Week 2

Hello again, this is our second weekly update post about the preserved foods projects! We are glad that you sticked to our blog to see how the foods have changed in the past week. We noticed some changes in the salted meat, the candied fruit, and in the vegetables submerged in oil and vinegar that have happened in the past week. Described observations and analyzations will be included in the next paragraphs; they include changes in odor, texture, appearance, flavor, and color . This is a very fun part because we get to observe the foods like we were scientists! Pictures of the preserved foods will be definitely be included into the blog. All of you, pay attention to the things we will be writing about the food’s changes. Stick around because there will be more update posts! And we have a surprise for you, we are currently making a sourdough bread recipe that includes making yeast with grapes! Delicious! We will be adding that post later but for now enjoy this new update post!!!

Let's start with the pineapple! If you don't remember, the preservation method used for this fruit was candying. After one week since our last update post about the fruit, the pineapple is still edible, thank God!! Right now, the fruit has achieved two weeks of being preserved. The fruit’s texture is the same as it was at the beginning, it has a rough and hard texture and composition. The texture still has the pieces of sugar all around the pineapple. More pieces of sugar and candied layer have fallen off, meaning that the pieces of pineapple have been getting smaller. The odor of the preserved fruit is the same, it still smells like pineapple. It also still smells like candy, and very sugary. The biggest change that the preserved fruit has gone through, is that it has gotten darker. At the beginning the color was yellow, then last week it got brownish. This week it is more brownish. For example, one small piece of the fruit is totally brown. Despite this change, the fruit is still edible. Let's just say that Granny would be very proud (we are actually managing to achieve Granny's recipe!!).

Second is the meat, and the preservation method we used for this one is salting! Since last week the meat's color has become darker, now it is almost completely brown instead of redish brown. The color is still the same, it smells terrible. This is a warning folks, if you have a sensitive sense of smell, don't even come within one meter of the meat. It has a very spicy and concentrated smell!! Right now the meat can't be cooked, but we hope that when we do it can actually be edible. The texture is the same as before, it is loafy, but it isn't freezed, it is actually flexible. Hope it doesn't make any splits!! Also, more of the spices have come off, but it still feels as salty as before, since the meat has absorbed some of the spices. Last we checked, there was almost no juices from the meat left in the bag, meaning that it is already dry. Another small tip, beware of the stickiness!! If you take the meat in your own hands you will feel all sticky and dirty. Ew!!!

Last but not least is the vegetable! FYI we used the submersion in oil and vinegar preservation method for this one. We were very surprised when we saw the mushrooms! The color has changed, before the mushrooms were a dark brown, but right now they look black in some places. Also, the size changed, they have shrunk! We hope they don't become the size of a pea! The oil that covered them disappeared completely, and the container's base has frozen. They smell as terrible as ever! Cover your noses people, we can smell them a mile away! We hope they taste better than they smell!

Well, in conclusion our three foods have changed, some have changed drastically and others have barely changed at all. For the pineapple, there was a change in the texture since some layers of candy have fallen of, and the color has darkened to brown. The meat is a little bit smellier but the amount of meat juices in the bag has reduced; also some more spices have fallen off as well. The mushrooms smell impossibly worse, and have had a huge change in color, since right now they are darker. The oil that covered them has also disappeared. There will be more update posts next week, though not many, since we will be concentrating on making the sourdough bread. We are very happy that our preserved food has survived until today, and we certainly hope that it lasts longer. And of course, we hope it is edible!! Keep in touch, we urge you to keep checking our blog for new updates each week, and if you tried one of our recipes out and want to tell us how it went, comment!! THANK YOU!!