Pineapple Enzymes

Enzymes are found in living things and they help to speed up reactions. Pineapples contain a large amount of enzymes that are used to help break down proteins.

The first thing that we are going to do is take the pineapple and cut it into pieces. We are going to put some of the pieces into the blender and turn in on so that we can get some pineapple juice. You may need an adult to help with this 

Once you have made some pineapple juice we are going to separate it into 2 of the bowls or containers. And one of the containers we are going to heat in the microwave for about 20 seconds, until the pineapple juice is hot. 

We are going to let the juice cool down a bit and we are then going to add some milk to the 3 bowls/ containers. So we have one with pineapple juice, one with heated pineapple juice and one with nothing in it.  

We are now going to see what happens. You should see that in the container with the unheated pineapple juice you start to get clumps forming in the milk. These clumps are the milk proteins that have been broken apart by the enzymes in the pineapple.

Enzymes can be affected by high temperatures which is why there is no reaction in the heated pineapple juice and is why that container looks the same as the one with no pineapple juice. 

The video tutorial for this activity is available on the Surrey Libraries Facebook Page or YouTube Channel