What actually happens to alcohol when you cook or bake with it?!


Question: Does the alcohol molocule simply change into a sugar, or does it "burn off"? and how does it effect the body after ingestion?


Answers: Does the alcohol molocule simply change into a sugar, or does it "burn off"? and how does it effect the body after ingestion?

Alcohol evaporates during cooking, but not all of it. It doesn't change form (into a sugar, as you ask). This situation has been studied. There are a lot of factors that go into the evaporation rate, such as the length of cooking time, the surface area of food exposed to the air, covering or uncovering the pot. In a long-cooked stew, 4% of the alcohol remained. In a quick dessert flambe, 70% of the alcohol remained.

Alcohol evaporates at about 165 deg F. In a baked product like the rum balls mentioned above, the interior temp of the cake probably didn't get above 180, and then, not for very long, meaning quite a bit of the alcohol could be left. If you can smell alcohol strongly, that means it is evaporating out of the food.

Most cooked foods will not have enough alcohol in a serving to cause intoxication, although there can be exceptions to this rule, particularly with desserts and baked goods with alcohol added near the end of cooking. For instance, a recipe of rum balls with 1/2 cup of alcohol that makes 30 rum balls means that there is about 4 ml (just less than a teaspoon) of rum per rum ball. And some of that teaspoon will have baked out.

The most likely reaction to a small amount of alcohol consumption is that you will become a bit flushed and feel warm. It would take a lot of rum balls to cause drunkenness.

When alcohol is heated, it evaporates; only the flavor remains. There are no alcoholic effects on the body.

Are you sure it disapates???? My grandmother makes rum balls at Christmas you can smell the rum in them from across the room! I swear everyone gets drunk eating them. I don't drink and I stay away from them knowing how after a few I pass out.





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