Vegetables and Salts
Why do cooks ass salt when cooking vegetables, for example green beans?
Activity 1: Other Reasons?
The reasons that were giving in class was because:
· It keeps the beans green
· It raises the boiling point of the water so the beans cook faster
· It prevents the beans going soggy
· It improves flavor
The other reasons that we thought of were:
· It controls of the flavor.
· It makes the food last longer.
Activity 2: Is it possible to detect which beans have been cooked in salted water and which have not?
For this activity we boiled two pans of beans, one with no salt and the other with coarse sea salt. We boiled 5 beans cut up into about 1 cm pieces in each pan. We let the water come to a boil and then put the beans in. We let the beans boil for about 7 minutes. We had 2 people be the testers, and they did not know which pan contained the salt. We had then each do 2 tests. For the test, we gave each of them three pieces of beans, 2 of which were from the same pot and the one from the other pot. For test 1, they each guessed wrong and on test 2, they both guessed right. For the first test, they both could taste that there was a difference between the two beans, but they guessed wrong.
In order to keep it a fair test we needed to keep many of the factors the same. We added the same amount of water to each pan. We had the same number of beans and cut them in 1 cm pieces. We had each of the hotplates to the same temperature. We then boiled the beans for the same amount of time. We boiled them for 7 minutes. I do think that the length of cooking time does make a difference. You want to cook the beans long enough so that they are tender and the beans cook long enough in the salt water.
Activity 3: Does taste differ in beans cooked with one type of salt or the other?
For this test we cooked two pans of beans, each with a different type of salt. One pan had coarse sea salt and the other had lite salt. We used the same amount of water and the same temperature. We used the same amount of salt in each pan and cooked the beans for the same amount of time. We again had 2 testers that performed tests each. For each test, we gave them 3 beans each, two of the same beans on each plate. Each of the testers guessed right on each of their tests. They both could tell the difference between the two types of beans.
Activity 4: Should beans be cooked with the lid on or off?
For this test, we had one pan with the lid on and the other with the lid on. We used the same amount of water, the same temperature, the same amount of beans, and used no salt in both pans. For the pan with the lit off, the water continued to boil slowly while the beans were in the pan. For the pan with the lid, the water boiled faster and harder. The water was also greener after the beans cooked, and the beans were a lighter color.
We had 2 testers look at the beans to see if they could tell which beans were cooked with the lid off. We put a couple of each, and they just needed to point to the pile they believed were cooked with the lid on. They both guessed right. They said that the lighter color beans were cooked with the lid on.
Activity 5: The effect of salt and of baking soda and vinegar on the color of vegetables
For this test we tested to see if baking soda or vinegar affected the color of the beans when cooked. We used 3 grams of salt in each of the pans, the same amount of water, the same temperature, and the same amount of beans. In one pan we used 3 grams of baking soda in one of the pans and 3 grams of vinegar in the other pan.
The baking soda caused the water to become a milky color and the beans were a brighter green color when they were done. The vinegar caused the beans to turn a brown color around the edges.
Activity 6: By how much does salt increase the boiling point of water?
We did not perform this activity, but got our data from another group
| Salt water (g) | Temperature (°C) |
| 0 | 102 |
| 1.5 | 102.5 |
| 3.0 | 103 |
| 4.5 | 103.5 |
| 6.0 | 104 |
This is showing that the more salt that you add to the water will increase the boiling point of the water.
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