Food & science inspiration

[Vojta]

Hello, lovely people,

 

so I am at my 3rd year of my applied physics university studies. Thus I need to write my bachelor's thesis. Well I loved and hated what I study many times and escaped to confectionary art many times. And I want to connect these two fields! However I am without ideas of what such a topic for my thesis could be.

 

Feel free to brainstorm and write everything that comes to your mind when connecting food and science. Physics research, development or problem solving in culinary field.

 

I dont have much experience thus I dont know if there are some problems relating to chocolate fluidity, amorphous properties of cocoa butter, detection or control of something for example. Or if food 3D printing is still a topic. etc.

 

If you can share my 'problem' to people that could know about some topic I would be greatful. Or if you have contact information to some food labs I would be happy to collab with them (for free ofc). 

 

Btw: My field of study is theoretical and research focused. It's not an engineering field. So the topic should be focused this way. However dont limit your ideas please.

[teonzo]

You can study what happens when spraying cocoa butter for decorating molds:

- which are the conditions when the adiabatic expansion and the agitation (happening when the cocoa butter exits the spray gun) allow the cocoa butter to get tempered and so on;

- which are the best conditions (cocoa butter temperature, ai pressure in the gun, room temperature, mold temperature...) to get the best shine on bonbons, shine is dependant on surface rugosity, so it must depend on the particle size of cocoa butter that forms during spraying (the smaller the particles, the better shine).

Every chocolatier has his/her own favourite settings for spraying cocoa butter, but as far as I know there's no research available on this.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[Kerry Beal]

Sending you a PM with the email address of a PhD friend who went from physics to food science - you can brainstorm with her for some ideas.

 

 

[paulraphael]

You might be interested in Hervé This's books.