Science in the Kitchen – Chai With Preethi

The Science of Cooking -Understanding the pH Scale

I have always been interested in the science of cooking. Most times when we cook we add ingredients to the recipe not knowing why it is done. Asking ‘WHY’ something happens when you add an ingredient and understanding the science may or may not improve your cooking but for me it is a learning experience….

Vendakkai Pachadi – Okra in a Spicy Tangy Coconut Gravy Why is Okra Slimy and What can you do?- Science in the Kitchen

Reposting this from October 2018. After a long time, I decided to make Pachadi as a side dish for rice and Molagootal. I looked up a few of my recipe books including Samaythu Par and could not find the recipe. I then looked online and could find variations but not what I wanted. So I…

Disappearing Ink

Imagine getting a secret note which only you can read. I would love that. As I was researching about this, I read that spies used lemon juice, milk, vinegar, onion juice or even urine as an invisible ink during the 1st World War. Low tech intelligence, I guess. Try this fun experiment with your child…

Salad Dressings and Density of Fluids

A salad dressing always heightens the taste of a salad. The simplest salad dressing is oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. You could add honey to sweeten it or some dijon mustard. Have you noticed that when you pour oil and vinegar, they do not mix? Have you ever wondered why? I had written about density…

Kitchen Science – Sink or Float – Bobbing for Apples (and other vegetables and fruits)

It is almost Halloween and this game is often played by children. So the question is do all apples float? That led to more questions – what about pumpkins, lime, banana, pomegranates or coconuts? Why do they float or sink? Inspired by the thought, I decided to check it out on my own. I started…

Kitchen Science – We are all Chemists! Yeast Talk

I wonder if I can add chemist to my profile which includes baker, cook, teacher. While writing the blog post on pizza, the teacher in me started wondering about the science behind making pizza. This morning I made appam and stew and seeing the small holes in the appam, I was explaining why it had…