Food Science and Froyo

My sister is a food scientist. Or at least on her way to becoming one. Food science is not the same as nutrition; it’s a whole lot more. It’s the study of all technical aspects of food, beginning with harvesting, through preparation, food safety, cooking, packaging, and eventually consumption.

This past weekend my parents and I went to visit my sister, Stephanie, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for the Annual Open House. She gave us a tour of the food processing lab where she has class. A cooking class. Where they make pretzels and fried chicken during class time. How cool is that?! I’m sure she’s going to invent some kind of fabulous food or run a wonderful bakey of some sort some day. I can’t wait.

As we walked into the Food Processing building we were greeted with signs leading to these:

They were as good as they looked. Or at least that’s what I could tell. Here’s a little strawberry dipping in action:

As part of the Food Science club, my sister participated in making some Ollalieberry Jam. This is the machine that applies the labels:

For Open House, the Food Science Club was selling frozen yogurt. It was pretty good!

Finally, here’s the future food scientist in the family and the reigning chef when it comes to any kind of confectionery delight. I’m pretty much all thumbs in the kitchen, but I’m getting better! Gotta love the hairnet.

Coming up: the Rodeo! Yes, the Rodeo.

Happy Monday!