MadSci Network: Agricultural Sciences |
Hi, Schafer. There are instruments out there that are used to measure crunchiness, chewiness, softness, crispness and other textures in foods. Unfortunately, unless you have a food science lab near you (business or university) that would be willing to help you out with your measuring, such an instrument is not an option for you. So, the best alternative is to make a measuring device of your own that will enable you to compare the crunchiness of your cereal samples. The easiest way to do this would be by using small weights. One suggestion would be to take a small, light-weight, plastic cup (like those often used for mesuring medicines) and some dried beans. Decide how long you are going to keep your cereals in milk. To allow yourself time to test each one, don't add the milk to the different cereals all at the same time. Leave three or four minutes between each. Then, if you are soaking the cereal for, say, 10 minutes, you will be able to do your determinations and move on to the next cereal at its 10 minute mark. Gently place the first piece of cereal on a hard surface after it has been in milk for the required time. Sit the plastic cup on top of the cereal; it probably won't sit straight but try to center the cup over the cereal as best you can. Then start adding beans to the cup, one by one. Note how many beans it takes to flatten the cereal. Do this for each piece of cereal. The cereal that stays the crunchiest will be the one that requires the greatest number of beans to flatten it. It would be very nice if every scientist could afford to buy every instrument to do every test. But sometimes we have to figure out other ways to tell us the things we want to know. Have fun, Schafer!
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