CALAMBA NATIONAL COMPREHENSIVE HIGH

SCHOOL

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

STEM 12-PLATO

CAPSTONE PROJECT

SALT TO COMPLETE

Researchers: Marielle Angela B. Gonzales

Jessel B. Walohan

Subject Teacher: Jose Lorenzo Masas

 Introduction

Background of the Study

Salt is known for its vitality in flavoring and preserving food. It is made from sodium

chloride and other chemical components and may be found in seawater and other rock

formations. It is also used as cleaner. Salt is needed for the production of a wide range of

important industrial goods.

Salt has became an important part of Asian cultures, particularly in rice preparations.

Cooking is one of the most significant tasks in each family since rice is staple food and often

eaten every meal. There are different methods in cooking rice with salt, some people add salt

to a rice to remove blandness-like taste, while others put salt on the cover while cooking. But

the most common practice, especially for the elderly, is to put salt on the lid of a rice cooker,

they believed that it can help to cook faster and prevent it from being uncooked. Filipinos are

known for using this method as part of preserving culture and belief. Since then, it has been

practiced and applied.

This study is conducted to determine the effects and further discuss the reasons of

putting salt above the lid. It may provide important details about chemical compositions of

the salt and rice that will help to prevent from being uncooked. Furthermore, to determine if

this practice will be scientifically explained. In addition, it may come up with possible

recommendations and suggestions to acquire the effectiveness of putting salt on the lid of rice

cooker while cooking.

Framework of the Study

Usually, you add salt to water in order to boil the water to cook rice or pasta. Adding

salt to water adds flavor to the water, which is absorbed by the food. Salt enhances the  ability
of chemoreceptors in the tongue to detect molecules that are perceived through the sense of

taste.

In addition, adding salt to water raises its boiling point, it's worth noting the salted

water actually boils more quickly. That seems counter-intuitive, but you can easily test it

yourself. Put two containers on a stove or hot plate to boil -- one with pure water and the

other with 20% salt in water. Why does the salted water boil more quickly, even though it has

a higher boiling point? It's because adding the salt lowered the heat capacity of the water. The

heat capacity is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of water by 1°C. Pure

water has an incredibly high heat capacity. When heating up salt water, you've got a solution

of a solute (salt, which has a very low heat capacity) in water. Essentially, in a 20% salt

solution, you lose so much resistance to heating that the salted water boils much more

quickly.

However, this study focuses in determining the effect of putting salt at the top of the

lid when cooking rice.

According to Montes de Oca (2016), The scientific reasoning behind this is something

called Hygroscopy. Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and

holding water molecules via either absorption or adsorption from the

surrounding environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water molecules

become suspended among the substance's molecules, adsorbing substances can become

physically changed, e.g., changing in volume, boiling point, viscosity or some other physical

characteristic or property of the substance.

Salt is highly hygroscopic, it absorbs water very easily. Rice, also being a hygroscopic

material works as a mild desiccant, it seems that rice is more hygroscopic than salt, thus

absorbing humidity and keeping the salt dry, preventing the formation of clumps.
 The schema of this study is presented in Figure 1. The first box presents the materials

used in conducting the study which is the uncooked rice and water. The second box presents

the process of how the experiment was conducted by pouring 500 ml of water in every 2 cups

of uncooked rice. The third box presents the output of the experiment to which determined if

putting salt at the top of the pot has effects when cooking rice.

Input Process
Output
A. Pour 500 ml of water in 2 cups of rice.
 Water
After 12 minutes of cooking in low heat fire,  Result of the process
 Uncooked turn off the fire and set aside for 3 minutes. A and B.
rice B. Pour 500 ml of water in 2 cups of rice.
 Result of the process
After 12 minutes of cooking low heat fire,
C and D.
turn off the fire and set aside for 3 minutes
and put salt at the top of the pot.

C. Pour 500 ml of water in 2 cups of rice.

After 8 minutes of cooking in low heat fire,
turn off the fire and set aside for 4 minutes.

D. Pour 500 ml of water in 2 cups of rice.

After 8 minutes of cooking in low heat fire,
turn off the fire and set aside for 4 minutes
and put salt at the top of the pot.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the Study

Statement of the Problem

The main purpose of this study is to determine the Effectiveness of putting salt at the

top of pot’s lid when cooking rice.

This study specifically seeks to answer the following questions:

 1. Is there a relationship between salt and temperature that prevent the rice from being

uncooked?

2. Does the salt used helps to cooked the rice faster?

3. Does the placement of salt at the top prevent the rise from being uncooked?

Hypotheses

H01: There is no significant relationship between the salt and temperature that prevent the rice

from being uncooked.

Objectives

This study aims to determine the Effectiveness of putting salt at the top of pot’s lid when

cooking rice.

Specifically, it sought to find the extent of effectiveness salt if it can help to prevent the

rice from being under cooked and its scientific explanation related to this study.

Significance of the Study

The results of this study can benefit the following groups:

Students. Through the study, students will be guided in conducting research related to

this study. Being curious in this kind of practice will help them developed their reasoning

skills and have an optimistic view of the world and their lives.

Future Researchers. This study is helpful to other researchers as the findings of this

study are useful for their future research.

 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the literature and studies which have a direct bearing on the

present study. They were lifted from books, journals, and websites.

According to Eboch (2020), salt are ionic compound which is form from ionic

bonding of sodium and chloride. It plays an important role in human societies. In ancient

times, salt is used as a form of currency and to preserved foods such as meat and fish.

Besides, salts is also a major important food flavor enhances.

Adding salt to water raises its boiling point, it's worth noting the salted water actually

boils more quickly. That seems counter-intuitive, but you can easily test it yourself. Put two

containers on a stove or hot plate to boil -- one with pure water and the other with 20% salt in

water. Why does the salted water boil more quickly, even though it has a higher boiling

point? It's because adding the salt lowered the heat capacity of the water. The heat capacity is

the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of water by 1°C. Pure water has an

incredibly high heat capacity. When heating up salt water, you've got a solution of a solute

(salt, which has a very low heat capacity) in water. Essentially, in a 20% salt solution, you

lose so much resistance to heating that the salted water boils much more quickly.

Why do Filipinos put salt on top of pot’s lid? Are some questions that until now, most people

doesn’t know the answer. According to Heath et. al (2019), putting salt can prevent over-bloating of

the rice due to over-absorption of water, and perhaps prevent grain damage. Another is, since

osmosis squeezes out water from lower to higher concentration, it might be able to ‘squeeze’

out the flavor molecules of the rice better, which might come along as water passes out.

Putting salt on top of your pot does not prevent the rice from being under cooked any

more than it prevents it from being overcooked.

This study is anchored on “Impact of cooking conditions on the properties of Rice:

Combined temperature and Cooking time”, the result showed that cooking greatly increased
the swelling behaviour of waxy rice but decreased the swelling behavior and amylose

leaching of low-and high-amylose rise. As the cooking temperature increased, rapidly

digestible starch increased significantly for all rise products, whereas slowly digestible starch

and resistant starch had a certain degree of reduction. Variation in the cooking time produced

little effects on starch digestibility.

Moreover, according to Walsh (2020), cooking rice in high temperature or high heat,

there is a possibility that it will boil faster and the water will evaporate faster than the normal

cooking time and temperature. In some instances, high temperature may caused rice to be

under cooked as the water evaporates faster.

Furthermore, on the other hand, there is still no scientific reasons, that explains the

effectiveness of putting salt at the top of pots.

Synthesis and Gap

With the help of the related literature to this present study, the researchers found close

findings among them. Putting salt can prevent the rice from over- bloating of the rice due to

over absorption of water and perhaps prevent grain damage, Heath et. al (2019). Cooking

rice in high temperature or high heat, there is a possibility that it will boil faster and the water

will evaporate faster than the normal cooking time and temperature, Walsh (2020).

Putting salt on top of your pot does not prevent the rice from being under cooked nor

prevents it from being overcooked.

There is no research found that putting salt on the top of the lid will prevent the rice from

being uncooked.
Research Method and Design
The True-Experiment of research is utilized in this study, a type of experimental design and is

thought to be the most accurate type of experimental research. True-experiment supports or

refutes a hypothesis.

Result and Discussion

The morphological study of putting salt at the top of pot when cooking rice was
investigated in this true-experimental type of research where in result is shown based on the
outcome.

 In 12 minutes of cooking rice and setting aside for 3 minutes, both rice, with or without
salt on top of the pots all rice are well-cooked.

 Whereas, in 8 minutes of cooking and putting aside for 4 minutes, both rice, with or
without salt on top of the pots all rice are not properly cooked.

This study is anchored on “Impact of cooking conditions on the properties of Rice:

Combined temperature and Cooking time”, the result showed that cooking greatly increased

the swelling behaviour of waxy rice but decreased the swelling behavior and amylose

leaching of low-and high-amylose rise. As the cooking temperature increased, rapidly

digestible starch increased significantly for all rise products, whereas slowly digestible starch

and resistant starch had a certain degree of reduction. Variation in the cooking time produced

little effects on starch digestibility.

Summary and Recommendation

Taken to consideration of the gathered result from the experiment’s result, it shows
that the putting salt on lids has no impact when cooking rice. Cooking time and temperature
plays a vital role in cooking rice for different types of rice requires different cooking time and
temperature.

It is recommended to do further research with same topic and variables since there is
no literature considers the topic.
Literature Cited

A. Books

Qui, Liao, et. Al “Impact of cooking conditions on the properties of Rice: Combined
temperature and Cooking time” (2018)

B. Internet Sources
Advances in Agriculture Volume 2015 (2015), Article ID 620368,7 pages
en.wekipedia.org

https://doi.org/10.10116/j.jclepro.2014.01.07

http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/620368

https://www.thoughtco.com/adding-salt-to-boiling-water

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygroscopy//temperature.

https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/cooking-for-geeks/9781449389543/ch04.html

https://easierwithpractice.com