mix make the ice cream smooth and adds volume. Over run is the technical term used to indicate how much air an ice cream holds, since air increase the volume. And lastly other solids such toppings or minerals which are not essential but help create air spaces and will degrees the iciness of it. The toppings make less free roaming water that would turn into ice. While the ice cream is churning I key component that must happen chemically in order to product successful ice cream is something called emulsion. Emulsion is a perfect distribution of water droplets which are not soluble. In context of ice cream that you need to have occur emulsion in to make good ice cream. Emulsion happens while combining different substances which under normal circumstances would separate from each other and instead turn them into a smooth, lightly thickened mixture like the ice cream. Store ice cream makes emulsion artificially using chemicals like Monoglycerides and Diglyceride. Another popular commercial emulsifier is Polysorbate 80 that comes from sorbitol, that you can see in the picture bellow. Another thing that essential to perfect ice cream is homogenization, which is breaking up the fat droplets in order to enhance emulsion. The improved capacity of the ice cream will hold on to air making the ice cream more smooth. The ice cream needs to 'age' before serving because the fat molecules need to settle. Aging allows the fat droplets to solidify and have their surface covered in proteins. Making ice cream in a ice cream maker should be and ideal place to for the ice cream to freeze. Because while it the bowl the ice cream is in is frozen and continuously freezing molecules one by one the middle part of the ice cream maker is churning it keeping it from forming into a solid block.
Primary Sources:
http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2014/06/the-science-of-ice-cream.html
http://www.icecreamnation.org/science-of-ice-cream/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion
Main Take Aways:
Reflection: Doing research about the science of making ice cream after we finished the ice cream was a bit of a mistake. Because I learned a lot of things that could have been helpful while making our ice cream. Like the emulsion and making sure there were ice crystals. If I would have known all the scientific parts of this experiment I think I would have spent more time measuring out ingredients and making sure that our ice cream fit all of the five requirements. I think we missed emulsion, letting the ice crystals form, 'aging', compressing and measuring the sugar to fat ratio. If we changed those things and kept them in mind then our ice cream would have been perfect. But it was still delicious because you can't go wrong with sugar, cream, and raspberries. I think Maia and I, worked well together as always. I was also really proud of our selfs for scheduling a time over break to get together and work on a fun chemistry project together, I'm glad we took the initiative to get it done as soon as possible. And over all I learned a lot, and I was suppressed that there was actually a lot of science behind ice cream.
http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2014/06/the-science-of-ice-cream.html
http://www.icecreamnation.org/science-of-ice-cream/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion
Main Take Aways:
- The freezing point
- Terminology like emulsion, over run, ice crystals and gastronomy
- What chemicals are used to make ice cream in a food lab
- Thinking about cooking in science terms, to better understand the way cooking works
- How to scientifically create the perfect ice cream
Reflection: Doing research about the science of making ice cream after we finished the ice cream was a bit of a mistake. Because I learned a lot of things that could have been helpful while making our ice cream. Like the emulsion and making sure there were ice crystals. If I would have known all the scientific parts of this experiment I think I would have spent more time measuring out ingredients and making sure that our ice cream fit all of the five requirements. I think we missed emulsion, letting the ice crystals form, 'aging', compressing and measuring the sugar to fat ratio. If we changed those things and kept them in mind then our ice cream would have been perfect. But it was still delicious because you can't go wrong with sugar, cream, and raspberries. I think Maia and I, worked well together as always. I was also really proud of our selfs for scheduling a time over break to get together and work on a fun chemistry project together, I'm glad we took the initiative to get it done as soon as possible. And over all I learned a lot, and I was suppressed that there was actually a lot of science behind ice cream.