Food Safety Tips for MAYA Pancakes

Making pancakes can be a really wonderful family bonding experience. Since your kids will be working in the kitchen with you, here are a few tips to make sure everyone gets the most out of the activity while keeping safety a top priority.

1. Always check the expiration date of products you’ll be using. If expired, discard immediately to avoid food poisoning.
2. Before flipping the hotcake, always check if it has enough bubbles (they appear at the edge of the pancake) and if it is dry around the edges. Uncooked batter may be harmful to your kids if ingested.
3. Do not eat raw pancake batter before cooking it.
4. Always read the ingredients of the pancake mix. Most pancake mixes contain highly allergenic food such as eggs, wheat, and milk.



5. Avoid adding too much pancake flavors (e.g. berries or chocolate chips) because it can weigh down the batter and prevent the hotcake to cook properly, and it can cause burnt fillings. A few spoonfuls of blueberries per batch or a few banana slices per pancake will do.  Additional tip: Lighter ingredients give your pancakes more texture.
6. Preparing the batter the night before will result in flatter pancakes. Leavening agents like baking soda act on wet ingredients immediately. The longer the batter sits, the less effective those agents will be.
7. Bring your wet ingredients to room temperature before adding. Cold liquids and eggs produce soggy hotcakes.
8. Use a small measuring cup like ¼ or 1/3 to ensure uniformly sized pancakes. Irregular sized hotcakes are harder to cook evenly.



9. To cook a perfect hotcake, you can use either an electric griddle set to the lowest setting, or a regular skillet at low to medium-low heat. If your pan temperature is too high, you can get a burnt cake; if too low, it can turn out flat and tough.
10. Discard cracked and dirty eggs. Bacteria from dirt or chicken droppings on the outside of the shell can enter the egg through cracks that are sometimes too fine to see. Once inside the egg, bacteria can grow, increasing the risk of illness.
11. Supervise children in the kitchen at all times.
12. Clean up as you go along.

Take these tips to heart, and all your pancake making sessions will not only be deliciously enjoyable, but worry-free as well. Once you’ve mastered the art of making the perfect pancake, you may want to try your hand at some MAYA pancake art.

For more tips, articles, and recipes, visit http://themayakitchen.com and http://newgenbaker.com.