High Altitude Cooking

[okmunky]

We are near Bryce Canyon, Utah -- elevation 7777 feet. I know that you have to increase cooking times when using conventional cooking methods, but what about microwave cooking?

Is it my imagination, or do carbonated soft drinks lose their fizz faster?

The funniest thing was the first time I used the mustard squeeze bottle...shook it up, turned it over and got what I wanted, but it wouldn't stop flowing.

Are there any other surprises I should expect?

[BFlinn181]

My kids learned to handle bags of chips to see if they were more inflated or less to report, "We are higher than we were this morning." in trips across Colorado, Utah into California. I've worked and lived at over 7k feet in Wyoming for many summers and didn't really notice any real differences in cooking times. The locals also didn't report any real changes from lowland cooking habits. Coffee is not as hot, but still good on a cold morning!

By the way, the boiling point of water reduces by about 1 degree for each 550 ft. of elevation, so at 7,777 feet, water boils at about 198 F instead of 212 F.

[okmunky]

The chips bag reminded me -- I opened a sealed vitamin bottle when I was in the mtns and heard a pop loud enough to scare the puppy into barking. Good to know it was really sealed.

[Sohapi]

We live in NM and it was high altitude there, cooking time does change a little, bake time is way different! Seems like there is more pressure and so you hear more sounds from closed things as you open them. Try a can of nuts with the pull top. LOL

[KAS]

I have a funny one. My hubby, who grew up living at 10,000 feet at least part of every year, for got about sealed items and rising elevation so when we went visiting, the bags of lettuce swelled up and I thought they had gone bad and refused to eat it.

I now know better but felt really foolish when I learned that the air expands because there is less pressure at the higher elevation.

[WheelingIt]

We had a "chocolate" incident at altitude (around 9,000 feet in CO) last year. We decided to make a nice cup of hot chocolate after arriving in camp. Opened up the new (sealed) container of cocoa powder and was greeted by a "pop" and a lovely mushroom cloud of chocolate that sprinkled (and settled) beautifully all over the RV. It was quite the clean-up and not really funny until MUCH later....LOL

[BFlinn181]

We just returned from a trip that included some high altitude camping spots. My wife got 'over lotioned' when she opened a bottle and got a palm full when she only wanted a small spurt.
I worked for many years at a Geology Field Station at 7700 ft. elevation in Wyoming. Each session we had 'lowland' Ohio teachers come for our class. I learned to email everyone before coming out to 'burp' their liquids and pack them in ziplock bags before packing. Those that didn't heed my suggestions had smelly clothes and suitcases!

Our field station cooks didn't adjust recipes for the altitude, just the cooking time. No extra baking soda, powder, or other adjustments. I'd always thought they had to, but over the years, none of our cooks ever said they changed anything.

[elkhornsun]

The biggest difference is that water boils at increasingly lower temperatures at higher elevations so if you are cooking pasta for example it will take longer as the water in the pot will not be as hot as at sea level.

At 8500 feet the boiling point of pure water is about 178 degrees versus 212 degrees at sea level.

[danes-on-tour]

Originally Posted by WheelingIt

We had a "chocolate" incident at altitude (around 9,000 feet in CO) last year. We decided to make a nice cup of hot chocolate after arriving in camp. Opened up the new (sealed) container of cocoa powder and was greeted by a "pop" and a lovely mushroom cloud of chocolate that sprinkled (and settled) beautifully all over the RV. It was quite the clean-up and not really funny until MUCH later....LOL

We did the same thing with a large bottle of ketchup in Breckenridge, CO - also about 9,000 feet above sea level. Our night shades proves the incident (unfortunately). This is still not funny as of yet, although the incident is now 4 years old .

Took out the worst stains with a small paint brush and household bleach.