Quality by Understanding, this is the CR motto and what we believe in. We believe in the quality that result from understanding ingredients, systems, processes and people. Many cakes are in the honor of this. Here is the first.
As chemists, understanding how ingredients interact is key. Molecules can be attracted to each other or repulsed. Many times, there are both attractive and repulsive forces and it is not always intuitive which will determine the outcome. The forces are moderated by the medium and what else is there, such as salts, oils or alcohols. At certain conditions all mix into perfect solutions, at others they crash. The boundary between the state you want and the one that completely blocks your process and breaks both your budget and heart can be mapped out. We talk about phase maps: about knowing the boundaries, controlling and if needed, pushing them.
Creating phase maps is a lot of work but when they are done, they can be understood and used whenever these ingredients are going to be mixed again, in any way. They are your true maps into new areas, for more concentrated stock solutions, dilute in-shower results or magical phase inversions. They can tell you where to go, how to get there and what to stay clear from.
Phase maps in our world are often three-component systems illustrated by triangle diagrams… here’s one illustrating the one of a new biobased surfactant and biodegradable polymer. Even though red chocolate illustrates a crashed-out system and only green chocolate compositions were considered good to go for production – we can assure you they all taste fantastic.
