Stefan Gates on edible science experiments, and 5 On The Farm Festival

Virgin Radio

19 Aug 2021, 11:31

The presenter and author joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to conduct some amazing live science experiments, and also talk about performing The Mindblowing Gastronaut Show at 5 On The Farm Festival.

All this week, Gaby Roslin and Sam Pinkham, who are in for Chris, have been doing their own science experiments, so today they enlisted the help of Stefan Gates, who, as well as making shows such as Channel 5’s Secrets Of Your Supermarket Food, Food Factory (BBC) and Gastronuts (CBBC), is a self-confessed ‘food adventurer’. 

The first experiment on the show saw Sam and newsreader Sophia Franklin chewing on gum. Stefan explained, “We’re going to do a bit of material science, which is all about chewing gum, and why it’s such an amazing substance. And this is all about science that you can eat, and the brilliant thing about edible science is you kind of get it. In a way that theoretical science is much harder, when you shove something in your mouth, and you kinda go, ‘Oh I understand’, then it makes it that more more simple to get your head around really complex ideas.”

As Sam and Sophia began to chew the gum, Stefan continued. “So, the chewing gum is an amazing substance. It’s made from something called gum base, and 25 percent of that is PVA glue. Then you’ve got all of these other things, they’re all long-chain polymers, resins, plasticizers, elastomers, and it’s all about making that amazing chewy texture, that stays really stable, so you can chew that chewing gum for hours, and it’ll get a little bit hard, but basically it’ll stay the same, despite the fact that you are tearing it apart with your teeth. And that’s because all of those plasticizers and polymers are hydrophobic. So, basically they hate water, and water can’t dissolve them. So all that saliva in your mouth can’t break it down, all of that tearing sensation that you get from your teeth can’t break it down." 

Stefan then instructed Sam and Sophia to also put some milk chocolate in their mouths and to start chewing it together with the gum at the same time. “Now, normally, that chewing gum will last for hours and hours and hours, and it won’t break down, because it’s not water soluble, but it is fat-soluble,” Stefan said.

Sam and Sophia remarked that the chocolate was quickly breaking down the gum, with Sam saying: “Mine’s gone! Mine’s just gone! That is unbelievable.” Sophia added, “I’m in shock”.

Stefan told them, “Because it’s fat-soluble, it’s all just dissolved. It’s really weird, isn’t it? The fat will dissolve it, and it turns into kind of a slurry!” 

Sam asked Stefan whether, despite what we have always been told, it’s actually safe to eat chewing gum, to which he replied, “You shouldn’t eat too much of it, because it can sort of make a blockage. But the odd bit of chewing gum here and there is really not a problem.”

Stefan then led another quick experiment, which required Sam to chew some red chilli. Stefan explained, “The chilli is hot because of something called capsaicin. That’s the active ingredient that makes you experience this heat. Now capsaicin, just like chewing gum, is not water soluble, but it is fat soluble.” 

After a sip of water failed to calm down the heat in Sam’s mouth, Stefan said, “The water tends to make it worse, because it washes things away, off your tongue, but not the capsaicin.” 

Sam then had a big mouthful of milk, and washed it around in his mouth and tongue. This instantly started to cool him down. “The milk has got milk fat in it, and that should start to dissolve the capsaicin,” Stefan explained. “When you go for a curry, you often get served things like a lassi, which is a yoghurt-based drink which has lots of milk fat in [it]. And that calms down a really fiery, chilli-laden curry.”

Stefan will be at 5 On The Farm at Cannon Hall Farm in Yorkshire over the whole August bank holiday (28th-30th), performing The Mindblowing Gastronaut Show each day. When Gaby asked him what he would be doing, he said, “Lots of things that we could never do in a radio studio! Lots of explosions with food, jelly baby rockets, big sugar rockets and things like that. It’s all about getting people to be fascinated by science and fascinated by food at the same time, and that’s when something magical really comes together, so it should be great fun.”

The festival also features Channel 5 stars such as Ben Fogle, Helen Skelton, Adam Henson. “Loads of stars from Channel 5, basically doing lots of bonkers things,” Stefan enthused. “Come and see us!”  

For information and tickets about 5 On The Farm visit www.5onthefarm.com.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.