DSDN112 - Final Images

DSDN112 - Change to Jelly

So the unexpected change that occurred in the story posted earlier put me back to the drawing board. Therefore, the switch to gelatin would make the texture of the cubes more interesting. 
The tests that were done earlier in the semester resulted in people giving interesting feedback about having to scoop up the goop as its cold and more interesting than a completely solid cube. The tests in the gelatin produced good results but the flavor is quite faint, so more flavoring is needed. With more flavoring the jelly cubes, that would be so odd and different to eat as a cube that we hold (people don't usually hold jelly in their hands).
Tests have been successful so far and the flavor has been intensified to make it more delicious. The smell is also very strong too.

DSDN112 - Storyboard

DSDN112 - One step forward, Two steps back and an idea

Chapter One - One Step forward.
This is the story of the sugar glass cubes I made on the weekend. I had purchased a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of the mixture as i cook it to make sure it was around 150 degrees Celsius, which was the temperature for the 'brittle crack stage'. With past failures in mind, i continued to cook the mixture past the boiling point until it reached the appropriate temperature, Choice! The step forward was cooking it for that long worked, and made it solid and it dried into a hard candy which was fantastic! They worked, in theory, and made a nice result that was tested and lasted about an hour and a half before it was fully dissolved in your mouth.

Chapter Two - Two Steps Back.
So it worked, the cubes were hard in the end result. But unfortunately, when some of the mixture was separated to mix in the colour and flavor, it was drying quickly, and i could only pour it into two different ice cube sections before it was so dry it had turned sticky and was near impossible to put into the next one. So that wasn't working quite to plan, but no worries, keep on keeping on. The next genius idea that struck my mind at rocket speed was to pour the mixture straight from the pot into the trays and add the colour and flavor to each one independently. That's a great idea i hear you saying. Well again, in theory, it is. The mixture went into each tray effectively. 5 minutes later after washing up, the mixture was so hot it had melted through the plastic tray and was leaking onto the bench. GREAT! So that didn't work either and I'm back to square one.

Chapter Three - An Idea.
The responses I received from the feedback on the jelly-like cubes i brought into class actually had interesting reply's about the jelly-like texture and which inspired the interesting idea. Rather than having a hard candy that is the size of an ice cube, lasts forever and is awkward in your mouth, a gelatin square could be made. This is a squishy jelly-like creation that, unlike generic jelly mixtures, is plain meaning I can colour and flavor myself making the end product unique. Also, it would make a more interesting, odd texture to eat and would be easier to eat. Also it doesn't require a stove to cook, it just requires boiling water. Hopefully this will work better. Images of the failure tray meltage will be coming soon.

DSDN112 - Feedback from tasters

I got a variety of mixed responses when the first batch of cubes were tested, which resulted in a pleasing way. I asked the testers what they associated the colours with first off, to make them think about the fruit and food items of that colour. The colours i had were red, white, blue, green and purple.

Red - Raspberries, strawberries, candy.
White - Lemon, peppermint, lemonade, creaming soda.
Blue - Blueberries, peppermint, licorice.
Green - Lime, apple, mint.
Purple - Grape, boysenberries, plum, blackberries.

After i got these responses, the testers were asked to taste as many different colours as they liked. The first taste was white, which was flavored like orange. The reply was it was potent, overpowering sweetness with a weird sensation afterwards. I want orange to be more sour and "zingy" to give the sensation of orange.

The next test tasted red which was flavored like caramel, white and green which was flavored like strawberry. They said it felt like eating toothpaste because the batch had not set properly and was still a thick goo, but the initial thought of the taste was strawberry due to the colour confusion. It was later recognised as caramel. The flavor of orange was lessened by its sweetness, which was the point brought up above. The green was expected to be a rich flavor like peppermint but the tester was taken by surprise that it was strawberry.

The third tester tasted the red one and said - I like the taste of caramel, but the whole experience (the combination of colour, cold touch (slimy), texture (how it fell apart)), set me up to expect a gooey raspberry taste, but I tasted caramel. At the start, couldn't decide whether i liked it or not, but in the end, the mixed messages ended up being too much!

Fourth tester responded to the experiment as a whole - The sensation of withdrawing the substance is a strong experience in itself, the colour is very successful at deceiving the perception of what it would taste like.

The fifth tester tried the red, white and blue which was also flavored like strawberry. The double up of flavors with a different colour was used to confuse people into expecting something different, while being confused by the same taste. They said -
Red - Almost like vanilla crossed with golden syrup, not what i was expecting
White - Looks like hair gel, Tastes citrus-y
Blue - Guess to be strawberry, was right. Colour threw me off though.

The results were successful and what i expected. The gooey mixture could be developed and used in the center of the solid cube. Perhaps jelly made from jelly crystals could be an interesting soft middle. A recipe for gooey candy mixture will be posted at a later day.

DSDN142 - Changes

Here are all of the final forms of all the adaptions i made to get the final five. Some of them are a lot more simple and do not have enough changes in the form throughout such as the second one and the fourth one and the sixth one. There isnt enough change to show different images in the sequence.

DSDN112 - Description

By focusing on the senses of taste and sight, an interesting experience can be created through surprise by having contrasting flavours and colours. The ‘experimental’ design created uses the recipe for sugar glass (comprising sugar, water, corn syrup (otherwise known as glucose syrup in New Zealand) and cream of Tartar) which is being formed into cubes. By having the shapes as cubes it creates something that can last, which makes the sugar glass into a hard candy that has specific flavours.

The colours of each cube will be bright such as red, green, blue or purple, which will contrast with the flavours. For example, a red cube might taste like peppermint or a blue cube that tastes like a strawberry.

The cubes test the participant’s perception before they taste it. They see the bright colour and their mind instantly think of food that is that colour. Then once the flavour hits their tongue, they are surprised that something that colour would taste that way.

Further development of the design can include a liquid syrup centre that could be coloured differently to create contrast between the two colours making each cube more interesting to see. Furthermore, the liquid centre could be flavoured differently which with specific flavours could work incredibly well.

DSDN142 - Final Sequences

The final selections of the form adaptions set out in sequence. The main beginning form in in the first line in the top left corner, and each adaption was taken from this form. The variables that were changed were basic and produced hundreds of images each so the selection was rather difficult. The adaption that weren't used did not change enough to make a good sequence, so the chosen five were the best that were produced.

DSDN142 - Sequence 5 Selections

The movement defined in this selection from the final sequence flattened out the bottom and formed a straight line, before angling down and pulling the rest of the shape out to stretch it. While this occurs the top points are pulled out to make a stretched diamond.

DSDN142 - Sequence 4 Selections

The five chosen form adaptions from the fourth sequence. The two corners are again stretched towards the middle and form a different shape. This shape creates repeated triangles that cross over one another after the lines match together an form a single line.

DSDN142 - Sequence 3 Selections

These are the 5 selections for the third sequence of form changes. By moving the top two corners of the image inwards, they cross over and expand, stretching the shape out into an odd double diamond shape

DSDN112 - The recipe

So i repeated the recipe, this time with glucose syrup. Funnily enough, the ingredients in glucose syrup is: Corn syrup. Convenient huh? Annoying more like it.
After a day of drying, they cubes still haven't dried; the recipe says it takes an hour or so to cool and harden.
Im beginning to think that the cubes are too thick and will never dry, so some alternatives will need to be thought of.
By pouring the mixture onto a baking tray in little chocolate button sized drops, it would be more convenient to eat, would not last as long so if it's a flavour someone doesn't like then it will be over quickly, and it might ACTUALLY DRY! That was my thought after this experiment.
Despite that, more colours were explored and tested and they turned out well, as well as testing the other two flavours. Citric acid was dissolved into the orange and made it less sweet and a little more sour, making it taste more like orange, which was taking into account what people had said about the previous orange flavour that was tested.
Another interesting process to (which would be rather time consuming but more probable to work) is doing it in layers. Putting a thin layer of mixture at the bottom and allowing it to set, then another layer above etc. until the cube shape is full. This will allow for experimenting into mixing flavours and colours to make a sort of 'licorice all-sorts' kind of blend.
More testing will follow, testing different shapes and sizes which will hopefully allow the glass to dry and turn out to what i have imaged they would.

DSDN142 - Sequence 2

So this is the second sequence. The variables compress on the x-axis and then cross over to create a different diamond shape that begins to stretch as the x-axis continue to stretch in opposite directions. The widening diamond is an interesting shape and i will choose a sequence of five from these images.

DSDN142 - Beginning the process of variables

So this is my first sequence of coding. 5 These 16 images were taken from the somewhat 90 that i took for this variable change, and from here 5 variations will be chosen for the final products. This was changing the Y variable, so the points moved down until they were flat, then crossed over the central point and flipped upside down, making the form into a diamond shape. This is interesting and looks quite nice, while being completely different from the original form.

DSDN112 - The Masterful chef!?

the following photos are the process of making the little cubes. The recipe was quite easy but because of rather stupid events, it was complicated. So corn syrup, the main thickening ingredient in the recipe, isn't sold in New Zealand supermarkets anymore, and hasn't been for nigh seven years... Making a liquidised corn-flour substitute was a great idea too, in theory.. But nothing ever quite works out as planned does it?

Well over 12 hours later the cubes still haven't set, but formed a thick jelly that is sticky.. Indeed these could be used to make the jelly insides for the solid cubes, but testing as to the tastes and colours will be taken to test the perception of people.

DSDN112 - The mold

So i'm making a mold from a chunk of MDF that was lying around to shape the glass into cute little cubes. The final product of the the mold looks like this..

This won't work at all. Its far too deep and the cubes are so small they'll be near impossible to get the cubes out of the mold, despite the large amount of baking paper.

So back to the drawing board, thinking of a new way that i can shape the glass into little cubes....

And a stroke of genius! While browsing the Warehouse for a pot to cook the glass in, i find these little green ice cube trays. What better to use than a plastic tray that is already in a rectangular cube shape? So using these trays to shape the glass instead will hopefully have a great outcome.. Hopefully...

DSDN112 - Flavourful sugar

So the sugar cubes, as explained in the video on an earlier post, will taste absolutely horrible. The sugar will be incredibly overpowering and far too sweet to enjoy in any way. So after researching further on the recipes, comments posted on a recipe on cooks.com explained what different essences to add to the mixture of glass to get specific tastes. Some of the examples that were commented was:

-adding orange extract and food colouring to make it taste orange-y. This s a basic sort of flavor that would be expected. By using a completely different colour it would create surprise. People wouldn't expect a blue cube to taste like an orange.

-Adding something called Anise flavoring would make the cube taste like some licorice. I don't know personally what Anise flavoring is.. but having licorice cubes that are for example clear, that would make it a lot more interesting and surprising.

-A teaspoon of citric acid powder will help to give the cubes a fruity flavor. This is general flavors that lollies usually are and is not as interesting, so that might not be used, but it would be good to use as a test.

 -Cinnamon oil will give the cube a cinnamon-y taste that would be incredibly interesting because it would not be expected at all. Cinnamon has an intense scent that is easily recognisable so another smell would need to be added to 'mask' the scent of cinnamon

-Peppermint and spearmint extracts are flavors that are easily related to the colour green and blue. By making the cube another interesting colour, red or purple etc, there would be a sense of surprise in the taste and appearance.

-The most basic essence that could be added would be vanilla essence. It will give the cube a basic taste and may make it taste less like sugar.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,177,159180-254192,00.html

DSDN142 - Form ideas and changes

 Here are a few simple ideas that i drew for the base form. The solid form designs would be difficult to change, because there is no line work that can be modified to make the series of changes. The fourth form, with the outward facing brackets on either side is the form selected to be the 'base' form. All the other changes will be alterations of this base form. The form is simple but had enough to change and modify to make it appear different with a few different movements.

The sketches are modifications of the simple form that i started with. By moving a few lines a new shape is created which appears completely different, with few similarities.

DSDN112 - My delicious idea?

So for the assignment I had an idea that relates to the senses of smell and taste. Its not as complicated to make as the last idea which is great, and it tickles the fancy of more than one sense.

The original idea was to create an interesting experience through surprise, by having one smell and one taste that are different. Then i developed that further by having a taste that changes halfway between, which would create a larger surprise.

The item is a small cube created out of sugar glass, which is comprised by a majority of sugar, water, corn syrup and cream of tartar. The end result of sugar glass comes out clear, and quite literally looks like glass, so to make the cubes more appealing, food colouring can be added to change the colours. From this sight is effected. By having some colours look more appealing than others it could determine how the participant chooses. By putting the sugar glass into a cube mold, it can be made into a small shape that can be put entirely into your mouth. Having something solid that can be removed suspended in the center of the cube, a hollow space can be made. In this space essence can be mixed in with something to make it a syrup, where it can be stuck inside the hallow space to make the cube smell differently.

Research into this shows that's shown in the BFX video at the top states that sugar glass tastes "disgusting" which could make an interesting test into how to change the flavor to make the glass cubes more delicious.

Further investigation and tests will be conducted on the weekend, making my own sugar glass and changing the colours of the separate cubes to see whether they appear appealing to others.