Try this: Dragon eggs

	Teabags, cinnamon and star anise form some of the ingredients.
	Boil the eggs for 2 minutes.
	Crack their shells.
	Boil the ingredients in a saucepan with the eggs for about 2 hours.
	Serve warm or cold.

Warning: This cooking activity requires boiling water. Younger scientists should get help from an adult.

You will need

• Eggs
• Water
• 2 teabags
• Stove
• Tablespoon
• Teaspoon
• Small saucepan
• Egg timer or stop watch
• 5 star anise (optional)
• 2 Cinnamon sticks (optional)
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce (optional)

What to do

1. Place your eggs in the saucepan.
2. Fill the saucepan with enough water to cover the eggs.
3. Place the saucepan on a stove set on high heat.
4. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down until it is just simmering and set your timer for two minutes.
5. At the end of the two minutes, carefully remove the eggs (leave the water in place) and put them on a bench. Give them a minute to cool.
6. Gently tap the eggs all over with the back of the tablespoon to crack them. Leave the shells in place – you just want them cracked a little.
7. Add the tea bags to the water in the saucepan. Add soy sauce, star anise and cinnamon for flavour.
8. Return the eggs and simmer them for 2 hours. Add more hot water every now and then to top it up.
9. At the end of the two hours, remove the eggs and let them stand for a minute to cool.
10. Remove the shells. They’re not only tasty, but look great too!

What’s happening?

The dark lines on the egg are caused by the dark broth seeping in through the cracks in the shell and staining the whites. The longer the eggs are left to cook, the darker the lines get.
Tea contains substances that belong to a group of chemicals called ‘flavonoids’, which includes certain chemicals called ‘tannins’. These are responsible for giving tea its bitter flavour and are also important in giving other foods their taste and feel, such as many fruits and red wines.
Tannins are astringent (they cause tissues to shrink; think of the effect sucking on a lemon has on your mouth) and stick to proteins such those in egg white. In fact, the word tannin comes from a Celtic word for ‘oak’, the bark of which was used to darken or ‘tan’ the proteins of leather animal hides.
These chemicals can be found in many different plants, helping keep herbivores away by producing a nasty taste and reducing the growth of microbes. Trees that are high in tannins growing by creeks or ponds can turn the water a murky brown colour.

Applications

As far as bad jobs go, you couldn’t do much worse than being a tanner in centuries past. The conditions were so foul and stinky, tanneries were kept far out of town (often amongst the poor, who had little say on where they lived). The tanning process ensured that animal skins would be not only be preserved as leather, but would remain supple and not stiffen into rawhide.
Once it was cut from the dead animal, the skin’s hair needed to be removed. This was often done by either first soaking it in urine, or leaving it to decay for a month or so, before scraping it clean with a blade.
Then the skin was softened by being pounded and rubbed with dog or pigeon poo, or soaked in mushed brains. Most of this work was done by children, no less!
So next time you’re complaining about having to make your bed for pocket money, be grateful you never needed to rub poo into dead animals in exchange for a bite to eat.