Seems like most kids like to experiment with ingredients and chemicals and see what happens!
Funny thing is, cooking is like conducting an experiment in many ways! When you put different food ingredients together you create a chemical reaction with the food and Voila…… something happens to change the appearance or texture of the food . You end up with either a tasty treat or a exciting experience to learn from.
We did this recently in some of our cooking classes this summer and plan to do more in the coming months.
One of the best ways to get to know what your ingredients is to look at them and play with them and see what they do! Foods all have chemical reactions when heated, cooled, mixed or kneaded. What you put into your dough and how long you mix it contribute to the texture and density of the finished product.
Experiments with leavening ingredient can be lots of fun and teach kids how air pockets are created in our foods and make things rise. In one of our lessons, we learned how sodium Bicarbonate ( baking soda) , baking powder and yeast interact with certain ingredients to release Carbon Dioxide bubbles and make our cakes, cookies and breads rise. Then we has the pleasure to put it to work in one of our recipes!
Here is a easy fun experiment to do at home to see CO2 at work!
Baking Soda Bomb
Ingredients:
- paper towel
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
- Plastic zip lock bag or plastic water bottle with cap
Make sure that you do this experiment outside as it gets messy and your parents may not appreciate an explosion in the house!
Packet: Take a paper towel and place 2 tablespoons of baking soda in the middle of the towel. Take the sides of the towel and fold them in to the center and continue to fold the paper into a small square packet. Set aside.
Take a sandwich size zip lock bag (make sure there are no holes in it) pour 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/4 cup of water into the bag and zip close. Get your packet ready and go outside with the baggie. Carefully open the bag enough to put in the packet and and quickly zip closed. Shake a couple of seconds and drop on the ground and watch.
You will see the CO2 in action creating lots of fizzy bubbles and as the air expands in the bag it will get bigger and bigger and finally……….if you have done your job right …….Boom it will explode. You can also try this with a small plastic bottle and screw on the top shake it and throw into the air !