How to understand that the water has boiled

Boiling is the process of formation of steam, when a sufficiently heated liquid begins to pass into a gaseous state. Actually, because of this, bubbles are obtained.

You have to boil water for different purposes, and if you do not bring it to the right condition, dangerous bacteria can remain in it, and the taste of food and drinks will differ from what was intended.

At normal atmospheric pressure at sea level, water boils when heated up to 100 °C. In the mountains at an altitude of one and a half kilometers, this figure may be lower - somewhere around 95 ° C, at three kilometers - 90 ° C.

But in general, how established According to the California Department of Health in Berkeley, altitude does not significantly affect the disinfection process. So you can not calculate anything and focus on 100 ° C.

For reliable water purification, it is traditionally recommended to keep it heated to 100 ° C for 10 minutes, but scientists

considerthat this is redundant, because most pathogens are already killed at temperatures above 60 °C. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicatesthat boiling water for 1 minute is enough - this is already enough to clean it from potential pathogens. Well, or 3 minutes if you are high in the mountains.

We figured out the numbers, but how to understand that the water has boiled if you have the most ordinary kettle without a thermometer and no stopwatch on hand? Fortunately, determining whether water is boiling or not is quite simple and without instruments.

This process can smash into several stages that are visually distinguishable. Different stages of boiling water are needed for different culinary purposes.

1. Heat. The surface of the water trembles slightly, small bubbles form at the bottom and near the walls of the kettle or pan, which do not yet rise to the surface - the water is heated to about 60–75 ºC. At this temperature, cooks cook fruits, fish, poached eggs and boil tender meat.

2. Boiling. Streams of bubbles begin to rise to the surface, but the water column does not yet move. Water in appearance can be compared with champagne in a glass. The temperature is 75–90 ºC. Suitable range for making broths, stews, stewing meat.

3. Slow boil. A lot of bubbles rise to the surface - not in separate streams, as in the previous stage, but over the entire area of ​​the water. Temperature - 90-100 ºC. Can cook vegetables for a couple, and in a ladle submerged in water - hot chocolate and hollandaise sauce. Or just boil milk.

4. Violent boil. The water boils, a lot of steam rises above the pot or kettle. Temperature - 100 ºC. Pasta can be thrown into such water or blanched in it. vegetables. It is also suitable for making tea.

Based on these external signs, you can easily tell whether the water is boiling or not.