First experiment by Priscilla

First Experiment by Priscilla

Preparation 

Figure 1

As shown in figure 1, I used 4 types of flour including strong flour (高筋麵粉), glutinous rice flour (糯米粉), rice flour (沾米粉) and wheat flour (澄麵) to make 4 little Tangyuan for each type.

Measuring transparency after cooking

Figure 2

             

                 Glutinous Rice Flour

                           

                                       Strong Flour     

                                                                             

                                    

Wheat Flour                       

  

Rice Flour

Method: I boiled the Tangyuan for 5 mins (see figure 2). During this procedure, I carefully separated them with a spoon to avoid mixing up. After that, I put them in a transparent plastic bag and placed them upon a torch one by one.

Result: I found out that transparency of glutinous rice flour ball was the highest, and that of strong flour ball was the second high. The results corresponded to our initial ideas.

Measuring time it takes to float the Tangyuan

Method: I boiled another 4 Tangyuan separately and counted the time it took to float the Tangyuan.

Result:

Glutinous rice flour: 1 min 54 secStrong flour: 2 min 30 secWheat Flour: 2 min 17 secRice Flour: After 7 mins, it was still sinking

Measuring size after cooking

Figure 3

Method: I boiled the Tangyuan for 5 mins and compared them with those uncooked.

Result: The upper row was the cooked Tangyuan , while the lower row was the uncooked Tangyuan (see figure 3). Based on my observation, these four types of Tangyuan did not show significant change in size after cooking. This result was totally different from what I expected initially as our group hypothesized that Tangyuan will enlarge substantially after cooking.