Tallest Jelly Competition - IFR scientists give it a go
IFR scientists prove just how difficult it is to make a jelly taller than 10cm.
Mark’s sweet sensation
Idea: Form a jelly around a Mars Bar.
Use a Mars as the core, with spaghetti to support the body of the jelly …
Using a double walled mould should make it easier to remove because the inner wall is split, so when the outer wall is removed the inner can be peeled away easily (or can it?)
Now add liquid jelly, and…
Oh no - Mars Bars float!!!
Back to the drawing board
Okay use more spaghetti to wedge it into the mould, and add Crunchie Bar pieces on top to reinforce it because when turned out it will be the bottom. Then pop it in the fridge…
But now to turn it out, and…
Oh dear – that’s no cm tall!
The jelly broke away from the central support – there was not enough support for the sides.
Dave’s Jelly Lego
Idea: make building blocks out of jelly reinforced with bite sized shredded wheats …
Then build them into a tower…
Just two high and it’s already wobbly. It needs a wider base…
Better; can it go higher?
Taller than a mug, but its squashing and getting wobbly again. Can we do four high?
No, not without support. Its unstable, and the third one down is squashing a bit, and its all getting a bit slippery, but we managed 16cm!
Gerri’s foam Jelly
Idea: Make the liquid jelly into a foam so that it is less dense, and therefore will stand taller.
Add either liquid nitrogen or solid carbon dioxide, allow it to boil up, and leave to set…
But that didn’t work at all – it just froze it solid!!!
Andy’s structural work of genius
Idea: For a tetrahedral structure using celery and spaghetti in a plastic-lined cardboard mould and fill it with jelly.
Setting up the mould …
And preparing the celery …
… and the spaghetti
Reinforcing finished ready to go into the mould
… and five pints of jelly later
At the moment it is still frozen though. The idea was that if it was frozen in the mould, turned out, and allowed to thaw gently it would put less stress on the structure.
And the result:
It worked - 210mm tall – IFR’s Tallest Jelly.
BUT CAN YOU DO BETTER???
Further details from:
Dee Rawsthorne PhD
Outreach Coordinator
Norwich BioScience Institutes
Norwich Research Park, Colney
Norwich. NR4 7UA
Tel: 01603 255017
Email: dee.rawsthorne@nbi.ac.uk
We gratefully acknowledge the support of Premier Foods, who supplied the Jelly.
