Author: Jenny Ridgwell

June 21, 2019

Aquafaba – chickpea water

Aquafaba is the liquid you strain off from a can of chickpeas and it’s used by vegans to replace egg in cooking.

Aquafaba is made up of water, protein and starch and the word comes from the Latin aqua – water, and faba – bean. Other beans as well as chickpeas made good aquafaba.

It can be used as a thickener, binder, emulsifier, foaming agent and gelling agent to replace egg.

The aquafaba science website says there is a lot more science to understand how it works.

The nutritional analysis for aquafaba is on The Nutrition Program. Use 3 tablespoons of chickpea water to replace one egg.

Other egg replacers include

  • 1/2 mashed banana
  • flax egg – 1 tbs of flax seed powder + 3 tbs water
April 29, 2019

Food Science 20 questions Quiz 2

1 mark for each question. ½ mark each if there are 2 answers for 1 question. Total out of 20.

Cooking cakes

  1. When fat and sugar are creamed together what is formed? a) a creamery, b) a foam, c) a roux?
  2. What is the function of eggs in creamed cakes? a) add air, b) form structure, c) help fat melt?
  3. Which type of flour is used in creamed cakes? a) bread flour, b) sauce flour, c) self raising flour?
  4. What type of sugar is used in cake making because it has small crystals? a) brown sugar, b) caster sugar, c) granulated sugar.
  5. Name the protein in flour which forms the structure of bread and cakes.

Raising agents

  1. Name 2 raising agents used to make cakes rise.
  2. What raising agent is used to make choux pastry?
  3. What is the raising agent used to make a Swiss Roll rise?
  4. What ingredient is added to bread so that the dough ferments and rises?
  5. Which chemical ingredient is added to soda bread to make it rise?

Function of ingredients

  1. What gas is given off when baking powder is mixed with liquids?
  2. What is the property of fat in pastry?
  3. What happens if you handle pastry a lot? a) it gets greasy, b) the gluten develops, c) it gets tougher.
  4. When pastry bakes, the gluten in flour helps a) form the structure, b) make it soft, c) to add sugar.
  5. Which fat is not often used in pastry as it is made from pig fat? a) butter, b) lard, c) margarine?
  6. Which flour is used for shortcrust pastry? a) plain flour, b) self raising flour, c) bread flour?
  7. What happens if you add too much water to pastry?
  8. What changes take place when you marinate fish in lemon juice?
  9. What method of heat transfer is used when making toast?
  10. Which methods of heat transfer are used when boiling potatoes? a) convection, b) conduction, c) radiation?

Answers Food Science Quiz 2019

Taken from Food Science You Can Eat – available mid Sept 2023

Food Science You can Eat
April 29, 2019

Food Science 20 questions Quiz 1

Quiz 1 will help you revise for the Food Science part of Food Preparation and Nutrition GCSE

Use Food Science You Can Eat to help – available mid Sept 2023

1 mark for each question. ½ mark each if there are 2 answers for 1 question.

Total marks out of 20.

Answers on the link at the end of the quiz.

Caramel and Dextrin

  1. Which ingredient is used to make caramel: a) flour, b) eggs, c) sugar?
  2. What happens if you taste caramel when it has just been made?
  3. How can you test the temperature of sugar caramelisation?
  4. Why is caramel used in packets of gravy browning?
  5. Give three examples of how caramel is used in food products.
  6. Which ingredient changes to dextrin: a) sugar, b) milk, c) flour?
  7. Why does toast taste sweet?
  8. When amino acids are heated when food is roasted, what chemical reaction takes place?

Gelatinisation of starch

  1. Which of these is not a starch: a) cornflour, b) eggs, c) wheat flour?
  2. What happens when starch is heated with water?
  3. What happens to the starch in pasta when it cooks?
  4. What happens to potatoes when they cook and soften?

Enzymic browning

  1. Why is lemon juice used to coat fruit when making fruit salad?
  2. What method will not stop fruit and vegetables turning brown a) cooking for a short time, b) chilling, c) freezing?

Eggs

  1. When eggs begin to cook the protein is a) destroyed, b) denatured, c) deactivated?
  2. With more heat the egg protein a) condenses, b) sets, c) coagulates?
  3. When egg is cooked for too long, water seeps out. What is this process called?
  4. When egg is whisked and holds air, what is formed?
  5. What is the function of eggs when making mayonnaise?
  6. What happens if oil is added too quickly to mayonnaise?

Food Science Quiz 2019

Taken from Food Science You Can Eat

November 23, 2018

Using the Nutrition Program for NEA 2

My resource for Food Preparation Assessment Task NEA 2 will be available as download mid September.

This shows how the Nutrition Program cab be used for different sections of the Tasks.

If you are a Nutrition Program subscriber, email us for a free copy.

key words NEA 2

Key words used in NEA 2

The chart shows key phrases from exam boards for NEA 2 where The Nutrition Program can be used.

  • The exam boards have similar points to cover
  • Research to find dishes that fit the task –
  • Explain how the dishes meet nutritional needs –
  • Look at Traffic Lights,
  • Reference Intake RI, and if they fit with a meal.
  • Look at sensory properties – use The Nutrition Program to draw up a Star Profile.
  • Carry out nutritional analysis of dishes – produce a food label using Nutrition Program
  • Portion control – see our worksheet for the Nutrition Program
  • Analyse the nutrition – annotate the food label.
  • Carry out sensory analysis and add tasters, then write evaluation – all done through Nutrition Program.
  • Use sensory descriptors – the Nutrition Program has a Tasting Word Bank
  • Cost the dish – the Nutrition Program has costs of ingredients
  • Conclude and think of improvements.

There are Step by Step links to each section of NEA2

November 1, 2018

Diabetes – what foods to eat

Type 2 diabetes is a common condition that causes the level of sugar in the blood to become too high.

It’s often linked to being overweight or inactive, or having a family history of type 2 diabetes. This NHS website has good information.

A healthy diet and keeping active helps people with diabetes manage their blood sugar level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRXx-AsS3xI&t=1s

This is the diet advice from NHS website

There’s nothing people with type 2 diabetes cannot eat but they have to limit certain foods. They should:

  • eat a wide range of foods – including fruit, vegetables and some starchy foods like pasta
  • keep sugar, fat and salt to a minimum
  • eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day – do not skip meals

If people with diabetes eat foods that are too high in sugar, their blood sugar levels can rise to dangerously high levels. Carbohydrates are broken down into sugar, or glucose, and absorbed into the bloodstream and affect blood sugar levels.

Diabetes UK website has useful healthy living tips.

Weight management is very important and people need to manage portion sizes. Link to The Nutrition Program blog on Portion sizes.

It’s really important to get the portion size right otherwise you can eat too much food and get fat.

Foods to include complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, whole wheat, oats, fruit, vegetables, beans, and lentils. 

Foods to avoid include processed carbohydrates such as sugar, white pasta, white bread, white flour, and cakes, pastries.