Food is full of chemistry. Ingredients react with each other, forming new structures, flavors, and colors. The color of a tomato, the flavor of vanilla extract, and the structure of bread, all involve chemistry. This course will further explore the chemistry of food.
Why this course?
Food chemistry is one of the foundational pillars of food science. Understanding food chemistry opens up a world of knowledge you can tap into.
Why does a high-sugar bread brown faster than bread without sugar? Why does broccoli change color when you cook it? Why do peeled apples turn brown? This course will help you understand what’s going on!
The basics of food chemistry
This course discusses the fundamentals of food chemistry. You’ll get familiar with basic terminology and methodologies. We’ll start with the smallest building blocks (atoms) and how they form molecules. From there, we’ll discuss the building blocks of most of our food: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. We’ll end with a quick dip into the world of chemical reactions – where chemistry really starts getting exciting!
This course is for you if:
- You’re a chef or home cook who doesn’t just want to follow a recipe, but really understand what is going on.
- You have taken basic chemistry courses in the past, and want to learn how it relates to food.
- You are taking chemistry classes at the moment but have trouble seeing how you can apply it. This course will give you ample examples of food chemistry in action!
This course is probably not for you if:
- You have recently taken advanced chemistry classes; this course covers the basics which you probably know already.
- You just want to learn what you need for school exams.
- You learn best by watching videos. This course is mostly text and photo-based.
