When life gives you lemons . . .

Lemonade Day is approaching!

Ms. C, our music teacher, is charged with coordinating the event on our campus, and every time she mentioned it to me, she flinched as if she feared violence.  This is a dangerous time of year to ask teachers to do "one more thing."  I took pity and decided that if we were going to do this, we should jump in with both feet and make it a real learning experience.  (Is there another way to do these things?)

Shopping cart loaded with a dozen lemons, sugar, powdered lemonade, cans of frozen concentrate, gallon jugs of water, five matching pitchers, and a giant bag of ice, we were stocked and ready to investigate.  (Have you noticed how many of these adventures begin with a late night trip to the store? . . .)

Our challenge is to offer the best tasting lemonade.  The children brainstormed attributes of good lemonade: not too sour, not too sweet, not too watery, the "right" color ("sometimes lemonade is pink"), no seeds, no bugs, maybe lemon slices on the edge of the pitcher or cup, maybe some extra flavors like strawberry or mint from our garden.  We classified these attributes into two categories--flavor and appearance--and I quickly drafted a survey form while the children went to the library for their ancillary class.

When they returned, we discussed the different ways of making lemonade: fresh lemons, lemon juice, flavored powder, and frozen concentrate.  The children also spoke of a tablet that fizzes in the water.  (If I had known about those beforehand, I would have procured some for this investigation!)  We then checked out the ingredients in the various products.  Lemons and sugar and water are fairly straightforward, and although corn syrup topped the list on the can of frozen concentrate, at least all of the ingredients were recognizable and easy to pronounce.  Not so for the flavored powders. 

Next, we discussed how to design a "blind taste test."  One second grader suggested we use a code on each pitcher so that the testers don't know what kind it is. 

Each cooperative science group got busy (and MESSY!) measuring and mixing up a different type of lemonade:

1) Crystal Light "Natural Lemonade" powdered drink mix

2) Fresh lemons, sugar, and water

   

3) Country Time Lemonade powdered drink mix

4) Frozen lemonade concentrate

5) Lemon juice, sugar, and water--made with a simple syrup

In secret, I assigned each lemonade a number,

and we began the serious business of taste-testing. 

"Can your taste buds get tired?" asked a second grader when we were finished.

The votes were in, and the children tallied the results.  

"Will we graph the results?" asked a first grader. You know we will, my lovelies!

To my great dismay (and despite its suspect list of ingredients), Crystal Light was the clear winner, earning 12 votes versus the 5 votes earned by the fresh-squeezed lemonade (and only one vote for each of the others, along with a few young souls who were confused about the election rules). 

The following day, we taste-tested some lemonade enhancements.  Grape juice was added to one pitcher to change the color to pink, and another pitcher was steeped overnight with fresh mint from our garden.  Once again, Mrs. D and I swooned over the one with fresh mint, but pink was very popular with the children.  One second grader with a more discerning palate mentioned to me that it had an undesirable aftertaste of grape.

Seasoned consumers, the children have great marketing strategies:

"One idea is we can put like little umbrellas in the cup and a slice of lemon or a mint leaf to make it pretty.  We can take some grape juice and given them the choice of plain Crystal Light or pink Country Time (it tastes better than pink Crystal Light)."--NJ, 2nd grade

"I think we should sell the lemonade with mint and we could advertise on commercials."--AD, 2nd grade

What We're Reading (just to prove that indeed I do have a book for everything!):

Lemonade for Sale by Stuart Murphy