Most pies contain cornstarch to thicken their fillings. We hoped to discover a way to produce a pie of perfect viscosity that upon slicing, would not spread over the plate too far, nor be too gelatinous. Have you ever baked a lovely pie, sliced it and placed it gently on your best dessert plates, then watched in despair as the filling fled its warm crust and bled all over the dish? This common and unfortunate experience led our team to investigate the viscosity of pie filling. Elsbeth is an undergraduate student of physiological sciences at UCLA who is passionate about food and writing, especially writing about food. Continuing our Science of Pie adventure, we’ve invited Elsbeth Sites of Team Chia to share her pie science project, which examines the use of a very unconventional thickener to tune the viscosity of pie filling.
