Chocolate is one of those foods that conjures a lot of memories, associations, and myths. Therefore it was a great choice for doing some science! The science part of this food science was pretty simple. The teens took a chip of dark, milk, and white chocolate and observed how fast each of these various types of chocolate melted. One set was kept at room temperature, one was held in their hand, and one they held on their tongue to see which type of chocolate melted first under all three conditions.
The next made a double-boiler and observed what temperature chocolate melts at, how to temper chocolate (the stage that chocolate is made into awesome good looking candy instead of a splotchy mess.), and why chocolate is melted so precisely instead of just boiling it.
After they have a pan of melted and tempered chocolate, the teens were then able to make their own unique chocolate pops and try out some different flavors! They tried nearly everything, in fact one chocolate lollipop was just all the toppings. I was told it was delicious...
The more complicated and myth-busting part of the chocolate science came with the chocolate quiz. The quiz had such questions as:
True or False: Even though it doesn't kill them, cats will also eat chocolate, just like dogs.
Answer: False. Nah. They can't taste sweet things. It is probably also bad for cats, but cats don't eat chocolate and humans can't make them. Do anything. Ever.
And: True or False: Chocolate has more than 350 known chemicals in it.
Answer: True. Chocolate has 380 chemicals in it...that we currently know of.
If anyone would like this quiz, a supply list, or to know more about the process of tempering chocolate, send me an email at: dstates@yorklibraries.org
Here is a question for everyone else, leave your answer in the comments! (No looking up the answer either! :p)
True or False: Chocolate was first consumed in bar form.
Dawn states: Dark chocolate is the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment