Elastic describes the ability to stretch and contract — to deform under force and spring back when the force is released. In food, elasticity is the defining property of wheat dough: the gluten network stretches around expanding gas bubbles during proving and holds them, then sets in the oven’s heat. Too little elasticity and the dough tears and collapses; too much and it springs back unworkably. Cheesemakers read elasticity in mozzarella’s pull, confectioners in a gel’s bounce. Food scientists measure it with texture analysers and rheometers, distinguishing elastic solids, which recover, from viscous liquids, which flow. The property decides machinability on production lines as well as mouthfeel — an elastic dough sheets and moulds cleanly where an inelastic one cracks. Elasticity is structure under tension, made edible.