Hokey Pokey Popcorn Crunch #6

At about 10am today the class went up to the multi-purpose room and then in our groups we helped to prepare the food and took photos for our own slideshows and blog posts.  We had to pop the popcorn first, and then we pulled out all the popcorn kernels that had not popped open and put the popcorn and nuts into a dish. We then made the hokey pokey and drizzled it over the popcorn and mixed it in. Then we had to wait for it to cook while we organised our slideshow, after it cooked we drizzled chocolate over and got to eat it. We also learnt about a few cooking terms and the science behind them including caramelization, and the maillard reaction. The hokey pokey caramel slice was really really delicious.

While doing all this cooking, we had to think about the science behind it and then learn why things happen, popcorn pops because of the following…

• The kernel was heated up and then popped open.
• The kernel splits because of the pressure the heated oil makes.
• It popped open because the heat caused too much pressure in the kernel and it had to go somewhere.
• The popcorn pops up into the air because when it pops out it acts like a muscle and then  the popcorn piece jumps up.

and hokey pokey is made by…

• The golden syrup and caster sugar are cooked together in a pot.
• Then they get very hot and the sugar starts to melt into the golden syrup, the 3 kinds of sugar molecules in them, begin to join, they are sucrose, fructose, and glucose.
• When they are joint together, you make them even hotter and then add baking soda.
• When you add baking soda, it breaks down and produces Carbon Dioxide, which releases into the mixture to form the bubbles in the honeycomb.

Holly, Morgan and Daniel