Weee one thing I love about Food Technology lab is that we don't really deal with whatever chemicals or instruments to carry out an experiment. The experiments we do for this subject are seemingly interesting. I reckon humans prefer to deal with food substances to hazardous chemicals, and I believe many others think the same way too. Unless you are an authentic mad scientist. =P (Handling chemicals is not as fun as you think!..it could be freaking boring sometimes.)
The experiment (or should I call it an culinary activity or cooking lesson? =P) that we conducted today is called "Jam Making". The purpose of the lab itself certainly is not to teach us how to make jam. lol In fact, we are required to understand the principles behind the jam making process, such as the preservation method of jam, extraction of pectin, purpose of adding sugar and citric acid, use of refractometer, etc. The type of fruit that we used to make fruit jam for this lab is the apple. I don't like the jam of this flavor though. The smell of the apples especially when they got boiled and cooked is really unpleasant for my liking. Perhaps it is because of the browning (Maillard reaction) that took place when we peeled the apples. =X I would be more pleased if I could use other types of fruit, such as orange and grape. =P
Alright, a picture speaks a thousand words..so I shall let the pictures talk ya. (note that the order of photos below basically corresponds to the order of steps/procedures for our jam making process)
Materials/ingredients and utensils prepared by the lab-technicians
De-waxing the apples. (there were loads of wax OMFG!)
Peeled apples.
Peeled apples cut into slices.
Grinding the slices of apples into a muddy form (even and fine pieces)
using a "grinder" or "peeler" knife? Can't recall what's the knife called. =X
Sorry for my poor vocabulary hahaha.
Peels and cores. They are not useless at all!
We need to extract pectin from these "waste". =P
Simmering the peels and cores to extract their pectin.
See, the fruit pieces started to undergo browning. =(
That's why I said I don't like apples.
To my greatest delight, the browning did not really
affect the overall taste of the jam itself. =D
Nah, now only they have become the real "waste"
from which we extracted the pectin previously.
The pectin essence from the peels and cores.
Adding in the fruit pieces.
Boiling, boiling and boiling until the
fruit pieces become soft and tender.
Adding in the pectin powder which has been
pre-mixed with 30g of sugar.
Wah! You might have rubbed your eyes when you see this.
Yes, you didn't see anything wrong, we are to add this
whole packet of granulated sugar into the saucepan!
500g! Sooooo sweeeeeeet! But, I love it~ =P
Adding in the 500g of sugar.
This little device is called a refractometer.
It is used to measure the o Brix of the jam.
We have to measure the o Brix from time to time, until
it reaches around 66- 68o then boil down quickly.
You might need to refer
here if you have no idea what
o Brix is. XD
This is how the fruit jam looks like when
the desired o Brix is reached roughly.
Our masterpiece! =P
It tasted quite good, especially when served with bread! hehehe
Lengzai MrSee slicing for fruit pieces~
Xiong & Pika doing their works~
(well, I do have works also larr! xD and hor,
Pika you look fucking fat here hahaha!)
Lab-tech giving instructions.
CUTE Jesse~ :P
3 gu 6 por~ =P
That's all for the lab session. It was indeed a great and fun experience. Now I know how to make fruit jams. Arghhhhhh, it's still a LAB though. Get me??
The report still awaits us ohh no! Don't wanna think about it now, let's enjoy the CNY first. =P
Happy Chinese New Year everyone! =D
