NAC Students Know that Grainy Ice Cream Still Tastes Good

March 04, 2012

NAC News Archive

Dr Prakash and NAC students, making ice cream from scratch.

Grainy ice cream still tastes good, as the Nicholas Academic Centers students found out at the most recent Chapman Visiting Scholars Series. Chapman University professor, Dr. Prakash, spoke on the science of how we taste food.

Food gains taste through its chemical makeup and through our perception of food. As we approach our food, we evaluate a dish’s edibleness through all of our senses. Prakash explained how we perceive a potato chip as fresh if it crunches when we bite into it.

Prakash ended her engaging presentation through a detailed demonstration of how the chemical makeup of all of the components work together to make ice cream. By mixing cream, sugars, and emulsifiers, and then stirring the mixture as dry ice froze it, Prakash and the student volunteers created ice cream in just a few minutes. Because the NAC is not an industrial food, the mixture was not as evenly blended, which resulted in larger ice crystals and a grainy feeling when the students ate it.

The event was well attended and enjoyed by all who participated, and the students look forward to next month’s visiting scholar.