Activity 1: other Reasons? Why do cooks add salt (sodium chloride) when cooking vegetables for example green beans?
There are many reasons that cooks add salt to vegetables including keeping the beans green, raising the boiling point of water as to beans cook faster, preventing the beans from becoming soggy, and also to improve the flavor. We also came up with reasons such as adding salt makes the food appear more appetizing. Also, in our American culture our cooking simply has a lot of salt in it, so adding salt to food is really just what we are used to.
Activity 2: Is it possible to detect which beans have been cooking in salted water and which have not?
In order to determine the answer to this question, we cooked one pot of green beans in unsalted water and pot of green beans in water with regular Morton’s salt. Here are the results:
How many times should you try the taste test? 3 times.
How many testers should you use? 3 testers.
How often does the tester get it right? All three testers got it right every time.
Do all the testers get the same results? All three testers got the same results.
What other factors will we keep the same to make the test fair? We used the same amount of water in each pot. We also used the same amount of beans in each pot. However, some extraneous factors did come into play. There was different cookware used and also a different burner. Also, not all beans are exactly the same and the results could be influenced by what each taste tester has eaten prior in the day.
Results: All of the taste testers were able to tell the difference between salted and unsalted green beans. The differences were actually quite drastic. The saltier ones were also slightly tougher in texture than were the unsalted ones. There was not visible difference in color of the vegetables.
Does the length of cooking time affect the results? Yes. It affects the texture of the green beans. If we were to let the beans cook longer, they would be softer in texture. Also, we suspect that if we were to let the beans cook longer in the salty water the beans would probably taste saltier than if they were in there for a shorter period of time. This is because they would have a longer time to absorb the salt because of longer duration in the water.
We can conclude from this experiment that one CAN detect which beans have been cooked in salt water and which ones have not.
Activity 3: Does taste differ in beans cooked with one type of salt or the other?
For this part of the experiment we took two different salt types to add to the water. We cooked one pot of green beans in water with Coarse All Natural Sea Salt and one with Morton’s Lite Salt. Here are the results:
Green beans in water with Coarse All Natural Sea Salt
Amount of salt: ½ Tbsp.
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Amount of water: 200 ml
Observations: Upon tasting these green beans were very salty. There was a softer texture than that of the Lite Morton’s salt green beans. The appearance between the two bean types was the same.
Green beans in water with Morton’s Lite Salt
Amount of salt: ½ Tbsp.
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Amount of water: 200 ml
Observations: These green beans were not as salty as the others. These beans were tougher and tasted lightly salted. They were crunchier in texture but had the same appearance.
We can conclude that the taste of beans DOES differ depending on which salt is used in cooking.
Activity 4: Should beans be cooked with the lid on or off?
For this activity, we cooked two pots of green beans, one with the lid on and one with it off. We then had a tester that had not seen how the beans were prepared, comment on the appearance of the beans. All the beans were cooked in 200 ml of water on a hi burner for 15 minutes. Here are the results:
Both testers guessed which beans were which right away. The green beans cooked with the lid on were more yellow. They looked a little more “cooked” and were beginning to split open. These beans were a little wider and fatter and almost looked over-done. The beans that were cooked without the lid on were a darker green color. They were not split over and were thinner and formed in appearance.
In conclusion, it appears that if one cooks beans with the lid on it will cook faster. So, when cooking beans if one wants to cook beans in a quick amount of time the lid should be kept on. However, if these beans are left in the pot for too long they can quickly become over cooked and lose their appearance and texture.
Activity 5: The effect of salt and of baking soda on the color of vegetables
This part of the experiment was to determine the effect of salt + baking soda and salt + vinegar on the color of vegetables. Here are the results:
Pot 1: 200 ml of water; 25 ml of vinegar; ½ Tbsp. of Morton’s Extra Coarse Sea Salt; cooked for 15 minutes
Pot 2: 200 ml of water; ½ Tbsp. of Morton’s Extra Coarse Sea Salt; ½ Tbsp. of Baking soda; cooked for 15 minutes
Pot 3: a control pot where the green beans were simply cooked in the salt water only.
Results: The color of the beans in the vinegar pot looked very brown. They were a dully brownish-pea color. They looked like canned vegetables that were more processed than fresh green beans. They did not look very appetizing at all. The green beans cooked in the baking soda pot were a bright green color. They were very fresh looking and were almost a blue-green color. When compared to the control pot, the green beans in the baking soda were a brighter green. The control green beans were a darker green, not as bluish and vibrant in color.
In conclusion, we can say that cooking green beans in vinegar strips away a lot of its vibrant, green color. However, baking soda seems to enhance the color of these vegetables and makes them more bright and appealing to the eye.
Activity 6: By how much does salt increase the boiling point of water?
My group did not have the opportunity to carry out this activity, however the results were retrieved from another group:
Amount of salt salt water temperature
0g 102 degrees C
1.5g 102.5 degrees C
3.0g 103.0 degrees C
4.5g 103.5 degrees C
6.0g 104.0 degrees C
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