Directions Page

Calendar (Due Dates)

Abstract: 

Anything you pull off the shelves at a supermarket probably has some kind off sweetener in it, whether it’s real sugar, corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners such as Splenda or Sweet’n Low. But which one tastes the best? For my science fair project, I decided to do a test to find out.

            Corn syrup and artificial sweetener are both highly processed and unnatural; processing takes a lot of energy and an overproduction of corn by agribusinesses are already ruining a lot of farmland in the U.S.. If they testers like sugar the best, I figured, then maybe the big brands who use artificial sweeteners will start using sugar instead to attract more customers.

            So I put together a taste test with ten people, using different sweeteners on strawberries.

My hypothesis was that the cane sugar would be favored the most because it’s the most natural and simplest. Analyzing my data, I discovered that I was right; natural cane sugar was the preferable sweetener. I think this is because no matter how many times you process something, you can’t get that real, natural taste. I’m glad that this was the favorite because maybe then those big brands really will convert to cane sugar, and maybe even to other natural ingredients in other foods.

Topic: Tasting sugar, corn syrup, and artificial sweetener.

Purpose: This could be useful because people are starting to realize how unhealthy high fructose corn syrup and fake sugars are. Some people in California are actually crossing over the border to Mexico to get their "Mexican Coke", a special kind of Coke made with only natural sugar. Some companies are starting to market drinks made with cane sugar, recognizing that more and more people are turned off by fake sugar and corn syrup. But what about the taste? The problem is, people of newer generations are already used to eating corn syrup, their taste buds adapted and accustomed to the sweetness. So can we adapt back? 

Testable Question: Can you taste the the difference between sugar, fake sugar, and corn syrup in foods? And which one do we like the best?

Goal(s): To find out if you can taste the difference between different sweeteners in foods, and the preferable one. 

Background Research: We taste through our taste buds on our tongue. Things called chemoreceptors that respond to the chemicals in foods (or really anything that we decide to taste), recognizing the chemicals as tastes. Different parts of our tongue are better at tasting different things: the back of our tongue likes bitter, back sides like sour, a little more forward from the sour and it likes salty, and the very tip of your tongue likes sweet, although you can taste any taste on any part of your tongue.

     Corn syrup is made by converting starch to glucose by two enzymatic processes. It has traces of other sugars too. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has additional processing. Sugar comes from sugarcane. There are a lot of different brands of artificial sweetener: Splenda, which is made of sucralose (which is actually a form of real cane sugar), Nutrasweet, which is made of Aspartame (a completely artificial sugar with nothing natural), Equal, which is another brand that uses Aspartame, and worst of all: Sweet'n Low, which is made of dextrose and saccharin(saccharin is 300-700 times sweeter than natural cane sugar!), and it has 0 calories because your body can't digest it! The dextrose is only put in to 'dilute it').

     Overall, sugar is the most safe and simple. Corn syrup is more healthy than most of the artificial sugars. Basically, the more natural of these sweeteners are the healthiest, but what I want to find out is if you can taste the difference between them. If the more natural sugars taste better in my test, then it might make more big companies start to make their products (like soda) with real cane sugar, not artificial sweetener or corn syrup. A lot of people are starting to want real sugar, but what are the taste differences?

     Corn syrup isn't good because of the U.S.'s overuse of corn. A big chunk of the U.S.'s farmland is used to grow corn, and when land is used for the same thing too many times, the soil actually gets ruined. We're using corn in pretty much everything too. We even feed our cows and salmon corn! This is too much starch for the cows and salmon aren't even supposed to eat land food. The salmon and cows will then be unhealthy and they won't taste as good. So it's okay if we use corn for some things, but not every single thing.

     I first baked brownies for the test, using the three different sweeteners. But how did I bake with different sweeteners? Did they have different properties? Here's what I found:

"Sucralose is made from sugar, but is not metabolized by the body like sugar. It is 600 times sweeter than granulated sugar. Granular sucralose is the form used when baking. Substitute 1 cup granular sucralose for each cup of sugar called for in the recipe. Recipes made with this product tend to bake faster than usual, so check for doneness sooner than the recipe specifies. It is sold under the Splenda® brand name." I also saw on the Splenda bow to add _ of baking soda for better outcome.

For the brownies made with corn syrup, I used less butter and more flour, to get less of a sticky, gooey substance. Because it's not about the texture, it's about the taste. Also, I couldn't get ahold of HFCS (although I tried asking a chef I know at Ben & Jerry's), so I used plain, light corn syrup.

But since baking involves chemical reactions and everything must be exact, the test ran horribly. When I substituted one sweetener for another, it changed the texture and appearance of the brownies dramatically. Some came out gooey, sticky and wet. Others came out black and ashy. I was worried that this would affect the results when testers looked at them. I decided to reduce the number of variables and refine my experiment and do a simpler test, with strawberries. Something simple would make it more exact. And so I tossed some strawberries with each different kind of sweetener, holding a second taste test.

Hypothesis: I thought that people would be able to tell the difference between the sweeteners and that they will prefer cane sugar the best because, even though corn syrup and artificial sweeteners are made to taste like natural sugar, you can't really get the taste of real, natural anything by any amount of processing. 

Variables: The sweeteners and the taste testers.

Materials: I needed Splenda (the artificial sweetener), Karo (the corn syrup), Domino (the natural cane sugar), and strawberries. I also needed people to test for me, sort of like guinea pigs.

Procedure:

1. Wash strawberries.
2. Slice strawberries and place in three identical bowls.
3. Toss sugar with one bowl of strawberries.
4. Toss corn syrup with another bowl of strawberries.
5. Toss Splenda with third bowl of strawberries.
6. Hold taste test with ten people.
7. Average out data and analyze results.

Data: 

This is a copy of the survey form that I gave to each taster:

This is the raw data (responses) from the 10 tasters: 

Analyzing Data and Drawing Conclusions: 

I took the data and calculated the average rank, the median rank, and the range:

Application of the Results:  

According to my data, cane sugar tastes the best. The outcome was the same as with the brownies, however, the test was much simpler and clearer, with not nearly as many variables.

     People weren't so good at identifying the sweeteners, nonetheless, which surprised me. This could've been that some people just weren't as good at tasting as I had expected; everyone's taste buds are different. But the testers—overall—did like the real sugar the best, no matter what they thought it was. Based on the comments on the form, I think this is because it was sweeter than the corn syrup one, but not fake and sickly like the Splenda one.

     If I could've done this test different, I think I might've try harder to get HFCS because it's actually a lot sweeter than corn syrup. The tests might've had a different outcome. Also, I might've tested each person completely separately, with no one else in the room to influence them.

Conclusion:

So, looking back on my hypothesis, my data half supported it: the testers didn't identify the sweeteners very accurately, but they mostly liked cane sugar the best. Some brands in America are starting to convert from corn syrup and artificial sweetener to cane sugar because their customers are wanting cane sugar for its real and safe simpleness, but now that people like the taste better too, maybe more brands will want those customers, convert completely to sugar, and then not only we will be healthier, but the land will be healthier. Maybe as we start to re-appreciate the natural order of things, the salmon will go back to eating things that come from the water, the cows back to eating grass.

 Resources: