We studied the Mayans last week; but never quite fit this project in. Chris told me about the kit from Home Science/Training Tools. This kit included everything we needed to make ORGANIC chocolate.
First we examined cacao beans. Arielle was skeptical.
Next we melted cocoa butter....strange stuff. It SMELLED like chocolate (duh!) and looked like butter. It tasted like fatty chocolate.
We added the grounded cacao beans and stirred....a lot. (This was first thing in the a.m. so the kids are NOT greasers - they have shower hair. ::snort::
We called Jamin in to whip the little bumps I couldn't get.
The kids INSISTED on adding peanut butter (off course it's organic). ::Snort::
Now the chocolate had to temper.....cool to 94*. I didn't trust the little indicator they sent (though it went off at the same time as the digital thermometer.
They formed the candy.
What's THIS???
Our finished product (which we'll enjoy tonight when all are home).
Zander liked clean up best.
Verdict: This reinforced the children's opinion that hands-on projects are better than assembling lap books. Several times I heard, "I like this project better than making fish prints." So it did. It smelled better - tasted better too. ::snort::
We talked about growing practices, the Mayan's diet, worship, bitter chocolate drinks (you can buy Mexican Hot Chocolate drink down here, and I think it is very close to the drink that they drink in Central and South America), and how we agree that Chocolate is the food of the gods.
15 comments:
Mmmm...this is a dream project. I'm making myself a note to study chocolate tomorrow. One of my kiddos said that one of the "Mayan guys mixed hot pepper with his chocolate." Hmmm...I definitely think this requires further research and a whole lot of taste testing. (Minus the red pepper.)LOL
Oh that looks like a YUMMY! school day. I recognize that bowl :)
Yvonne, I like the picture of you and your dh! Very nice.
What a great project. We will be doing TOG1 next year, I'll have to remember this.
I really need to look into more hands on projects. This may be just the project to get me going! LOL
Looks like you all had such a fun day of learning.
Cool project! I don't blame Arielle for being skeptical at first!
Yvonne - yes - it was a really popular drink for Mayan nobility.....red peppers and chocolate and they say that Montezuma drank 64 pitchers of the stuff a day....I bet he was a bit rotund.
Yes, this one was well worth the $12 and I'll remember it to use again in 4 years.
Yummy! Glad to see you're putting that peanut butter to good use! My kids think I'm nuts when I start to make PBJ's and start laughing. What's so funny? Oh, nothing, just thinking of De'Etta's peanut butter! They just shake their heads and go on. And I too would prefer chocolate to fish prints and dead cats.
xoxoxo Amy
YUM! I can't wait until we get to the ancients next year! I hope this was recommended in the TOG manual so I'll remember to do it!
Happy anniversary!
What a fun project and a tasty one too! Now, that's my kind of school! LOL
Happy Anniversary too!
No, Cindy it wasn't a TOG project...Chris recommended it to me.
Sis: So glad to know that you inherited a MOST IMPORTANT gene from me, your Mom, CHOCOLATE!! :) It all looks so yummy!
Imagine your independence (another Mom trait) when you had Christmas on February 14th. I'll never forget the looks on everyones faces when we opened the church doors and they saw a nice Christmas winter land. :):):)
They probably just thought we missionaries we a bit strange. :):)
Valentines night the church got a present of 21 dozen roses all in arangements of 12 dozen. They called Dad to see if he could deliver them to the widows etc of our church! SURE!! I met him after school at 3pm and we got home by 8:30 with only 4 we could not find. Dad delivered those the next day. IT TURNED OUT TO BE EVEN MORE FUN THAN THE DINNER OUT WE HAD PLANNED. :):) That was sure a nice gift from a florest.
l/p
I bought this too when Chris mentioned it! It was hard to resist doing it right away but I set it aside to use with TOG 1.
Glad to know it worked well.
I am do gonna have to try this! Wow! I love it! It looks like Zander really liked it too!
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