In the past few weeks we’ve been looking at functional properties of different foods. We have been cooking and doing some experiments to test these properties. So far we have carried out an experiment on sugar  caramelisation and today we have been looking at why some fats are not suitable for shortening.

We began by making four batches of shortbread using different fats; butter, sunflower oil, stork margarine and crisp n dry and a dairy free sunflower spread. The quantities of ingredients were the same for each batch, they were shaped the same and baked at the same temperature and  to keep the experiment fair.

Appearance – The only batch to look different before going into the oven was the Sunflower oil. It poured like a thick paste into the tin, the other batches could be shaped into a rectangle. The dairy free spread batch was the most yellow more yellow than the crisp n dry and stork. The dairy free batch stayed the most yellow after cooking.

Texture – The Sunflower oil mixture didn’t bake like the other batches, it dried out when it cooled but very oily and crumbly.

Taste – The shortbread made with butter tasted the best, followed by crisp n dry and stork. The dairy free spread shortbread was dense and tasted salty and the Sunflower oil batch was not good. It was very thin, crumbly and strong tasting.

We had a visit from some eager testers and it was interesting to discuss our findings with other teachers and pupils.