A Fun STEM Book!
While searching for a book about frozen yogurt, I stumbled across a real find: Make: Edible Inventions, and I’m so glad I did.
It’s partly a traditional cookbook, but mostly you’ll find it is much more. It explores STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) through different projects, information, inventions, growing ingredients, etc.
And To Parents and Caregivers:
You will be pleased to know that Safety Tips are included throughout. Plus, I liked the fact that necessary
things that will be used throughout the book are included at the first of the book. As an example,
Ingredients – baking soda, unflavored gelaô€¢¢n, pickling salt, etc.
Cooking Equipment – drinking straws, zip top bags, microwave, metal spatula, etc.
Crafts/Building/Household Materials – AA batteries, heavy winter gloves, masking tape, graph paper, etc.
Examples of A Few Chapters:
Chapter 1: Crazy Kitchen Gadgets and Useful Utensils
Make a Better Butter Maker
More about Cooking Tools
Chapter 2: Create Chemical Cuisine
Gels, Bouncy Spheres, and Rubbery Noodles
Foamy Goodness
The Chemistry of Crystals
Flash-Frozen Delights
More about Chemical Cuisine
Chapter 3: Hack It from Scratch
The History of Cold Breakfast
The Invention That Changed Baking
Condiments and Spreads
Recipes:
Some of the non-traditional recipes are under the heading, Create Chemical Cuisine. The recipe for Gel Drops teaches
in a unique way. It starts with a short, but a somewhat in-depth description of a gel then moves quickly on to a recipe with extremely good pictures to accompany the instructions. Here are only two examples.
My Thoughts
What Concerned Me: Nothing. . . nothing at all!
What I Liked Most: You may have noticed that I’ve included more in this review than many, that’s because there didn’t
seem to be a place to cut it off. I wanted to share more and more since this book is such a great source to explore and learn through science and more.
If you’re looking for a project to share with your child, this should be considered. Even though most of us won’t have on hand all of the necessary materials for every cooking/experiment, most items are common enough that you shouldn’t miss doing too many projects.
And since I felt I needed to shut down earlier, I just have to share one more exciting feature. In the chapter,
Grow Your Own Ingredients, most kids will love growing celery, avocado, onions, herbs, etc. The aquaponic jar
project is wonderful. (I have to sneak in a picture.)
Author: Kathy Ceceri
Publisher: Maker Media, Inc; 1 edition (September 22, 2016)
Pages: 208 Paperback
Age: 8 and up
From the Author, Kathy Ceceri:
Who is your book written for?
’Edible Inventions’ is aimed at young cooks ages 8 and up — as well as parents and educators who want
to try some fun food-based activities with kids. It’s more than just a ’kitchen chemistry’ book in that it
uses science, technology, engineering, art, and math to show readers how food is made, and it’s full of
easy recipes kids will really want to eat.
Why does this book matter?
Everybody should know what goes into the food that they eat! ’Edible Inventions’ includes some wacky
ideas—like building a motorized robot to shake cream into butter—but it also shows you how to make
the kind of processed fast food most of us subsist on using your own fresh, healthy ingredients.
What is your favorite cooking technique?
The recipe I had the most fun developing was the Fizzy Watermelon Lemonade. The combination of
watermelon and lemon is incredibly refreshing, and adding a head of foam with baking soda literally took
it over the top.
