Food Project Final Product Scientific Paper-Zac Nate

5/22/2019 Food Project Final Product Scientiﬁc Paper-Zac, Nate - Google Docs
Impacts of Sugar and Cinnamon

Content in Waffle Batter to Change
Perceptions of its Crispiness,
Sweetness, and Tastiness
Zac Larson, Nathan Foster
Animas High School Chemistry Department
Department of Food Production of The Foster House
Department of Food Production of The Larson House
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h3elQIChoKczh2G6CRSXzFT14VXBQY5iBPVCOAgzlkI/edit 1/9
Abstract:
This experiment was conducted for the purpose of making a waffle that was crisper, sweeter, and
tasted better by changing the cinnamon and sugar content. We did this to produce a waffle that didn't
require the need for sugary toppings. We made nine different waffle batters, which consisted of waffles
with double sugar, no sugar, double cinnamon, no cinnamon, the recommended amount of sugar, the
recommended amount of cinnamon and all of the combinations between these. The waffles were then
cooked and served in a blind taste test this was made more unbiased by us never saying what was
changed unless health concerns were mentioned. We believed that the waffle with the most sugar and
cinnamon would be the sweetest, crispest, and enjoyable. However, that was not the case. We found that
sugar content increased the overall enjoyment of the waffles, where cinnamon had a more stagnant effect
in which it was perceived as having the best taste at the extreme. The sweetness comes from the sugar
content translating into the more sugar you add the sweeter it is, but the amount of cinnamon added
dilutes the sugar making the waffles less sweet. Sugar is responsible for the crispness of each waffle,
while the cinnamon was found to have almost no effect. Some of the implications of this work include
using these principles learned from the waffles to improve most notably pancakes, as well as other
breakfast foods like French bread along with other pastries.
Key Words: Crispy, Sweet, Waffles, Cinnamon, Sugar, Blind taste Test, Best waffle.
Introductions:
The introduction provides an excellent

overview of the recipe and which
properties of the food characterize an
ideal product
Describes and explains the key concepts

of relevant chemistry and their
significance in the recipe
Establishes compelling motivation for

conducting the investigation
Describes the anticipated outcome of

the experiment
The objective of the experiment was to make a crisper, sweeter, and better waffle compared to
that of the control waffle so that they don't require sugary toppings by changing the amount of sugar and
cinnamon. We believe changing the sugar content would improve the waffles by making them sweeter
and crispier. Sugar in waffles serves to make it crisper by its caramelization process by changing the
components of the Maillard reaction that occurs during cooking. The Maillard reaction is the chemical
reaction of amino acids and reducing proteins this brown the outer surface of what you are cooking giving
a distinct buttery flavor.
The caramelization of sugars occurs when sugars reach there activation energy where they break
apart into a polymer called carmilians. Diacetyl is released which helps give this process its brown color
and taste. But the caramelization in our waffles is relatively low, but it still has a role as this process will
occur if there is too much sugar in the batter
To make the waffles taste even better we manipulated the amount of cinnamon, to find the best
possible combination. What we identified to be the best waffle was one that was easy to make and did not
need to be served with syrup because of the newfound sweetness along with it being crispy. We hopefully
improved the overall taste with the changes in cinnamon content. We believed that waffle recipe with the
most sugar and cinnamon would be the sweetest, crispest, and most enjoyable.
Methods:
i) Investigation design (identification of
independent and dependent variables and
investigation constants.)
ii) Design of the experimental procedure

(overview of the process for both
quantitative and qualitative measurements)
iii) Type of measurements performed and

equipment required
iv) Data recording and data analysis

Performed
v) Relevant safety/ethical concerns and

appropriate safety measures
vi) Rationales for the design of the

investigation and data analysis methods are
included
For this experiment, we started off by having a singular recipe from which we manipulated the
cinnamon, and sugar content. We wanted to know how the cinnamon and sugar content affected the
crispness, sweetness, and overall favorability of each condition. To test which one of these variables really
had the best way of affecting the overall happiness, sweetness, and crispness of the waffles, we ended up
creating nine batters to test this, 8 of which were variations of the control batter.
Equipment:
Wall power supply
4 mixing bowls
Motorized Hand mixer
Cup measuring device
Teaspoon measuring device
Tablespoon measuring device
Waffle Iron
Pan Spray
Computers
The normal/control recipe is:

● 1.13 Cups All Purpose Flour
● 0.5 Tablespoon Baking Powder
● 1.5 Tablespoons Sugar
● 0.25 Teaspoon Salt
● 0.5 Teaspoon Cinnamon
● 1 Large Eggs Separated
● 0.25 Cup Vegetable Oil
● 1 Cup Milk
● 0.5 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1. Preheat waffle iron, spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a medium bowl beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
4. In a separate medium bowl mix together the egg yolks, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla extract.
5. Add the egg yolk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Fold in the egg whites.
7. Pour into waffle iron (we saved this step until we served to participants)
As you can see, by changing only the sugar, and cinnamon contents we can leave the rest of the recipe
alone. Manly, how we mixed the batter. Nothing else will change in the process of creating the batter as
well as making the waffles.
Table 1: Waffle Identification table, in which the numbers represent the numbers that were used to identify
each waffle in the taste test.
How the samples are 1.5 Tablespoon of 3 Tablespoon of Sugar No Sugar
laid out Sugar
.5 Teaspoon of Control 2 3
Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of 4 7 9
Cinnamon
No Cinnamon 5 8 6
We gave each batter a number, then we conducted a blind taste test. We made each batch of
waffles just before serving the participants.
Only one person knew what each batter was to prevent the taste testers from having a bias
towards any of the waffles. After the participants had consumed the waffles they were instructed to fill out
a survey. The survey contained three questions. Question one was which of the waffles were the sweetest,
starting from the one which was the least sweet to ten the sweetest. Question two was which of the
waffles were the crispiest, starting from the one which was least crispy to ten the crispiest. Question three
was which of the waffles were the participants favorite on a scale starting from the one which was least
favorable to ten the most favorable waffle. Structure in the testing is imperative because if waffles sat out
for too long, the texture changes affecting the results of how crispy they came out to be. By making nine
different batters we can ensure that every combination of our variables will be tested.
Example of the questions asked
Relevant safety concerns were that this experiment included dairy products and gluten, which
some individuals cannot process. Other safety concerns include burning on the waffle iron, and
unexpected accidents with a motorized hand mixer and the possibility of choking are also possible.
Results:
Our results are shown in Figures 1, 2,3. Figure 1 is the relationship between the amount of sugar
and cinnamon and the qualitative perception of sweetness. Figure 2 is the relationship between changes
of sugar and cinnamon to the quantitative data of enjoyment. Figure 3 is the relationship of the cinnamon,
and sugar to the overall enjoyment. In all three figures, the x, and y-axis are the same, by the amounts of
sugar (x), and the amount of cinnamon (y). The data is from the overall averages from the surveys which
are all one to ten, one is always the least crispy or least sweet while ten is the most. This was then
organized into a 3D grid with a range of one through seven, eight and nine on the Z-axis (which goes
from 1 to 10, one is always the least) The variation in size was made to better fit the data represented.
The trends from figure 1 show that increased sugar amounts show more crispness figure 1, as well
as cinnamon, but only when the cinnamon was twice the normal amount. Interestingly though that having
twice as much sugar, with no cinnamon made the waffles the least crisp.
Figure 2 shows that adding more sugar indeed makes the waffles sweeter, but none quite as much
as having twice as sugar and no cinnamon. The cinnamon seems to actually make the waffles less sweet,
but not by much. Meanwhile, the amounts of cinnamon also affect sweetness. It appears that more
cinnamon makes the waffles less sweet, but only slightly.
In Figure 3 the amounts of cinnamon are in direct proportions into the overall happiness. The
more cinnamon has increased happiness, meanwhile, sugar has the same effect, except for when there was
twice as much cinnamon. There where it has twice as much cinnamon and no sugar was actually
perceived as the superior, despite what our predictions initially thought. Interestingly though, the
crispiness and enjoyable are closely linked. To where more crispiness is almost the same as happiness.
Figure 1: Crispiness of the waffles from one to seven, in proportion to the amounts of cinnamon and sugar
Figure 2: Sweetness of the waffles from 2 (least sweet) to 8 (most sweet) in proportion to sugar and
cinnamon
One reason we think these results are so irregular is because of some testers did not have the control and
second waffles, in the second waffle sugar was modified so this we believe could be solely or partially
responsible for the irregularity.
Figure 3: Participants enjoyment of the waffles, 1(hated) to 9(loved) in proportion to sugar and cinnamon
content.
Conclusion and Discussion:

The conclusion we have drawn from this is that happiness and sugar and cinnamon are directly
related to each other. We drew this conclusion from the graphs because of how waffles with more sugar or
cinnamon always do better.
Meanwhile, in figure 1 the crispness is once again directly proportional to sugar and cinnamon
content. Neither one has is directly better at making a crispy waffle. That is because the consistency and
thickness of the batter of leaving having too much of the other two substances show us that the viscosity
of the batter has to do with crispiness. This is because throughout the experiment indirect observations
show that thicker batters tended to make crispy waffles. Meanwhile, the other batters simply had less in
them making them crispier.
It was also found sweetness is directly correlated to the amount of sugar and by adding more
sugar has a general and reliable increase of sweetness along with crispiness, but most curiously, Figure 2
shows us that cinnamon has an unreliable effect on waffles sweetness being almost random in its effect on
waffles.
From figure 3 we learned was that prioritizing cinnamon instead of sugar will give better results
because sugar and cinnamon conflict with each other at higher amounts creating a less successful waffle
but by adding sugar across all tables the waffles were incrementally made better waffles, unlike cinnamon
where it was almost random in the results are taken from the survey because of this we do not believe
cinnamon directly improves the waffles like sugar does. Also most importantly, most of the happiness
comes mostly from the sugar, and not the cinnamon. The cinnamon content currently has a role to play,
but the amount of sugar is more paramount than that of the cinnamon. This is easily seen in Figure 3. Not
to mention that Figure 3, and Figure 2 are almost identical, sharing a lot of the same trends. It appears to
me that Crispiness and happiness are directly correlated, and many causations because of the amount of
sugar content both increased the crispiness by crystallizing adding a crunch into the waffles.
In total conclusion, adding more sugar will produce better waffles while cinnamon can make
waffles better to but is far less reliable because of the data collected from the survey and crispiness can be
improved adding sugar. Participants responded more positively to waffles with more sugar or and
sometimes cinnamon. We also learned that how long it takes to serve can greatly impact the crispiness and
visual presentation of the waffles when served.

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5/22/2019 Food Project Final Product Scientiﬁc Paper-Zac, Nate - Google Docs

Impacts of Sugar and Cinnamon

The introduction provides an excellent

Describes and explains the key concepts

Establishes compelling motivation for

Describes the anticipated outcome of

ii) Design of the experimental procedure

iii) Type of measurements performed and

iv) Data recording and data analysis

v) Relevant safety/ethical concerns and

vi) Rationales for the design of the

The normal/control recipe is:

Conclusion and Discussion:

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