Kitchen Science: everything you

eat is made of chemicals

Earnest websites, advertisements and well-meaning popular articles routinely

warn us about nasty “chemicals” lurking in our homes and kitchens. Many tout
the benefits of switching to a “chemical-free lifestyle”.
The problem is: the word “chemical” is entirely misused in these
contexts. Everything is a chemical – common table salt (sodium chloride), for
instance, and even water (dihydrogen oxide).
The chemicals in our diet are often put into four broad categories: carbohydrates,
proteins, fats and lipids, and everything else. This final group has no defining
characteristics but includes vitamins, minerals, pharmaceuticals and the hundreds
of trace chemicals each of us consumes every day.
Of course, there are toxic and harmful chemicals, but just as many are completely
fine for human consumption. So here’s a handy guide to the chemicals in your
kitchen and what they mean for your health.
Solution, in chemistry, a homogenous mixture of two or more substances in
relative amounts that can be varied continuously up to what is called the limit of
solubility. The term solution is commonly applied to the liquid state of matter, but
solutions of gases and solids are possible. Air, for example, is a solution consisting
chiefly of oxygen and nitrogen with trace amounts of several other gases, and
brass is a solution composed of copper and zinc.

In solid solutions, solute and solvent are in the solid-state. For example ceramics,
and polymer blends. In liquid solutions, solid, gas or liquid is mixed in a liquid
state. Gaseous solutions are usually homogenous mixtures of gases like air.
Depending upon a number of solutions and solute, it can be classified into dilute
and concentrated solutions.
 Crystallization is defined as a process by which a chemical is converted from a
liquid solution into a solid crystalline state. The widespread use of crystallization
within industry is in part due to the fact that crystallization acts as both a
separation and purification step; almost all chemical processes utilize at least one
crystallization step (either as key separation mechanism or final product
engineering).
The crystalline structure of foods is important to product quality, texture, and
stability. It is this crystalline structure and other structural elements that
determine product appearance, mechanical properties during handling,
mouthfeel during consumption, and shelf stability. To control crystallization, it is
necessary to have an understanding of the phase behavior of the system, some
knowledge of nucleation and growth kinetics, and the effects of both formulation
and processing conditions on this kinetics. In foods, two circumstances for
controlling the formation of crystals can be distinguished: those where the
crystals provide an element of structure in the product and those where
crystallization is a separation process. There are many factors that influence
crystallization in food products. In many products, the goal of crystallization is to
generate a certain texture or appearance that makes the product acceptable.
Thus, nucleating many crystals that remain small within the product itself is often
the goal. There must be many crystals with small mean size and narrow
distribution. The crystals also must have the proper shape and/or polymorph to
enhance stability of the product during storage and distribution. However, in
other types of products, crystallization is undesired even though the system is
supersaturated. In these cases, techniques are used to prevent crystallization
from occurring during storage, because this leads to unacceptable product
quality.
Crystallization is an example of a separation process in which mass is transferred
from a liquid solution, whose composition is generally mixed, to a pure solid
crystal. Soluble components are removed from solution by adjusting the
conditions so that the solution becomes supersaturated and excess solute
crystallizes out in a pure form. This is generally accomplished by lowering the
temperature, or by concentration of the solution, in each case to form a
supersaturated solution from which crystallization can occur. The equilibrium is
established between the crystals and the surrounding solution, the mother liquor.
The manufacture of sucrose, from sugar cane or sugar beet, is an important
example of crystallization in food technology. Crystallization is also used in the
manufacture of other sugars, such as glucose and lactose, in the manufacture of
food additives, such as salt, and in the processing of foodstuffs, such as ice cream.
In the manufacture of sucrose from cane, water is added and the sugar is pressed
out from the residual cane as a solution. This solution is purified and then
concentrated to allow the sucrose to crystallize out from the solution.