“Mom!” I hollered. “What is that p-word? For salt? In playdough?”
“Well, hello to you too, Zoey!” My mom chuckled as she came into the room. “Salt is a preservative. A preservative is an ingredient you add to keep mold and bacteria from growing. That way, whatever you’re making will last longer. But why the sudden interest in preservatives?”
“Gorp still needs my help. My towel idea didn’t work. I was thinking there must be something about his monster fur that makes mold grow like crazy, even if it’s dry.”
“Poor Gorp. That mold must really like his fur. Was he terribly disappointed?”
“He was so sad. He even cried! I feel so bad for him. The Monster Ball is only a few days away now. I’ve got to figure this out.”
“So, you’re thinking of trying something with salt?” Mom asked.
“Yeah. I put on my Thinking Goggles, and I remembered that salt keeps our playdough from growing mold. But I should test some more things in case the salt doesn’t work, right? I can test three more things. What else should I try?”
Mom smiled at me. “I bet you can figure that out all by yourself.”
“OK. Ummm . . . ?”
“Why don’t I give you some clues, and if you can’t figure it out by the end of the day, I’ll let you know what I would try?”
I smiled. Clues would be a big help. “What’s my first clue?”
“Well, there are lots of different ways to preserve things against mold. Some preservatives are made in big factories, so we obviously can’t use those. But lots of preservatives can be found in our kitchen. What do you think you should look at?”
“Hmmm. Preservatives make things last a lot longer. So food that lasts a long time?”
Mom nodded. “You’re on the right track, kiddo. See if you can figure out what the preservatives might be by looking at the stickers with the printed ingredient lists.”
“To the kitchen, Sassafras!” I announced. “We’re going on a preservative hunt!”