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Spice it Up: Preserving Foods through Science

School:: New Smyrna Beach High School
Subject:: Career & Technical Education
Teacher:: Dana Luff
Students Impacted:: 164
Grade:: 9-12
Date:: September 5, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

FUTURES Foundation - $756.00

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 155

The Spice it up lesson made a tramenous impact on the out comes in my classroom this year. In fact, it vastly exceeded its original purpose. We not only used it to create spice blends, but expanded into creating natural fruit powders to be used when baking.

We dehyrated herbs, vegatables, fruits, and much more. We made spices, fruit leather, flavor powders, and candies. The natural flavors we created build a solid foundation for teaching about sustainability and we even dehydrated compost in order to make chicken feed!

The students' favorite was the desserts made for the teacher's Ice Cream Social. Students were able to infuse so many things with natural flavors from items that would potentially have been thrown away in the past. We continue to use the items from this lesson on a weekly basis and the possiblities are endless.

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

Preserve and dehydrate nutrient dense foods using the removal of liquids to increase shelf life and flavor.

What will be done with my students

4.01 & 03 Identify, use and maintain for commercial tools and equipment
10.0 Apply principles of food science in cooking techniques 10.02 Students will be explaining how taste and aroma combine to give foods their flavors by creating their own spice combinations from scratch through the drying process. 10.05 Identify herbs and spices and their appropriate use in preparing food products that exhibit and enhance creativity, taste and appearance. 10.07 Describing how the five basis tastes (salty, sweet, sour, bitter and savory/Umami) can affect the appeal of food. 10.10 Apply the basic principles of chemistry of food preparation to fruits and vegetables.
12.0 Describe and apply basic principles of nutrition. 12.01 List essential nutrients and their functions.
17.0 Apply scientific principles in cooking and baking: 17.01 Identify the physical and chemical changes in food that result from the application of heat 17.02 Identify the effect of various levels of moisture on foods

Benefits to my students

The benefits of this project to my students are to elevate the preservation of food products in the Culinary Classroom. They will be creating their own flavor combinations to develop their palates and increase knowledge of how to preserve nutrients and enhance food items. Dehydrating foods will maintain nutrient density and prolong shelf life for the products we use in the food lab. Therefore, reducing overall costs of purchases and allow them to explore flavor combinations. The goal is for each student to develop a jar of their own creation of seasoning and provide wider exposure to different tastes. By preserving food and creating their own combinations, students will have a broader knowledge of food possibilities and flavor profiles moving into every other aspect of the culinary curriculum through food science.

Budget Narrative

I would like to purchase an industry standard Dehydrating Machine, Spice Grinder, and a case of packaging jars for the students to house and label their creations. Students will be using the industrial dehydrator, spice grinder, and containers to apply states of matter to food items to create unique products made with this equipment. We have partnered with a local produce vendor who has agreed to donate the fruits, vegetables, and herbs for use with this new equipment. To process and utilize the donations, we would need to have this larger equipment. The jars will allow the students to create and label their creations for use in various ways.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Avantco 12 Tray Stainless Steel Food Dehydrator	$299.00
2	Waring WSG60 3 Cup Commercial Spice Grinder	$305.00
3	Clear Plastic Jar with Aluminum Lid	$152.00
	Total:	$756.00