Bio+PT+Report

**Abstract** This investigation aims to find out whether the myth that mushrooms should never be rinsed or soaked as they will absorb a lot of water is true. An experiment was carried out on mushrooms either rinsed under the tap or soaked, weighing their original weight and their weight after rinsing or soaking. The myth is not true as the mushrooms that were rinsed under the tap for 10 seconds absorbed the most water, gaining an average of 10 ml of water, or around 2 teaspoons of water. Mushrooms that were soaked for 5 minutes absorbed less water, around an average of 4 ml, or 1 teaspoon of water. **Introduction** **Aim** To investigate whether the myth that mushrooms should never be rinsed or soaked as they will absorb a lot of water is true. **Theory** This investigation was performed as this myth has been perpetuated throughout cookbooks and cooking shows and many people believe in it and abide by it. Hence products like the mushroom brush are used, and it is a very tedious piece of instrument to use to clean a mushroom. Mushrooms are very absorbent, with a fibrous stem that is responsible for transportation of water and dissolved food substances through the mushroom. **Hypothesis** The mushrooms will absorb a lot of water due to their absorbency, with more absorbed when soaked than when rinsed. **Variables** **Independent Variables** A mushrooms are rinsed under the tap for 10 seconds, B mushrooms are soaked for 5 minutes in water and C mushrooms are left as a control. **Dependent Variables** The weight change of the mushrooms depends on their original weight, the way they are washed and the amount of water they absorb. **Controlled Variables** B mushrooms were soaked in water for an equal amount of 5 minutes to ensure accuracy in this experiment. A mushrooms were rinsed under the tap under the same pressure for 10 seconds. The more they are rinsed, the more water they will absorb. Hence it is important to maintain an equal time of 10 seconds. The electronic weighing machine used was the same throughout the experiment and it was always ensured that it read zero before measurements were made to ensure accuracy of readings. **Apparatus and Materials** **Methodology** **Results** Weight change of Mushrooms A, B, and C
 * Cassandra Ang(2) 311**
 * The way the mushrooms are washed
 * The weight change of the mushrooms
 * Time B mushrooms soaked in water
 * Time A mushrooms were rinsed under the tap and the tap pressure
 * Weighing machine used
 * 450 grams of mushrooms
 * 2 sieves
 * Electronic weighing machine
 * 3 bowls
 * Stopwatch
 * labels
 * 1) Weigh 2 mushrooms and record down the original weight, labelling every two A, B and C.
 * 2) Place A and B mushrooms in each sieve and leave C in a bowl as a control.
 * 3) Soak B mushrooms in a bowl of water for 5 minutes and use the stopwatch to time.
 * 4) Rinse A mushrooms under the tap for 10 seconds, tossing them around.
 * 5) After 5 minutes, remove B mushrooms and drain for around 10 seconds.
 * 6) Weigh A and B mushrooms and record down the new weight.
 * 7) Repeat steps 1 to 6 twice more.

Mushrooms |||||||||||| Experiment No. || Average weight gain/g || 1 |||| 2 ||||  3 ||^   || Weight Before/g || Weight After/g || Weight Before/g || Weight After/g || Weight Before/g || Weight After/g ||^  || A || 50 || 58 ||  50 ||  59 ||  49 ||  62 ||  10 || B || 50 || 55 ||  49 ||  53 ||  49 ||  52 ||  4 || C || 50 || 50 ||  49 ||  49 ||  49 ||  49 ||  0 ||

Percentage change in weight for Mushrooms A, B and C

Mushrooms |||||| Experiment No. || Average Percentage Change/% || 1 || 2 ||  3 ||^   || Percentage Change/% || Percentage Change/% || Percentage Change/% ||^  || A || 16.00 || 18.00 ||  26.53 ||  20.18 || B || 10.00 || 8.16 ||  6.12 ||  8.09 || C || 0.00 || 0.00 ||  0.00 ||  0.00 ||

**Discussion** A mushrooms were rinsed under the tap under the same amount of pressure for exactly 10 seconds. Most weight gain by the mushrooms were probably due to water absorbed through the stems of the mushrooms as the stems are fibrous and are responsible for transportation of water and dissolved food substances throughout the mushroom. B mushrooms were soaked for 5 minutes in a bowl of water, and they were not touched during the 5 minutes to submerge and instead just left there to ensure accuracy and reliability of the experiment. C mushrooms were the control for the experiment; hence there weren’t any changes in the weight of them even after 5 minutes. Some limitations in this experiment would be that when the A mushrooms were being rinsed, I tossed them around, and this could have caused a difference in the results obtained. Also, the uniqueness of each mushroom might have caused the results obtained to be so. Some mushrooms might have been more absorbent than others and hence caused a difference in results. This experiment was hence carried out with the assumption that the mushrooms had almost the same absorbencies. **Conclusion** Based on the results of this investigation, I came to a conclusion that mushrooms that are rinsed absorb the most, with an average of 10 grams or 2 teaspoons of water, while mushrooms that are soaked absorbed less water, with an average of 4 grams, or approximately 1 teaspoon of water. Mushrooms that were rinsed absorbed around 20.18% of their original weight while mushrooms that were soaked absorbed around 8.09% of their original weight. The results obtained do not support my hypothesis that mushrooms soaked will absorb more water than mushrooms rinsed, and confirms that the myth is true. **Additional Information** Mushrooms that soak up a lot of water when washed will release the water when cooked and hence is undesirable for most people. **Further Improvements** If I were given more time, I would experiment on different types of mushrooms to find out whether some mushrooms absorb more water than others and hence which ones can be washed and which ones should not. I would also try to find out methods to wash mushrooms to achieve the cleanliness without compromising on the taste.