Methods for processing food

• There are many different methods (ways) to process food.

• Greet the learners.
• Ask the learners: How will you know if food has been processed? Is there a golden rule?

Answer:  Has any process happened from the time that the plant or animal was in its natural habitat to where it is now?  If the answer is yes, you know the food has been processed.

• Some foods undergo very little processing, this is called “minimally processed foods”. Other foods undergo a lot of processing and are called “highly processed foods”.
• Ask learners if they can think of examples of food that are minimally processed and examples of food that are highly processed.

Examples can include: 

Minimally processed food – milk, meat, vegetables, nuts and fruit which have not had large amounts of salt, sugar or fat added.

Highly processed food – breakfast cereal, bread, biscuit, bacon, cheese, chips and fish fingers which have had large amounts of salt, sugar or fat added.

• Hand out Worksheet C for learners to complete.
• Once completed, go over the answers with the learners to ensure that the information on their worksheets is correct.

• Teacher to use WORKSHEET C: MEMORANDUM to mark the learners’ work.

• Ask learners if they can list a few ways in which food is preserved.

Possible answers:  Sun drying; pickling; salting; toasting and freezing.

• Tell learners they will be watching a video that will show ten different ways in which food can be preserved today.
• Ask learners to write the ten different methods in their exercise books.
• Show VIDEO CLIP 2: 10 Food Preservation Methods (9:15 min.).   
• Tell the learners that they are going to do a fun exercise to test their knowledge of food preservation.

• Have a container with pictures of unprocessed food products.
• Draw one picture at a time from the container and place it on the blackboard.
• Learners must see who can come up with a method or methods to preserve the type of food the quickest. Write down the preservation methods next to the relevant picture.
• The following examples may be used –

fruit – drying;

milk – fermenting into cheese, buttermilk or yogurt;  pasteurization (use right amounts of heat to extend shelf life);

grapes – fermenting into wine;

onions – pickling;

fish – pickling or drying;

vegetables – pickling or freezing;

meat – spicing and drying;  smoking;  cooking;  braaing;

berries, figs or tomatoes – add sugar to make jam (preserves);

eggs – boiling, cooking, frying;

bananas – make banana bread;

oranges – make juice;  dry orange rind for cooking;

lemons – make lemonade.

• Learners complete Worksheet D.
• Guide the learners on how to undertake this activity by providing examples and explaining how this worksheet will be assessed.

• Present a summary of how foods are processed by using PRESENTATION 2: How foods are processed.
• Show VIDEO CLIP 3: Food preservation and campfire cooking in 1800s (14:10 min.).  

In this video learners will learn about three major methods:

1) Storage,

2) Drying and

3) Canning.

They will be demonstrated with a campfire meal: Beef Jerky, Parched Sweet Corn, Seed Sprouts, Caramel Pudding and Corn Coffee.

• Show VIDEO CLIP 4: How jellybeans are made (4:59 min.).  
• Show VIDEO CLIP 5: How It’s made Yoghurt (4:29 min.). 
• Show VIDEO CLIP 6: HOW IT WORKS – Instant Coffee (4:24 min.).

• Allow learners to complete their scientific investigation on Food Preservation (WORKSHEET B) and let them share their conclusions with the class.
• Lead a discussion on findings and the value of the outcome of the investigation.