How is a cucumber different to a pickle? How are pickles made? Why do we ferment food? These are the questions our Grade 1 students are facing this week in their first kitchen class with Mr. Beck.
Ferments are everyday foods from tea and coffee to chocolate and bread, from cheese to yogurt and salami. Furthermore, raw ingredients are chemically changed with the help of microorganisms to alter taste, texture, digestibility and shelf life.
This term’s inquiry topic is all about ‘Kitchen Chemistry’ and ‘How food changes’. First, the students will taste cucumbers and pickles to experience and describe the differences. Then they will learn how to ferment cucumbers into pickles using the age old technique of ‘lactic acid fermentation’. Finally, at the end of this term every Grade 1 student will be sent home with their very own pickle!
