Meringue is filled with thousands of tiny air bubbles.
Light, fluffy and oh-so-sweet, meringues are a delicious treat. When beaten, egg whites turn into an amazing foam that can be baked to perfection. But there’s also a way to make meringues without using eggs!
Safety: Use clean hands and clean equipment when handling food. This activity uses an oven and beaters. Ask an adult to help.
Ingredients
Equipment
Meringues are light, crunchy and very sweet. But what makes a meringue so unique?
A meringue contains a lot of sugar, which makes up most of its weight. But a meringue isn’t just a solid block of sugar. It is filled with thousands and thousands of tiny air bubbles. When you look at the space the meringue takes up, the main ingredient is actually air!
By itself, sugary water doesn’t make good bubbles. A meringue needs other chemicals to stop the bubbles from popping while it’s being beaten. Typically, meringue has egg white to help create a bubbly foam: but in this activity, it’s chickpea liquid.
Anne Rieder, a scientist from the Norwegian research institute Nofima, ran tests to find out more about how chickpea liquid helps to make bubbles. Anne found lots of proteins and long carbohydrates in the liquid – both of which could stabilise the bubbles in these tasty treats.
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