Baking: Winter Term, Week 4

Day One: We began our exploration of food preservation by talking about what the word preserve means. "You put something in a jar," Solomon offered. "Ila added "So, it doesn't get yucky."

Day Two: We talked about what would happen if we left a piece of cucumber on the counter for a week. We explored a some food that had been in a jar for about a month. We examined the mold under a microscope and thought about what we could have done to the food to keep it closer to its original state. We read a recipe for cold pickling. We then explored the individual ingredients using our five senses. We also cut cucumber and covered it with salt to draw out the moisture overnight.

Day Three: We combined the cucumber with the rest of the ingredients. Using measuring cups and spoons we added sugar, vinegar, salt, onion, peppercorn and garlic.

Day Four: We tasted our pickles and documented our observations. We also compared the pickles to a fresh slice of cucumber as well as one that had been sitting out all week long.