MAKING REAL LEMONADE

Thursday, September 15, 2011 – Three months ago, I set up a lemonade tasting stand at the Mary Fogarty Elementary Back-to-School Picnic. 
 

The stand offered three different brands of Lemonade the students could taste and compare.  One bottle was the Trader Joe's brand made with organic lemons and sugar.  One bottle contained a popular name brand sweetened with corn syrup.  One small bottle held pure organic lemon juice, with no sugar... super sour.  Can you guess which lemony taste the students enjoyed best?

Believe it or not, it was the super sour lemon juice.

The children conducted taste-testing experiments by mixing the pure lemon juice in combinations with water, sugar, and the other brands.

Using my store receipts, I prepared a math challenge sheet, with questions about quantities and costs.  No one was interested in the math, however, because at that moment, the kids were drawn to the hands-on sensory experience of creating lemonade. 

We did not get a chance to try fresh-squeezed lemon juice, which personally, I think is the BEST. 
 

 
Brand name lemonade is put through a pasteurizing process for sanitary reasons.  Necessary mass manufacturing processes like pasteurization reduce the nutritional value found in lemons and require the addition of extra vitamin C.

Why don't you try your hand at squeezing out some REAL lemonade?  If we ever get snow this winter, I'm going to mix the juice of 1 lemon with two tablespoons of maple syrup and pour it over a cup filled with snow.

To read fun facts about lemons visit http://www.wakeuppeople.org/Lemons.html

Or click here if you are up for the Lemonade Math Challenge.

Or learn more about the online Netwalking
E - M A N U A L you just sampled, and how it is organized.