Makes Food Turn Brown When You Cook It

Makes Food Turn Brown When You Cook It

There are many changes that take place when food is exposed to heat, a process known more commonly as "cooking."

And it depends on the food. Proteins like meat and eggs become firm and opaque. Vegetables change color and soften. Fats liquefy. Starches swell and expand like little sponges.

Carbohydrates, the sugars found in starches and in fruits and vegetables, turn golden brown and form new flavors.

In either proteins or starches, the effect of pyrolosis requires high temperatures. In the case of ordinary sugar (or sucrose), caramelization begins at around 320 degrees F (although fructose, which is found in fruits, vegetables and honey) caramelizes at a much lower temperature, around 230F). With the Maillard reaction, browning starts at about 310 degrees.

Another effect of caramelization is that it forms new flavors, including flavors you might describe as buttery, or sweet, or nutty, or toasty. Each of these flavors results from the creation of flavor compounds (i.e. chemicals) as byproducts of the pyrolization process.

As it happens, these compounds can be isolated and then added into foods. When you see something called "natural flavors" in the ingredients list, that is often what they are.