How do I make cream into butter for a science experiment without using dairy?
My son's Kindergarten class is studying States of Matter, and I am in charge of the cooking curriculum that I would prefer ties into this subject. I have numerous ideas for projects, but this one in particular that I grew up doing is really stumping me. I remember shaking cream in a jar for a while, and we would pass it around to all of our friends, and in the end we had butter. Unfortunately, we have allergies to gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, and peanuts in our class, so I'd really love a similar experiment we could do that's essentially allergy-free! This project would be taking a liquid into a solid. Thanks!
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8 Comments
Anne-Michelle - what did you eventually do?
If the kids didn't have to eat the outcome, you could do four demos of liquid to solid, one each by chill, churning, chemical, heat (for water, cream, gelatin, eggs) to show that not all liquids react the same.
This is the only way I'll make ice cream with kids!
But anyway, my mind keeps going towards emulsions. You could make a vinaigrette out of mustard / oil / vinegar and show how that can thicken and bind from the lecithin in mustard? ("Oooh, salad..." say all the kids) Not exactly liquid to solid or vice versa, but maybe there's some other application/tie-in there.