“Preservatives, preservatives. Where are you, preservatives?” I muttered as I walked around the kitchen. I decided to start by looking on our counters. I saw some cooking oil we’d had forever and checked the ingredient list. The only ingredient listed was cooking oil. Hmmm. Maybe that was a preservative? I set it aside to check with my mom.
Next, I picked up a can of beans we’d had for at least a year. Beans, water, and salt. Another vote for salt as a great preservative.
A jar of pickles from our garden caught my eye. We’d made them ourselves at the end of last summer, so those were pretty old too. Oh! And Mom had said that pickling the cucumbers would preserve them.
I closed my eyes and tried to remember what we added. Tiny cucumbers! They were so cute. Then we poured something over them. My nose wrinkled from the memory of the smell. It was vinegar! I really don’t like the smell of vinegar. Which is funny because I actually use it a lot. I love playing with baking soda and vinegar. I never get tired of watching them foam and bubble when they mix. I used to make horrible faces while I played until my mom invented an awesome trick. She adds a few drops of peppermint extract to each cup of vinegar she gives me. When I make my pretend volcanoes erupt, it smells like candy canes are floating through the air.
Sassafras interrupted my thoughts with a meow and pawed at the fridge.
“Great idea! I’ll check the fridge next.” I grabbed the vinegar and set it next to the oil.
I opened the fridge and poked around. Milk, eggs, butter. All had only one ingredient, like the cooking oil. But unlike the oil, we kept them in the fridge. So maybe they didn’t prevent mold on their own. I was pretty sure the cold from the fridge was keeping them from spoiling.
Then my hand landed on some raspberry jelly. Hmmm. That was interesting. I’d been working on eating this giant jar of jelly for weeks now, and it was still good. It was in the fridge, but we also kept fresh raspberries in the fridge, and black mold spots still started growing on them after a few days. Which meant there just might be something special in the jelly to keep it from molding.
I took it out and read the ingredients: raspberries, water, sugar. Sugar? Hmmm. Maybe. I set the jelly on the counter next to my other guesses.
I looked through the pantry next, but all the crackers and cereal I found only listed strange-sounding ingredients at the end. Those were probably the chemicals made in factories my mom had talked about. I couldn’t even read some of the names. They sounded like another language!
I smiled down at Sassafras, who had decided to sit on my right foot. “Any other ideas?”
Sassafras seemed to think for a minute and then left the kitchen. I followed. He ended up hopping into my mom’s lap and purring. I guess that meant he was all out of ideas, too!
Mom looked up and smiled. “Do you have some guesses for me?”
I nodded. “We found a bunch of stuff that uses salt. That’s a popular preservative. Our next guesses are oil, vinegar, and maybe sugar?”
Mom grinned. “Great work! Those are all preservatives. I think they’d all be great to test. Are you ready to finish setting up your experiment? Just remember to change only one thing and . . .”
“I know, I know,” I interrupted, “and keep everything else the same. I will, Mom.”