Homeschool High School Biology: Fermentation of Sauerkraut

Welcome to Honors Biology: Year 2!

During my kid's brief foray into the public school system a couple of years ago, I discovered, to my dismay, that the entire full-year high school Honors Biology class didn't get past ecology! They studied ecosystems, cells, the cell cycle, ecology, and evolution... and then they were done. The kids then had to take a state-mandated standardized test on those topics, and I imagine that for many of them, that was the end of their biology studies.

No plants. No animals. One lab. No MICROSCOPE!!! Like, don't get me wrong, cells and ecosystems and ecology are all super important, and hallelujah my state is at least teaching evolution, but... aren't plants and animals the fun parts of biology? Aren't labs and microscopes the high-interest activities that inspire kids to love science?

Anyway, that's why I feel perfectly justified in turning our homeschool biology study into a two-year course, rounded out with lots of plants, lots of animals, lots of labs, and LOTS of microscope time. 

Honors Biology: Year 2 begins with a study of prokaryotes. Please read all of the sections about bacteria in your biology textbook, and master the practice problems, but then, for the love of all that's good and holy and engaging and enriching, let's go do a lab or look through the microscope. Or SOMETHING!!!

My set of AmScope prepared slides does have a few bacteria slides, but I don't love them. The AmScope prepared slides can be really hit or miss--some are absolutely fabulous, including the protist slides we'll look at next, but the bacteria ones weren't worth trying to incorporate into a lesson. Instead, we looked at illustrated diagrams of bacteria, and played around with growing our own.

Which means... sauerkraut!!!!!

Here's the biology lab that I wrote to lead Syd through the scientific process of making sauerkraut. My favorite parts are calculating the correct grams of table salt and testing the sauerkraut's pH. Most sauerkraut recipes call for a cabbage by the head and a specific measurement of salt, usually in tablespoons. There is some wiggle room in the amount of salt in a sauerkraut recipe, but it's much more accurate to weigh the cabbage, then add 2.5% of that weight in as salt.

Because it can sometimes be kind of lonesome to do a lab alone, I recruited a second biology student for this activity:

Which means that we'll get a yummy two quarts and one pint of sauerkraut out of this lab!

If you've never made sauerkraut before, I really like this walkthrough.

I've never had a problem with my sauerkraut spoiling, but if the thought worries you, an airlock system pretty much guarantees success. 

To see an example of a scientific paper written on the subject of sauerkraut, check this out. There is a lot of sophisticated study that an interested student could make from sauerkraut!

If you're interested in other ways of incorporating food preservation into a kid's homeschool studies, check out my totally made-up Girl Scout Homesteading badge. So many practical life skills in evidence!

And to follow along with all my homeschool and crafty adventures and mishaps--and to see how yummy our sauerkraut looks when it's done!!!--check out my Craft Knife Facebook page!