Chemistry Life Hacks: Food Edition

Reactions Science Videos | June 06, 2017

Reactions is back with another round of chemistry life hacks. Our latest episode brings chemistry to the kitchen, and features science-backed tips to cook rice with fewer calories, get extra juicy chicken (when you don't have time to marinate) and keep sliced fruit from browning too quickly. Watch the video and find out how to use chemistry to give your food a flavor boost.

Sources:
Low-cal rice:
New low-calorie rice could help cut rising obesity rates
Scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that dramatically cuts the calories
Effect of cooling of cooked white rice on resistant starch content and glycemic response

Fruit for later:
Hack - The Best Way to Prevent Apples and Pears From Browning
Browning - Enzymatic Browning, Polyphenol Oxidase Activity, and Polyphenols in Four Apple Cultivars: Dynamics during Fruit Development
Ingredients used in Home Food Preservation
Browning inhibition mechanisms by cysteine, ascorbic acid and citric acid, and identifying PPO-catechol-cysteine reaction products

Timely tenderizer:
Tenderizer hack - Scientific Adventures with Food
Meats and Proteins - Cooking-Induced Protein Modifications in Meat
There's one ingredient you should add to your marinating process — and you probably already own it
The relationship between water-holding capacity and cooked meat tenderness in some beef muscles as influenced by acidic conditions below the ultimate pH.