Si Qiankang, Zhao Ruoyang, Gao Feng, Guo Jun, Zhang Feng, Wang Liping
Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wenzhou 325001, China.
Key Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2023 Jan 30;13(3):562. doi: 10.3390/nano13030562.
The key role of ice in cooking has been neglected. Here, we found negatively charged bulk nanobubbles (BNBs: average size ~60 nm and zeta potential <-20 mV) can be generated in ice-melted water through freeze/thaw-induced cavitation when we studied a local delicacy, 'ice-stewed mutton'. Freeze/thaw-induced BNBs are so robust that they can, in turn, isolate food from water; in this way, they protect and enhance the delicacy by protecting protein structures and preventing flavorful components from being lost. In comparison to cooking with ordinary water, cooking with ice can switch 'stewing' to 'BBQ', which has been proved experimentally via diverse characterization from the nano to micro scale. This study not only provides a novel mechanism for ice-based cooking but also might shed light on the design of potential applications of BNBs in chemical engineering and biomedicine.
冰在烹饪中的关键作用一直被忽视。在这里，我们在研究当地美食“冰炖羊肉”时发现，通过冻融诱导的空化作用，可以在融冰水中产生带负电荷的大量纳米气泡（BNB：平均尺寸约60纳米，zeta电位<-20毫伏）。冻融诱导产生的BNB非常稳定，反过来又能使食物与水隔离；通过这种方式，它们通过保护蛋白质结构和防止风味成分流失来保护和提升美食的口感。与用普通水烹饪相比，用冰烹饪可以将“炖”转变为“烧烤”，这已通过从纳米到微米尺度的各种表征得到实验证明。这项研究不仅为基于冰的烹饪提供了一种新机制，还可能为BNB在化学工程和生物医学中的潜在应用设计提供启示。
