Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The Curious Case of the Zombie Tomatoes

the picture just doesn't do them justice

   The idea was to make a basic tomato/cilantro salad; I don't do basic. To vamp up the activity, a variety of herbs and tomatoes was arranged on the cutting board peaking interest and sparking curiosity (yes!). Students arrived, scattering to the various stations to prepare.. but.. you never know what will happen when kids get in the kitchen.

    We introduce each variety of tomato: the beefsteak, the Roma, several color varieties of cherry and grape tomatoes. One particular tomato gets everyone's attention: the grape purple stripey. Purchased by Mr. Go, this tomato was an accidental arrival- or what is commonly known as "Mr. Go went shopping and this is what happened". Dark purple skin sports deep green stripes; when sliced, the inner seed gel is a vibrant almost neon green.
     From here the madness began with a fascinated proclamation: a zombie tomato! There were ooh's and ah's mixed with giggles and horror- they braved touching it and begged to taste it. Who knew you could get kids to eat tomatoes by completely grossing them out with zombie-like craziness?
     Eventually the herbs were touched, sniffed, and tasted. Eventually the actual salad was made, tasted and talked about. .. but.. the thing that made the biggest impression was the curious case of the zombie tomatoes!

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