As with most fried foods, French fries aren’t that good for you and you would be better off not eating them all together. But for a lot of people they are a go to fast food and millions of Americans enjoy eating them more than they should. But to get the best taste out of French fries, they must be eaten hot or warm because as soon as they get cold they don’t taste all the good anymore. So why is it that French fries lose all their taste as soon as they get cold?
According to Matt Hartings, an assistant professor of chemistry at American University in Washington, D.C., One of the main reasons that French fries lose their appeal when cold is that their texture changes. Potatoes are filled with starch, Hartings said. Starches taste good when they are “hydrated,” he said.
When the potatoes are fried in high temperature, water enters the starches and fills them, giving the fry a plump poofy texture that people find appealing and enjoy. That’s when the French fry is at its best tasting and more desirable stage.
Once the fry begins to cool off though, the opposite begins to happen. That’s when the water starts to move out of the starch crystals, and you lose the fluffy texture which is ten replaced by more gritty less appealing texture. But the water has to go somewhere when it leaves the starch and so it goes to the crust of the fry making it soggy.
So, when you let that bag of fries get cold you end up with a gritty textured soggy piece of cold potato that you would have to be really hungry to eat. French fries are one of the most popular fast foods, but you need to eat them while they’re hot.
