The Death and Decay of my Blog

The time has come.....the results are in. AAAAAAAAANNNNDDDDD the winners are........

SALT and VINEGAR! you preserved the piece of potato best of the four preservatives. well done.

And now, the moment for goodbye's has arrived. Goodbye, blog. you've been good to me. Even when I procrastinated posting on you, when I finally got round to it, you still looked nice. But I'm afraid that we have to part. It's for the best. and you can take comfort from the fact that when one thing ends, another starts. Who knows, I might be able to get a social life when this is over, and you might become interesting and up to date. well, we can dream. All the best for your new life, wish me luck for mine.

Goodbye, SRP blog, and good Luck

Research 3

Day 10- the final day
Nothing
Sugar

Sugar in box

Salt

Salt in Box

Vinegar

Oil in box

Results 2

results that didn't make it into results 1

Day 4
Nothing

Sugar

Day 7- a bit of progress

Vinegar

Sugar

Nothing

Salt

Oil

Results 1

here are the results of my experiment. I'm only putting the photo's up, although there are notes as well, they would take too long to put onto the blog. so.....

Day 1- setup

Day 2- 1st 24 hours

More lovely research

Some (hopefully) correctly referenced research, and lots more on the way

PETER ZEUTHEN AND LEIF BOGH-SORENSEN (2003) 'The Use of Natural Antimicrobials' . Food Preservation Techniques, 5, 7.



And a really good example of referncing, from the same book.

Research

Time to find some research from peices of paper bound together inside two hard covers. how primitive

Potato it is!

Finally started my experiment. pictures will be forthcoming, of potato, not kiwi, banana or curry paste

Kiwi acidity

Finally found this- as an approximation

found it at: http://www.greathealth247.com/ph-acid-alkaline-food-chart.html

acessed: 27/5/2010

Info on acidity in foods. some suprising-and weird results curry sauce- who would've thought?

I got the information at http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/food-ph-d_403.html

for a full list of foods (excluding kiwi unfortunately), see above

accessed on: 27/5/2010 last changed: 2005

Problems (of course!)

As the end of this blog draws nearer, my ideas grow clearer.

not really, but I just thought of that, and wanted to start the blog off like that. after having some short conversations with various people, I have decided that maybe apple is not the best way to go, as it doesn't decay very fast, so will probably not be a good subject. A soft fruit (or veggie) might be better, for a more exaggerated set of results, as in this situation, there is no exact way to measure one of the quantities invo;ved (i.e. level of decay) other than as a comparison.

Another problem I thought of is that an apple is a very acidic fruit, which might affect the results. so I'll have to go with something more neutral. Not too hard, either, because it'll probably take longer to rot. the short list is:

- Tomato- although because it is made of two different parts, it might not be accurate enough, or introduce another variable

- Bannana- although it might be too soft

- Kiwi fruit- no foreseeable problem, but seems too good to be true

Just to make it a little easier, I'll throw in some research

Method (1)

This is my 'final' method' as in it is specific, but will undergo many changes in all likelyhood
Hypothesis
That different substances preserve food with differing effectiveness
Aim
To observe the preserving effects of different well known preservatives on apple pieces.
Equipment
5 clear plastic containers, labelled with a number
[2 Apples, peeled and divided into quarters with seeds removed] i will now be substituting potatos for apples- see my later posts
Salt
Oil
Caster sugar
Vinegar
Pair of tweezers
Camera

Method
1. Fill each of the containers- one with salt, one with suger, one with vinegar and one with oil. Try to keep contact with substances to a minimum.
2. Take a photo of each apple quater on top of a peice of paper numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.
3. using tweezers, place one numbered piece of [apple] potato in each container, including the empty one.
4. Using tweezers, each day remove each peice of [apple] potato and photograph, before replacing in it's container.
5. observe and record changes in the [apple] potato.


I plan on measuring the amount of decay comparatively with the other apple piesec, especially the one without any preservative. I will compare amount/types of mould and level of withering. If anyone thinks of any other measure, please let my know :)

Climate Graph

After many scanner and internet issues, here it is

Research- Vinegar and Oil as preservatives

there is also not much information on oil or vinegar preservation. It is simply referred to as pickling These are just a few snippets I found

http://britishfood.about.com/od/introtobritishfood/tp/preservingfood.htm

by: Elaine Lemm last updated: n/a acessed: 10/3/10

Research- Sugar as a Preservative

It was very difficult to find research about sugar alone which was not just repeating the salt research. From this I gathered that they are very similar, apart from their taste.

this article is from http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-salt-and-sugar-preserve-food.htm

By "Michael Anissimov"

Modified: 18/12/09

Accessed: 10/3/10

Research- Salt as a Preservative

This article is from

http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/salt_as_a_natural_preservative

by Rachel Tsoumbakos

submitted on 14/8/08

date accessed: 10/3/10

Experiment

here is an initial statement of my experiment
Hypothesis- Different preservatives differ in effectiveness, and in which types of decay they are most effective in preventing.

(Rough) Method

1. get 5 apple halves
2. put each in a separate clear container, packing one in salt, one in sugar, immersing one in vinegar, leaving the fourth one as it is, and immersing the fifth one in oil.
3. Over a few weeks, keep a photo diary and documenting types and quantity of decay.
4. Compare results

Independant Variables

• type and size of apples
• whether apples are in similar environment
• whether apples are relatively dry or moist i.e of a similar level of moistness
• whether each apple is covered completely
• whether the apples are exposed to the air or not

Dependant Variables

• the amount of mould/ decay on each apple at the end of the experiment
• the type of mould/ decay on each apple at the end of the experiment

I was thinking of doing a companion experiment comparing different types of bread, and the level of and type of mould. It would go something like this.

Method

1. select 4 different types of bread, each with a different main preservative.
2. put a slice of each in a clear container and seal with clingwrap
3. over a few weeks keep a photo diary documenting types and quantity of decay.

this experiment will obviously undergo some fine-tuning, but:

Independant variables

• amount of difference between bread e.g white/brown, or different types of white
• whether bread is a dry type of bread or a moist type of bread
• whether bread is in a simialar environment
• size of bread slices

Dependant variables

• amount of mould
• type of mould

alternative, simplified experiment idea

- get a food such as cucumber, and prepare two with salt, two with vinegar and two with sugar. like food process them or something

- leave them for a week
- take them out, and then feep a photo diary of every 3 days and
- see which one lasts longest

to 'investigate which is the best preservative' or something

almost my topic

I'm thinking of doing something along these lines...

- get two burgers each from 3 different fast food outlets- 1 burger in each group is the control
- record how many preservatives, salt, sugar etc in each
- take a photo on the 1st day
- take a photo of each every 3 days till end of experiment
- compare preservative amounts with amount of decay/mould
this would prove a hypothesis of something like highert the amount of sugar/salt/preservatives , the longer the burger is edible.

Topic ideas....so far

"Is there a correlation between music taste and personality?"
"What is the "Mozart Effect"?"
"Does Bach have the same effect as Mozart on spatial reasoning?"-have to do more research on this
"The effects of music on memory "
"Is there a connection between listening to classical music and spatial-temporal ability?"

Most of these topics are linked, and are just one area im interested in, but please let me know what you think.

Starting up

Hello world!