More about culinary ingredients: Water

Water structure? Pure water is made of water molecules which are constantly moving around when water is liquid. Each of these water molecules is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, organised in a V shape as shown below.

Although this molecule is neutral, and is not charged overall, its electrical charge is actually evenly distributed throughout its structure the oxygen (O) atom carries a weak negative charge, whereas each hydrogen (H) carries a weak positive charge. This makes the water molecules attract one and other. In water, which contains many of these molecules, the negative oxygen atom on some water molecules will be attracted to the positive hydrogen atoms on other water molecules (in a similar way to the north and south poles of magnets) and this attraction is called a hydrogen bond. Water properties When water is heated, the molecules get more energy and speed, so the water molecules will escape from the liquid (this is water vapour). At 100 C, under atmospheric pressure, the energy is such as water is no longer a liquid and it becomes a gas. In contrast, when water is cooled, the water molecules will have less and less energy to move around, so bonds between one another are more important that kinetic energy. The water molecules will be no longer free to move, so the water will become solid. This is ice. When water is liquid, water molecules always distribute so that their energy is equal in all compartments that can communicate. In particular, when a drop of colored syrup is put in a glass of water, molecular motions will disperse the syrup molecules in water, so that finally the water concentration is the same in all the glass. This diffusion phenomenon is important in gherkins production: when the plant samples are put first into salt, their water molecules move so that they go out of the plant tissue, and dissolve salt. This process is called osmosis. For example, if a strong coffee is added to a glass of water, the large number of water molecules in the water will redistribute themselves evenly in the coffee, and the resulting solution will be an evenly distributed mixture of coffee and water.or a much weaker coffee! Solubility in water Molecules are often classified by how they interact with water. Molecules that like to interact with water are called hydrophilic, or water-loving. These molecules like to interact with water because, like water, they are charged, so are attracted to the water molecules and can form links with them. This is what occurs when a substance dissolves. For example, when salt is added to water, it will dissolve. Salt is made of Na+ ions and Cl- ions held together, and in the presence of water, these ions will separate and be attracted to and form bonds with the water molecules. Because the salt has been split into individual Na+ and Cl- ions, it is no longer visible to the naked eye because the separated ions are too small. However, if the mixture is heated to evaporate all the water, only the Na+ and Clions will be left, which will then be free to rejoin with each other to form the original salt. The boiling point of water can be changed if substances added to it, depending on the relative boiling point of the added substances. For example, water will boil at a slightly higher temperature if salt is present because salt has a much higher boiling point than water. The more salt contained in the water, III/IX - 1 (of 2)

the higher the boiling point of the solution. However, if alcohol, which has a boiling point lower than that of pure water, is added to water, it will decrease the boiling point of the final mixture. The freezing point of water is also changed by adding substances to it, however all substances added to water will act to decrease its freezing point. This is because any other substance present will act to get in the way of the water molecules as they try to make bonds with each other to form ice, so temperatures lower than freezing are required to freeze the water. This explains why salt is often added to ice on the roads to encourage it to melt it causes the ice will melt at a lower temperature. Non-solubility in water Many molecules however do not interact with water. They are called hydrophobic, or water-hating. These molecules are neutral, and do not interact with water because they are not attracted to the water molecules, so they will not preferentially mix. For example, oil does not mix with water. This can easily be seen if oil is added to water, the oil (which is less dense) will float to the top and not mix with the water. The hydrophobic oil molecules will stick together with special bonds (called hydrophobic interactions), and the hydrophilic water molecules will stick together due to the hydrogen bonds. If the mixture is vigorously shaken, the force of shaking will break the two liquids into smaller droplets, and the tiny droplets of oil will temporarily disperse in the water. However, as soon as this force is stopped, the oil droplets are free to move around and combine, and as the droplets become bigger again the two layers separate out. In order for a mixture of oil and water to stay stably dispersed, a special sort of molecule needs to be added. These molecules are called surfactant molecules. They possess a hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail, or in simpler terms they have one end of their molecule that is soluble in water, and one end that is soluble in oil. The principal is that these molecules surround the tiny oil droplets by making contact with their hydrophobic parts, leaving their hydrophilic parts to contact the water part and keep the fat droplets very dispersed. Many foods contain such tensioactive molecules which are commonly used to stabilise oil/water mixtures. Role in food Water is the most abundant molecule in nature. Most foods contain primarily water (eg. vegetables contain very high amounts of water, as do meat and fish, and diary products like milk and eggs). Many of these substances therefore lose mass if they are cooked at high temperatures, because the water contained will evaporate, making the cooked mass less than the raw mass. In food, water is often perceived as tenderness. Hard cheese contains much less water than soft cheese, and is therefore less tender. A rare steak (where little liquid has been evaporated during the short cooking time) is much more tender than a well-done steak (where water evaporation is much more significant).

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