So today, we started by churning butter. It's a fascinating process to watch. Just start out with a jar, add a dash of salt, and some heavy whipping cream and shake that jar until you think your arms are falling off. The liquid passes through several stages, each more gelatinous than the last, until finally a clump of firm, yellow butter is surrounded by some watery excess milk. During this process we opened the jars every now and then to inspect our progress resulting in some great observations about what was happening to the liquid, and questions about whether it could ever go back to be cream again (to each question I simply replied, "what do you think?" or "how could we find out?"). So now we have a mason jar full of delicious, artery-clogging butter.
Tomorrow will be strawberry jam! Most recipes call for a large amount of sugar, but we will be trying a recipe that uses a bit of fruit juice to add some sweetness. Because it requires so much cooking, I want the students to do as much as possible without having to use the stove, so they will be washing, cutting, and smashing the berries, as well as mixing everything together.
Friday will be pancakes! We will do a lot of work measuring the ingredients, mixing, and maybe even flipping. I am very excited for everyone, and I know it will help combat break-time craziness. I think we're all ready for a break!
On an unrelated note, it's time to break out the snow pants! And the hats. And the gloves. And the scarves. And the sweatshirts. Please label EVERYTHING. We try to recognize absolutely as much as we can, but remember, I am keeping track of at least eleven student's things. Gloves are definitely the most tricky, as students tend to have multiple pairs. And school uniforms also must have a label. There are about sixty students with the same shirts and sweatshirts, it is absolutely impossible to keep track of where each sweatshirt goes. Whew, ok.
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