Appreciation

We, from the food myth buster would like to extend our sincere thank you to our lecturer, Dr. Wong Wey Lim for his kind guidance and patience in guiding us throughout this process. God bless =)

References

1. Nigel D. Purchon, 2000. Osmosis. Available from: http://www.purchon.com/biology/osmosis.htm. Accessed on 2 November 2009
2. R.A. Bowen, 2000. Osmosis. Available from: http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/cmb/cells/pmemb/osmosis.html. Accessed on 2November 2009.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, our myth does work and it isn't busted. =) However, our myth is only able to be applied onto a not so oversalted soup. It works but only to a smaller extent based on the osmosis process. The best cure to revive an oversalted soup is to add more water which will cause the soup to be more diluted and there is a need to add additional quantities of all the original ingredients.

This will definitely neutralize the salt and might be able to reduce the saltiness without altering so much of the flavor but the effect of this will be producing more soup than we originally requires. :X

However, life is about ups and downs and we should always look onto the brighter sides of every situation. The brighter side of this is that we will have MORE soup to be shared... =)

WHY WHy Why... =(

Ting: What is Osmosis?

Sue: It refers to the movement of water molecules from a region of low concentration of solutes (e.g. salt) to a region of high concentration of solutes through a semi-permeable membrane. (Nigel D. Purchon, 2000)

Ting: Can you please explain to me in detail what is Osmosis?

San: Different concentrations of solute molecules leads to different concentrations of free water molecules on either side of the membrane. On the side of the membrane with lower concentration of solute, more water molecules will strike the pores in the membrane for a given interval of time. More strikes means that there are more molecules passing through the pores, which results in net diffusion of water from the compartment with high concentration of free water to that with low concentration of free water.

Ting: I see. May I know what are the most important keys to remember about osmosis?

Sue: Sure. All you have to know is the size of the solute particles will not influence osmosis. Furthermore, equilibrium is reached when both sides of the membrane has an equal net flow of water. (R.A Bowen,2000)

Ting: How is osmosis related with our experiment?

San: ermm... The tendency of water flow from an area of low salt concentration to an area of high salt concentration across a semi permeable membrane??

According of what we have found from the references...

Ting, Sue, and San: " The potatoes having a lower salt concentration compared to the soup (added with high amount of salt) will have higher salt concentration....

SO, the water in the potatoes moves through the semi permeable membrane (the skin of potato) from the area of low salt concentration (the potato) to the area of high salt concentration (the soup). The water coming out will be able to dilute the soup.

As a result, this can reduce the saltiness of soup!!.. XD "

The Results~~

Table 1: Observations During the Boiling

As we can see from Table 1, the intensity of the colour of the soup were getting deeper. This was because due to the prolonged heating of the wolfberry in order to allow the potato strips to absorb the saltiness. The same goes for the vegetables as they became more wilted with prolonged boiling.

Volume of soup were found to be decreasing from the starting point of the pot or pan due to the moisture loss from evaporation.

Table 2: Results of Vote for Each Bowl of Soup

For the result, it was done based on preference and also voting. Therefore, most of them think that A128 was just right because they were added with just right amount of salt.

Whereas after A128 was added with 2 more tablespoons of salt (soup in bowl B369), most of them think that it was too salty and they tend to spit them out... hehehehe...

Then, potato strips were then added to absorb the saltiness and to restore the soup back to normal. Which is bowl C741. After trying them, the result was that it was less salty compared to the one before (B369). But minority of them said that it was still the same. Results can be referred to Table 1 which is at the top.

Flow of process/ experiment

Ingredients that you will need =)

Potatoes

Green leafy vegetables

Garlic

Wolfberry

Boiling water

Let's start now!! =D

1. Firstly, the ingredients were added into the soup.

2. Secondly the soup were then added with 1/2 tbsps of salt. (The soup was poured into bowl A128) Then, followed by addition of 2 more tbsps of salt. (B369)

3. Potato strips were then added into the oversalted soup. (C741)

4. The soup was allowed to boil for a while. After that, the potato strips will be removed from the soup.

5. The soups were poured into each bowl that have already been labelled as above.

6. Sensory Evaluation was done by inviting some of Susan's friends over to try on the soup. Then the results was done based on voting.

Methods & material

Hey people!!!
SOUP TIME =)

wanna try to prepare a healthy n delicious soup? It would also be part of our experiment process.. Here are the ingredients and method.. They're relatively simple =)

• Some green leafy vegetables.. (optional, either lettuce, brussels sprouts,spinach)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 packet of wolfberry
• 1.2L of water
• Salts

5 easy steps to follow....

1. Put water to boil in a saucepan.
2. Add in chopped garlics and wolfberry into the water.
3. Wait for it to boil.
4. Add in the vegetables.
5. Then the salt was added accordingly. (Control Soup [A128] only add 1/2 tbsp of salt; Oversalted Soup with Potato Strips [B369] only add 2 tbsp of salt; Oversalted Soup without Potato Strips [C741] add 3 tbsp of salt)
6. Let it boil for a while until you think it's done or alright. MAMAMEEYAHHHH>>>> Soup's ready =D.. Try it and say aHHhHHhHh

Till then.. Take care people =) =) =)

Objective(s)

1. To study the effectiveness of potatoes in reducing the level of saltiness in over salted soup.
2. To investigate whether any compound of potatoes is responsible in reducing the saltiness level of the over salted soup.
3. To determine which compound is responsible in reducing the saltiness level of the over salted soup.
4. To study the osmosis process between the potatoes and over salted soup.

The Myth~~

Well... a myth is something like ancient history tales such as Zeus or it could be some stories shared by a group that are part of the group cultural. As we all know, myth is often associated with lies and some of them are part or can be integrated into our daily lives.


OK.. my point here is that.... there are lots of stories or myths and some of them are related to our everyday basic needs.. Which is FOOD..

And thus.. our First Food Mythbuster which is contributed by Susan's mum... (thanks aunty~~) is about using the peeled potato to reduce the saltiness of the soup. It is said that sometimes we tend to overestimate the amount of salt and ended up adding too much of the salt into our soup. Usually or normally, the first thing that will came across our mind would be adding more water into the soup. But however, by adding more water it will disrupt or changes the portions of the original recipe and sometimes it means adding more of the other ingredients too in order to compliment changes that has been made.

Therefore, in order to prove that this myth is true, we will have to do some experiment...