Cooking is Chemistry

Like many, I am a big supporter of food.  Cooking, baking, concocting new taste sensations - it's all great.  When I look at my kitchen and think of the disasters I can create, I can't help but think that it is a lot like a science lab.  In fact, I should take the same safety precautions in the kitchen as I do with a chemistry experiment - apron, goggles, protective gloves.

So how is Chemistry involved in the kitchen?  Well, let's look at how a typical recipe (lab) is laid out:

You are told your final product (objective) - ie. Blueberry Muffins
You are told your necessary ingredients (materials)
You are given your directions (procedure)
AND you are usually told how much the recipe yields. 

YIELDS!  What does that mean?  And where have we heard that word before?  Oh yes, in Chemistry.  In a chemical reaction, we see an equation with reactants on the left, and products on the right.  What is in between?  Not an equal sign, but an arrow --> which symbolizes "yields" which is another way of saying "produces."  A + B --> AB in this equation, we would say A plus B yields AB.  A and B are the reactants and AB is the product.  Most of the time we need heat to make a certain recipe work; blueberry muffins would not be produced without the help of an oven.  Reactions that require heat to make them work are called endothermic reactions. 

Other chemical reactions take place in the kitchen without us even knowing.  For example, if you were to place a ripe, green banana in the same brown bag as an apple overnight, your banana would be ripe as ripe can be by morning.  Why is that?  Apples (and bananas) give off ethylene gas, a plant hormone that stimulates ripening.  Do you think people working in the supermarket produce department need to know anything about this?  Factors like this all come into play when storing and displaying fruits and vegetables.

If you are like me, and you enjoy a nice meal, think about the chemistry that is involved with cooking the next time you have a bite.  It is fascinating what a few ingredients and some heat can produce - in the kitchen and in the science lab!!