jen's everyday blog

Whip it real good.

I decided to try to find out if it is possible to whip almond milk. I mainly decided this because I knew if I made a blog entry on it, it would wind Colin up (hi Colin! :). It turns out, though, that the chemistry behind whipping things is really fascinating and complicated. So complicated, in fact, that I don’t have time to write an entry that does it justice, and instead must simply record the following links for posterity:

Here’s an interesting article on why it isn’t possible to whip olive oil. But that didn’t seem to tell the whole story. Here’s a very in depth article on what whipped cream is. Here’s an article on hollondaise sauce, which explains how you can trick oil into being an emulsion and being sort of ‘whipped’, or at least creamy, by using eggs. Basically, it all comes down to the type of fat, and the chemical structure of that fat. That’s why it is possible to whip coconut cream. Coconut cream contains saturated fats and saturated fats, due to their non-kinky tails, get to form micelles. And micelles can form suspensions in water. And that’s the story in a nutshell ;).

posted at 17:40 on Mon, 26 Jun, 2006 | path: /living



Return to Jen's Blog

All material copyrighted by Jen Schellinck. All rights reserved.