History, Science, Cooking all come together

One of the fun things of homeschooling is when what you learn can be applied at home. The other week J asked, "how do you make sauerkraut ?" That was a good question and not like the usual, "what if your arms were wings?" or "what if you were 12 feet tall?" I am practical and reality based and so I struggle with those questions but when he asked, "how do you make sauerkraut?" That one I could answer. I knew St. Patrick's day was coming and since we live in a good Irish community that meant that cabbage would be on sale -- 9 cents a pound. We can try to make sauerkraut.

A big head of cabbage, a big knife, a big bowl and some salt.

Pound and pound to get as much liquid out of the cabbage.

Put it in a jar and wait three days.

We were making sauerkraut. The jar sealed itself. We waited the three days and then a bit more. This week we make pork and sauerkraut.

History came in to this as we had read how the Chinese used salt to preserve food. We opened the jar and it was preserved. All we had added was salt.

Science came in to this as we opened the jar the liquid started foaming and exploding out of the jar. We quick moved to the sink. We tasted it and added it to the crockpot.

We enjoyed our dinner of pork and sauerkraut. We are still alive that was two days ago.