FPH-31306 Advanced Molecular Gastronomy

Course

Credits 6.00

Teaching methodContact hours
Lecture28
Tutorial13
Practical38
Excursion (one day)6
Course coordinator(s)dr. E Scholten
Lecturer(s)dr. JP Vincken
dr. E Scholten
P. Klosse
Examiner(s)dr. JP Vincken
dr. E Scholten

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

FPH-20806 Molecular Gastronomy or FCH-30306 Food Ingredient Functionality.

Contents:

Note: This course has a maximum number of participants. The deadline for registration is one week earlier than usual.
See Academic Year.(http://www.wur.nl/en/Education-Programmes/Current-Students/Agenda-Calendar-Academic-Year.htm) -> Registration for Courses.

The course contains both physical and chemical aspects of food products. For the physical part the focus is on phenomena that play a role in the production of products like ice cream, chocolate and bakery products. Examples of these phenomena include absorption, water migration, phase transition, fat and ice crystallization, rheology of dispersions and flavour release. These phenomena have an effect on the shelf-life of products and textural changes, which are important both in industry and restaurant. These phenomena are also related to techniques that are used in 'modern restaurants'. Analytical techniques to quantify properties of ingredients and products will also be treated. For the chemical part, the focus is on flavour aspects (mainly the taste modalities bitter, sweet, umami, and astringent) and the effect of specific ingredients on structural changes (i.e. in ice-making and baking). The analytical methods in the practical will focus on describing the quality and sensory aspects of products, mainly the volatiles and non-volatiles in wine. A digital wine module is used to prepare the students for flavour analysis of wine. To combine the different aspects, a workshop on flavour pairing will be given, in which we will present a model to classify foods based on both chemical aspects (sweet, bitter, etc) and physical aspects (structure of food).

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- identify the physical phenomena and understand the mechanisms of action that play a role in products as ice-cream, chocolate and bakery products;
- understand the mechanisms behind important taste modalities (bitter, sweet, umami, astringent);
- use practical experiments to associate physical phenomena to effects on texture and chemical processes to flavour;
- be able to use analytical methods to investigate products, such as ice cream and wine with different composition;
- develop a new creative recipe for ice cream by combining different ingredients;
- analyse the composition of wines and new recipes and relate this to their structural properties and flavour characteristics observed.

Activities:

- following lectures;
- workshop 'flavor cube';
- laboratory classes.

Examination:

The final grade is based on the written exam (65%) and on the reporting of the practical activities (35%).
To pass the course a minimum grade of 5.5 should be obtained, and at least a 5.0 for both subparts.

Literature:

Lecture notes.

ProgrammePhaseSpecializationPeriod
Compulsory for: MFTFood TechnologyMScI: Gastronomy3WD
Restricted Optional for: MFTFood TechnologyMScD: Ingredient Functionality3WD