Mummified Fruit

This activity is taken from “Let’s Go Live with Maddie & Greg”, a live family science show on YouTube!

View the full episode this activity is taken from on YouTube

“We love this activity because it combines ancient history with science - learning about mummification and preserving foods!”

Materials you could use

An apple

Preservation materials - Salt, Bicarbonate of Soda and Vinegar.

Bandage strips or kitchen roll

8 small bowls/dishes

Method

This activity is all about comparing the effect on fruit when it has been mummified!

1. Cut the apple into 8 slices and place them in separate bowls/dishes. Cover the apple slices in your different 'preservation' materials. Slice 1 - Leave it as it is, this will be our ‘control.’ Slice 2 - Cover in salt Slice 3 - Cover in bicarbonate of soda Slice 4 - Cover in vinegar Slice 5 - Wrap in a bandage, This will be our second 'control' Slice 6 - Wrap in a bandage and cover in salt Slice 7 - Wrap in a bandage and cover in bicarbonate of soda Slice 8 - Wrap in a bandage and cover in vinegar

2. For best results, put your bowls in a safe place (away from food prep areas and pets) and leave them for one week!

3. Record what your apple looks like at the beginning of the experiment, and do so at the end too! It would be interesting to weigh each of the bowls as an additional comparison, both before you start and when you have finished! What are your findings? Have the different preservation materials affected the way the apple has broken down and 'decomposed' over the space of a week?

Additional Experiment ideas!

Why not try using some different ‘ingredients?’

We might pickle food so that we can keep it for longer. Using vinegar is one way that we can preserve food, and we can also use sugar to preserve fruit. Salt is also a way that we can preserve foods including meat and fish. When we preserve food, we are doing so to protect it and make it last as long as possible.

When the Ancient Egyptians preserved the bodies of pharaohs to help them in the next life, they would dry the bodies out and then they would coat them in something called natron (a type of salt mixture) and then they would wrap them in linen sheets.

When completing an experiment, you want to make some controls. A control is something that you use to compare your experiment to. So, for a control you don’t do anything to it, you leave it in its original state.