Book 9, Question 15
Why Do Some Candies Feel Cold When They Dissolve?
Some candies feel cold when they dissolve because dissolving takes heat from your mouth! Mint ingredients like menthol also trick your cold sensors. That makes a chilly feeling without any ice.
More fun facts
- Many sugar free candies are sweetened with sugar alcohols such as xylitol, erythritol, and sorbitol.
- All of these sweeteners soak up heat when they dissolve. Scientists call this a negative heat of solution.
- As the crystals dissolve in your saliva, they pull heat from your mouth, which feels like a pleasant cooling.
- Xylitol has the strongest cooling effect of them all, so it is often used to make mint flavors taste stronger.
- Maltitol and isomalt barely cool at all, which makes them taste more like regular sugar.
- In a simple classroom test, stirring erythritol into water makes the water's temperature drop quickly.
Sources: TAMU, National Institutes of Health
Questions kids ask
Does every candy feel cold when it dissolves?
No. Mostly candies made with sweeteners that soak up heat as they dissolve, like xylitol, give a strong cool feeling.