Pop Rock Strawberries

I've recently become very interested in molecular gastronomy. Wikipedia describes it best. Molecular gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gatronomic phenomena in general. I'm definitely leaning towards the artistic side.

Pop Rocks is definitely part of this fun experience. Using fresh strawberries that have been dipped in melted dark chocolate, I then sprinkled unflavored Pop Rocks on top. Now the fun begins. You stand back and let unknowing victims friends provide the entertain for the evening.

Pop Rocks is a brand of novelty candy that uses carbonation to create a popping effect when the candy is eaten. William A. Mitchell, a food chemist at General Foods, patented the idea in 1956, but the candy known as Pop Rocks was not on the market until 1975. It was very successful but was pulled from shelves in 1983, which some have associated with a persistent urban legend about the candy.

Urban Legend: Many people incorrectly attribute the removal of Pop Rocks from the market to an urban legend. It is rumored that one should never consume Pop Rocks and Coca-Cola at the same time, because the combination of ingredients will cause one's stomach to explode. The television show "Mythbusters" tested the urban legend in an August 2007 episode, giving the Pop Rocks/Coke mixture to a pig and concluding that one would have to consume literally pounds of the candy and cola to create an explosion. (Let's hope no pigs were killed or injured.)

I purchased the unflavored Pop Rocks from Molecular Gastronomy.

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