The Wonderful Combo of Ice Cream and French Fries
- Keena Yin
- Jun 30, 2017
- 2 min read
Imagine yourself walking down a sunny road on a 90 degree day. Suddenly, you spot a McDonalds ( I know, not the healthiest place to be, but perfect for what we are about to talk about ). You find yourself walking in, and buying two things from the dollar menu: A large box of greasy fries, and a cold vanilla sundae. While you are sitting down and about to take a lick of your ice cream, a weird voice settles down in your head and tells you to, "dip the fries into the ice cream, you wont regret it". Following the voices instructions, you slowly place the dipped fry into your mouth, and flavors you've never experienced before explode inside your mouth cavity. Why is my tongue tingling, You ask yourself. Well, here is a thorough chemical explanation of what happened in your mouth.
Take a look at the diagram on the left of the screen. This is the chemical formula for cream, a key ingredient in any ice cream.
Now, take a look at the image to the left. This is the chemical formula for a potato, which is basically the only ingredient in a french fry. Do you spot the "HO" on the left side of the potato diagram? Now, take another look back at the heavy cream formula. There is clearly a "OH" on the right side of the diagram. These two groups of letters are both hydroxyl groups. Hydroxyl groups are highly reactive and are soluble in water. Due to this, dehydration synthesis is possible, so the H from one hydroxyl group fuses with an oxygen in the other group while an H2O is lost. This is a simplified form of dehydration synthesis, and is part of the reaction that occurs when you eat a fry. When two things fuse together, they release heat and energy, two things that make your tongue feel tingly and leave your body wanting more!
Yay! now you understand the chemical bonds and reactions formed when you consume both heavy cream and french fries. Of course, taste has a ton to do with why french fries and ice cream tastes so good, but chemical reactions have a major role too!
Now, here are some addicting photos of fries and ice cream. Sit back, enjoy, and scroll!!
Hopefully you have enjoyed this week's installment of "cooking with chemistry". If you have, please subscribe and tune in next week for another fun lesson!
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