Author: Jenny Ridgwell

December 2, 2015

Star Profile / Star diagram for Pastry

Here’s how you can use the Nutrition Program for GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition NEA 1

Assessment 1: The Food Investigation Assessment 15% of total qualification

Task A Example: Shortcrust pastry should be crisp to the bite and crumbly in the mouth. It can be prepared using a range of different ingredients.
Investigate the working characteristics and the functional and chemical properties where appropriate, of the different ingredients needed to achieve a perfect shortcrust pastry.

Choose fats for pastries – for example, Trex, butter, lard and margarine, lard on its own.

Think of 5 words to describe pastry – crumbly, short, buttery, light, tough.

See our Tasting Word Bank.

Make and taste the pastries and put the results on My Recipes, Star Profile.

The Tasting words are listed as descriptors on the left side.

Then carry out several tastings and get marks out of 5.

The Nutrition Program creates the star as you can see below. You can then write the Evaluations of the different pastries as shown below and download your work.

Star profile for pastry

YouTube video using a star profile to evaluate

This is the star profile for sugar in sponge cakes.

Star profile of sugar in cakes with annotation
August 25, 2015

Healthiest way to eat your vegetables

Article from The Times Body and Soul 22/8/2015

Vegetables are a source of Vitamin A and C, and minerals calcium and iron.

They also give phytonutrients – antioxidants thought to slow the effects of ageing of body and brain.

fiveHere are preparation tips to stop loss of nutrients:

Don’t eat salad with fat-free dressing

Why? More salad nutrients are absorbed when eaten with fat. Extra virgin olive oil contains the most phytonutrients. Green leafy veg are better stir fried with oil as it increases absorption of fat soluble vitamins – A,D, E, K.

Leave garlic for 10 mins before frying

Why? Allicin in garlic has anti-bacterial properties and heat inactivates it. By leaving it, it does its work.

Fresh or frozen?

Green beans lose 40% folic acid, zinc and vit C within 2 days. Frozen fruit and veg are chilled within hours of picking which locks in anti-oxidants which fight cancer. Farm to plate for other veg can take months so frozen can be best.

Buy whole head of broccoli not florets.

Why? Cutting destroys nutrients – anti-oxidants and phytonutrients break down by oxidation.

After 10 days – the time from field to shop – broccoli lost 75% flavonoids (anti-oxidants) and 80% glucosinolates – believed to stimulate the immune system. By freshest you can and cook straight away.

Buy canned tomatoes
Why? Cooking makes them more nutritious. Heat changes lycopene (antioxidant) so it can be absorbed. Canned tomatoes higher in phytonutrients. Tomato paste is even better. Lycopene found to protect against prostate cancer.

Use vegetable peelings

Peelings have a higher concentration of antioxidants than the rest of the vegetable so use them in cooking.

Don’t soak fruit and veg

Wash them to get rid of bacteria and pesticide residue. If you soak them, water soluble nutrients leach out. Parboil and rinse under the cold tap. Steaming, microwaving, sauteing and roasting don’t use water so are more nutritious.

Chill potatoes after cooking!

This changes the starch to a type that is digested more slowly, and contain more fibre for gut health.

Buy canned beans

Canned beans have more antioxidants than dried beans. If you prefer dried beans, let them sit in liquid for an hour after cooking to reabsorb some nutrients.

 

August 23, 2015

McCance and Widdowson shows 100g sugar containing 105g sugar – why?

Carbohydrate values in McCance and Widdowson (M&W) series of publications are expressed as monosaccharide equivalents.

These values can exceed 100g per 100g of food because on hydrolysis 100g of a disaccharide, such as sucrose, gives 105g monosaccharide (glucose + fructose).

sugar

Thus white sugar appears to contain 105g carbohydrate (expressed as monosaccharide) per 100g sugar.
For conversion between carbohydrate weights and monosaccharide equivalents, the values shown in Table 1 below (adapted from M&W introduction) should be used.

In trying to explain this to students (depending on the age) you could explain this using chemistry and molecular weights:

Sucrose + water → glucose + fructose

C12H22O11 + H2O → C6H12O6 + C6H12O6

342g + 18g → 180g +180g

So in this example you can see 342g of the disaccharide sucrose gives 360g monosaccharides.

Table 1

 

  

Conversion of carbohydrate weights to monosaccharide equivalents

 
Carbohydrate Equivalents after

hydrolysis

g/100g

 Conversion to

monosaccharide

equivalents
 

Monosaccharides e.g. glucose,

fructose and galactose

  

 

100

  

no conversion

necessary
 

Disaccharides e.g. sucrose,

lactose and maltose

  

 

105

  

 

x  1.05
 

Oligosaccharides e.g.

raffinose (trisaccharide)

stachyose (tetrasaccharide)

verbascose (pentasaccharide)

  

 

107

108

109

  

 

x  1.07

x  1.08

x  1.09
 

Polysaccharides e.g. starch

 

  

110

 

  

x  1.10
August 4, 2015

How to take good photos on Instagram

Thanks to Olive Magazine for this. Useful for schools on social media!

Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instagram can’t zoom and it crops to a square – but iPhone keeps pics to use later.

1. Tap area you want to focus and change the brightness.

2. Make sure you are shooting as a square to avoid cropping for Instagram.

3. Don’t zoom in as it decreases image quality.

4. iPhones have a grid – settings, photos, camera >grid – good for shooting ingredients.

5. Your photo should be placed within the 9 squares of the grid.

6. Add interest with cutlery etc.

7. Move items out of frame to get a clean shot.

8. Use natural lighting for best results – don’t use the flash.

9. Improve lighting on phone -saturation,brightness or colour

10. Hashtags build a fan base. People will find your photos. But don’t use too many.

 

 

 

July 29, 2015

Hover overs for Nutrition Program

These are the Hover overs used on the Nutrition Program to help you find the function of nutrients.

Energy – Measured in KJ and Kcal. Needed to keep us alive and active.

Protein – Needed for growth and repair, a source of energy.

Carbohydrates are a source of energy.

Total sugars are all types of sugar in food. A source of energy.

Fat – good source of energy and supplies essential fatty acids that the body can’t make.

Saturated fat – Too much saturated fat can increase the cholesterol in the blood.

Mono Unsaturates – These types of fats can reduce cholesterol levels.

Polyunsaturates – These types of fats can reduce cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol – High blood cholesterol is one of the risk factors in heart disease.

Trans fatty acids – These raise the type of cholesterol in the blood that increases the risk of heart disease.

Starch – Polysaccharide made up of glucose units. Used for energy.

Salt – Essential for cells and control of body fluids. Limit intake to 6g a day.

Sodium – Salt is made from sodium chloride.

Total sugars – All types of sugar in the food.

Fibre – Needed to keep the gut healthy and prevent constipation.  Non Starch polysaccharide – needed for healthy digestive system.

NSP Fibre Non Starch polysaccharide – needed for healthy digestive system.

AOAC Fibre – Fibre measurement AOAC includes lignin and resistant starch – higher figure than NSP.

Fat soluble vitamins A and D, E

Vitamin A – Needed for growth, development and eyesight. Retinol and Carotene

Vitamin D – Regulates the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body.

Vitamin E – Helps protect cell membranes by acting as an antioxidant.

Water soluble vitamins -B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin),B3 (niacin),B6 (pyridoxine)

Vitamin C – Needed for healthy skin and tissue, and to aid the absorption of iron. Ascorbic  acid

Thiamin – Needed for the release of energy from carbohydrates.(B1)

Riboflavin – Helps release energy from carbohydrates.

Niacin – Needed for the release of energy from carbohydrates.

Vitamin B6 Pyridoxine – essential for good health and red blood metabolism.

Folate – Prevents neural tube defects in developing embryos. (B9)

Vitamin B12 – for blood cells and nerve function. (cobalamin),
Vitamin K Helps protect cell membranes by acting as an antioxidant.

Minerals – calcium, iron, sodium, phosphorus, iodine,

Calcium Helps build strong bones and teeth.

Iron Helps make red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body.

Phosphorus Helps build strong bones and teeth.

Iodine – Helps make the thyroid hormones and keep metabolic rate healthy.