Instant pudding facts for kids
Instant pudding is a super quick and easy dessert that comes in a powder! You just mix it with milk, and it turns into a yummy, creamy pudding. It's made with sugar, flavors, and special ingredients that make it thick. You can eat it by itself, use it as a pie filling, or even add it to baked goods like cakes and cookies!
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How Instant Pudding is Made
Many different flavors of instant pudding are made. The main ingredients are sugar, a flavoring, and special thickeners. For example, instant chocolate pudding mix uses cocoa for its flavor.
A very important ingredient in instant pudding is something called gelatinized starch. This is a dried starch that quickly soaks up liquids. When you mix it with milk, it makes the pudding get thick and gel. Other ingredients that help make it thick are natural gums, like carrageenans and alginates. These gums dissolve easily in cold water. Sometimes, special salts called phosphate salts are also added to help the pudding gel even better.
Big companies like Kraft Foods and Jel Sert make instant pudding. You might know their brands, like Jell-O and Royal. Some Jell-O instant puddings are even vegan, meaning they don't contain animal products. These include vanilla, lemon, banana crème, and pistachio flavors.
What's in Your Pudding?
A single serving of dry Jell-O chocolate-flavored instant pudding mix (about one-quarter of a box) has 110 calories. It also contains 430 milligrams of sodium, 8 grams of carbohydrates, and 18 grams of sugars. You'll find 1 gram of dietary fiber in it too. Plus, it gives you about 4% of the iron you need each day. You can also find instant pudding mixes that are made without fat or without sugar.
How to Make Instant Pudding
Making instant pudding is really simple! You usually just combine the powdered mix with milk. Then, you mix the ingredients together until they are smooth. After mixing, it's a good idea to cool the pudding in a refrigerator. This helps it get even thicker and taste better before you eat it.
Fun Ways to Use Instant Pudding
Besides eating it straight from a bowl, instant pudding is very versatile!
Pudding in Baked Goods
You can use instant pudding in many baked goods, like cakes and cookies. When you add instant pudding to a cake mix, it can make the cake more moist and dense. This means it feels richer and less crumbly.
However, sometimes adding pudding can make a cake shrink a bit more as it cools. If you use just a small amount of instant pudding, it can help prevent too much shrinking. Cookies made with instant pudding often turn out moister too, which makes them extra chewy and delicious!
