So we had the celeb guests making "Chocolate coated honeycomb bars" (Hows that for avoiding mentioning brand names?) and Stefan made extruded maize snacks (Cheesy puffs). I loved the bit where he used a tumble dryer to coat the (unflavoured) puffs with a mix of oil and cheese flavouring. Brought back happy memories of my early days at the Institute where food materials research was done using extrusion cookers. Stefan also looked at why bubbly chocolate can taste more chocolaty than a solid bar.
So the focus was on mechanical processing of a basic food-stock (wheat). An important point was that removing water made for a long shelf life as reducing the water activity (Aw) slows down spoilage due to bacterial growth.
The fourth episode explored different applications of freezing in food processing.
The celebrity guests made a three flavour/colour ice lolly and the Host (Stefan) made freeze dried coffee. We also saw how peas are rapidly frozen after harvesting and why (stopping sugar turning into starch and loosing sweetness as well as affecting shelf life).
Hopefully, this series is succeeding in making people think about the food that they buy in supermarkets and stores and the effort involved in producing it.
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