A kid-friendly scientific taste test with Oreos

Sensory science - a scientific method to analyze and interpret a response through a person's sense of touch, taste, sight, smell or sound - is a really interesting field of study. A lot goes in to taste testing new food products before they hit the market. I am not sure I fully understood this process until my kids attended a 4-H workshop with Dr. Beth Calder from UMaine's Food Science program to learn about sensory science. They were looking forward to the class because it involved Oreos.

The object of the "blind" sensory test was to determine which of the three Oreo cookies was different from the others. Dr. Calder encouraged the kids to pay attention to every little detail of their cookie - from the crunch of the bite to the overall texture and taste as well as any other nuances they could uncover with all of their senses.

To make the test unbiased, each Oreo was labeled with a number. To make it a scientifically accurate blind test, not all the numbers were the same for each taste tester. This was to discourage the kids from influencing each other. So even if a tester wanted to check out their neighbor's results, they couldn't because they didn't all have the same sample numbers to compare.

In reality there were only two types of Oreos given to the kids - a "low fat" Oreo and an "original" Oreo. Some kids were given two low fat and one original cookie; others were given two original and one low fat. The key to the test was to determine - by random sample which was 20 taste testers in this case - what percentage could figure out which cookie was different.

The kids were encouraged to take a small bite of each cookie and then take sips of water in between samples. It seemed to me that all the kids thought it would be easy to tell the difference between the low fat and original cookies. But that was not the case. The cookies tasted very similar and looked nearly identical.

But in the end it turned out that a "statistically significant" number (just barely, though) of taste testers identified the odd Oreo (adults tried this too and only a couple got it right). A few of the kids noticed that the logo embossed on one cookie was more defined than the other. Others noticed the color of the creme was slightly different between the two samples. But these very small details were only realized after several mini bites and much deliberation about their cookies. A couple of kids said in the end they simply guessed because they really couldn't tell what was different.

I bet if the Oreo folks attended our workshop, they'd have been pretty happy with the results. After all, developing a low fat cookie that even Oreo-loving kids can't distinguish from the real thing is a big plus.

After this workshop my kids were inspired to buy more Oreos. We discovered that there are many more flavors now than the two they tried with their 4-H friends. Since Oreo celebrated its 100-year anniversary this past March, they've released a variety of flavors to celebrate. I was amazed to see on the Oreo website how many flavor varieties are on the market right now.

My 16-year-old is a big fan of the Birthday Cake version of the cookie.

My 14-year-old really likes strawberry and thought the Berry Burst was tasty.

And in case you didn't realize, you can do a whole lot more than eat an Oreo cookie straight-up. The Oreo website offers plenty of recipes that involve the cookie.

I think I'm a traditionalist (or old codger) because if I want to eat an Oreo, I want the regular old flavor. How about you... any new favorite flavors?

Learnings from a newbie BBQ cook-off judge

Cabela's hosted a BBQ cook-off this past weekend and I was lucky enough to be a judge. I had never been a judge at a taste-testing like this one so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was fun and I ate some amazing barbecue! But, I also learned a few things about judging a barbecue cook-off..

1) Judging is not as easy as it looks. Yeah, it's fun to take a bite of some really good barbecue. But because everything is so good, you have to get critical before writing down a score even when you're eating something you think is delicious. My score card required a numeric score for three aspects of each entry – appearance, taste and tenderness. Many entries received high marks from me.

2) Ask ahead of time how many teams you'll be judging. Cabela's had 13 teams and there were 6 rounds of different meat to taste. Even with only taking a single bite of each entry adds up to a heck of a lot of meat consumed by each judge (13 x 6 = 78 bites). Which leads me to #3....

3) Don't eat breakfast before judging a barbecue contest! I felt more than a little overly stuffed by the last round of judging. I am not exaggerating when I say that I didn't eat solid food again until lunch the next day.

4) You learn some really interesting nuances of barbecue you might not otherwise notice. It was explained to the judges before the contest began that every bite should have, "a beginning, middle and end." This was a handy reminder because once you pay attention to the "three" concept, you really get a sense of what the cook was going for with their spices and cooking time and methods.

My family was thrilled with all the leftovers at home. Each container sitting on my kitchen counter was a different type of meat (chicken, pork or beef) with a single bite taken from each piece. I think this picture really sums up why I didn't eat until the next day after judging.

Cabela's had a lot of visitors to the cook-off so if you were lucky enough to get a sample of some of the amazing barbecue going on in their parking lot, you'll want to know who won. Here are the results...


CHICKEN
1. Red Neck Caviar
2. DarthQue
3. Meat Fairy

RIBS
1. Meat @ Slims
2. Sweet Chicken
3. Redneck Caviar

PORK
1. Meat at Slim's
2. TJ BBQ
3. Redneck Caviar

BRISKET
1. Sweet Chicken
2. Cravin' Dave's
3. Meat @ Slims

RESERVED CHAMPION (overall)
Redneck Caviar

GRAND CHAMPION (overall)
Meat @ Slims

Fresh from the farm goat milk is addictive

I have a friend who raises dairy goats at her farm. I was not a fan of the livestock-ish taste of goat milk I have purchased previously at the grocery store. But then I had her goat's milk. It was creamy and sweet (and naturally homogenized) without a hint of livestock to it. The kids and I actually downed the full quart of milk in my friend's driveway with some bickering and nary a drop to share with my husband at home.

This was last year. My girls have since learned how to milk a goat and are now thrilled it's a regular part of our diet.

But when tackling anything new, there is a learning curve. Milking an animal for the first time is a humbling experience. You might think it looks easy, but there is a knack to expressing the milk that takes a while to figure out. And then there is the fact that a goat is a living creature that moves and sometimes has an opinion about whether she is in the mood to be milked, or not.

We've had a couple of accidental hoof-in-the-milking-bucket scenarios during our learning curve. That milk is, for obvious reasons, not drinkable. But our goat friend told us to freeze that milk to make soap. My family has tried making soap previously out of lard (from rendered pig fat we made previously) with OK results (i.e., room for improvement was the refrain).

So when we ended up with 2 cups of frozen goat milk we decided it was time to make goat milk soap. We settled on a recipe that also included the lard we still had in our freezer.

Working with the lye is always a little unsettling to me so I did not take any pictures of the process of making soap with my daughter. But the final results were done within a few hours. We used the "hot method" to cook the soap in a slow cooker until the ph levels of the lye were non-reactive and saponification was reached.

Yeah, big talk for a simple chemical reaction that was much easier in my slow cooker than the last lye soap "cold method" batch that sat in my basement for five week to get to the same state of saponification.

The goat milk soap offers great suds and feels creamy to the touch. We all love washing our hands with it. And this kind of soap has loads of benefits for your skin we've learned so we plan to continue to make our own.

My daughter and I had the bright idea to put the soap in a large glass dish to solidify. But just before it fully cooled down, we cut the soap into livestock shapes with cookie cutters. And yes, there was much lamenting there we did not have any goat cookie cutters.

There have (thankfully) been many more cups of milk recently that have been drinkable. Our favorite edible recipe for goat milk right now – besides straight up – is strawberry goat milk smoothies. No added sugar needed. Truly delicious!

I am not sure why it took me so long to find a local source of goat milk. But if you ever have the chance to get your hands on some goat milk fresh from the farm, try it. The supermarket does goat milk absolutely no justice. In addition to taste, goat milk is more easily digestible than cow's milk. I ran across a Q&A with Dr. Sears who explains the science behind some of the benefits of this kind of milk for kids, too.