Monthly Archives: June 2019

5th grade, Capstone

Blog post #7 – Capstone share

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Overall, Capstone has been an amazing project. Even though there have been some up and down’s. I had some problems with my recording, but I will get into those later. I do not regret doing my capstone on chocolate because now when I eat it, it will always remind me of my capstone and Now I get to know more about the food, when I eat it.

 

First I am going to be talking about the up’s in capstone. Some of the up’s that I made in capstone, were getting to go to pennsylvania and go to hershey park because I got to watch a play there about hershey’s chocolate called hershey unwrapped. I also got to go on a ride that takes you threw that steps of chocolate. Another up that I had in capstone was putting together my script because I got to put my voice in it. One down in capstone was figuring out my topic and main inquiry question because I had know idea what I wanted to do for my topic and then when I decided on chocolate I had to come up with my main inquiry question and I was like, do I want to do it on the history, the discovery or anything else, but when I finally chose it, I was so excited to start researching.

 

Even though we have not resented to our parents yet. We have recorded our presentations. In the past we would do it the day of, but it was too overwhelming so now we do them on different days. When I started recording it was going great, until I had only two more slides left, we figured out that the ipad stopped recording in the middle of the presentation because it ran out of space, so we had to start all over again. But when I finished I got a good feeling and that feeling was that we are now one more step closer to do our final presentations in front of our parents and that we were really graduating heathcote. I have had so many great journeys here. Capstone is definitely one of them.

 

I am so happy that I have got this opportunity to do this really fun research project. I can not wait until we present for the real thing. Capstone is our big end of the year project and It has been so fun and it has prepared the whole 5th grade in every school for middle school. Now I am ready to start my new journey someplace else.

5th grade, Capstone

Blog post#6 – Making the final project

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I have loved having the experience to do this big research project on something that you want to do it on. Making this script was so fun. I got to put all of my research together and I also get to put my voice into it. I started doing it like, the script for that slide, then the slide for it but it took me so long, so I just did like three slides for the script and then, those three slides in the presentation. Also, the first few slides I put a lot of detail into them and it was way to much so I had to redew some of them. When I did the whole project I had to make sure that my timing was good. My first time I timed it, it was five minutes and thirty seconds, which is perfect because It has to be somewhere between five and six minutes. The second time I timed it it was five minutes and fifty seconds and I talked slower, so it made sense. The third time I did it, it was five minutes and about forty five seconds. Once I made sure everything was good I performed in front of different people and I made some revisions. Overall, I loved making my ted talk script and slide show. I can’t wait till we record and present our capstone presentations in front of our parents. You can see my script below.

 

My script:

Speaking: Hi, my name is lindsey and I am going to be talking about chocolate. My main inquiry question is, How has the discovery of chocolate impacted food world wide and I am going to be answering that. But before I tell you, you should know that, the next time you bite into a piece of chocolate, you can think about how delicious it tastes and how it made its way into so many different foods.

 

Speaking: First I am going to be talking about what chocolate is. Most of you guys think that chocolate is sweet right, and you also may think that it is something that you eat. But surprisingly for about 90 percent of chocolates long history it has been strictly considered a beverage and also sugar had nothing to do with it, which I did not know. According to Alexandra Leaf, chocolate is the best known food that nobody knows anything about.

 

Speaking: It’s important to know that chocolate is made from a tropical theobroma cacao tree seeds. Cacao trees are native to south and central America, but there cacao farms in Africa, India, Indonesia and Southeast Asia. They grow from cocoa beans. The fruit of the cocoa tree is a yellow or darkish red pod, it is kind of the size and shape of a small football. Chocolate is made from the small seeds inside the cocoa bean. Each fruit has about 40 of these whitish purple beans inside it.

 

Speaking: Fun fact, In the rainforests monkeys drink the juice of the cacao bean on the tree and then drop the solid on the ground and we use they solid to make chocolate, so it’s a good deal for both of us.

 

Speaking: Have you ever wondered how this interesting food was actually discovered. If you do, your in luck. In my research, I learned that chocolate dates back to at least 500 BCE, when the texsan mayan, ancient people who lived in Central America enjoyed the chocolate drink. They drank this drink during religious ceremonies like funerals, births, and weddings. Some historians have estimated that chocolate has been around for almost 2,000 years, but recent research says that it might be even older.

 

Speaking: So how does chocolate turn into the deliciousness we know today? The process of chocolate takes a long time because there are so many steps. First you harvest them, then you ferment them for about a week, then dry them in the sun for a longer period of time, but if fermentation yeast breaks down, the beans complex sugars giving them that chocolaty flavor, will not have that flavor. The dried fermented beans get roasted to bring out the flavor. Then the beans are deshelled or winnowed. When you winnow the beans you are separating the cocoa solid from cocoa nibs. Cocoa nibs are either put into chocolate or other cocoa products. It is then grinded and mashed and it creates chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor is then poured into molds until it turns solid. That can get sold as unsweetened chocolate. Some of it is solidified and crushed. The pressing stage separates the cocoa solid from the fat of the cocoa butter.

 

Speaking: Chocolate is in so many other foods. For example, When the cocoa solids get grounded into cocoa powder cocoa powder is used in hot chocolate. But, chocolate did not only spread to foods some of it goes in products.

 

Speaking: In every piece of chocolate when you crush it and solidify it, it is getting pressed and when you press it, you are separating the cocoa solid from cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is used in hair products, mainly conditioner because it makes hair softer, it is also used in white chocolate. Did you know that white chocolate isn’t even chocolate at all.

 

Speaking: For my site visit I went to hershey chocolate world in penisvanya and I figured that hershey was founded in 1984 by Milton Hershey, but Milton Hershey was not the first person do something with chocolate, But he was one of the first people to mastraduce chocolate. Milton Hershey was supposed to go on the titanic but his wife, Catherine sweeney, that he called kitty got sick and couldn’t go, thank god. They got married in 1898. If Catherine never got sick, then Hershey Chocolate would not exist.

 

Speaking: Most people think that milk chocolate is better because it has a lower percent of cocoa in it then dark chocolate. Milk chocolate has a higher percent of milk in it, You can tell by the difference of the color. But in hershey chocolates dark chocolate has no milk in it. Milk chocolate is very popular for chocolate. It has to contain at least 12 percent milk in it, which can be powdered milk powder, condensed milk, regular liquid milk or any combination of them. As long as your piece of chocolate contains between 10 and 25 percent chocolate liquor and also contains milk, it is milk chocolate.

 

Speaking: Cocoa by itself tastes really bitter. It is all about how much cacao bean goes into the piece of chocolate. You can look on the label of your piece of chocolate to see the percent of cocoa it has. It is different in every country. Canada has to be 18 percent to be dark chocolate, but in the United States and Europe it has to be at least 35 percent to be dark chocolate. Milk chocolate requires at least 10 percent of cocoa, well dark chocolate can have 18-99 percent of cocoa, that is what makes dark chocolate healthier.

 

Speaking: For more information go to my blog or scan this qr code. Thank you!

 

5th grade, Capstone, Writing

Blog post #5 – Answering my main inqury question

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Capstone essay

The next time you bite into a piece of chocolate, you might not have to feel too guilty about it. Besides its bad reputation for causing weight gain, a number of health benefits may be associated with this delicious treat. Chocolate also has a lot of history in the food industry. For capstone we have to come up with a main inquiry question. Mine is, how has the discovery of chocolate impacted food worldwide?

 

First I am going to be talking about what chocolate is? Which is my first sub question. Before I tell you what it is, you might think that it is something that you eat and that it is very sweet but for about 90 percent of chocolates long history it has been strictly considered a beverage and also sugar had nothing to do with it, which I did not know. According to Alexandra Leaf, chocolate is the best known food that nobody knows anything about. Anyway, chocolate is made from a tropical theobroma cacao tree seeds. Cacao trees are native to south and central America, but there cacao farms in Africa, India, Indonesia and Southeast Asia. You also may think that chocolate bars grow on trees, but they don’t. They grow from a cocoa beans. The fruit of the cocoa tree is a yellow or darkish red pod, it is kind of the size and shape of a small football. Chocolate is made from the small seeds inside the cocoa bean. Each fruit has about 40 of these whitish purple beans inside it. Fun fact, In the rainforests monkeys drink the juice of the cacao bean on the tree and then drop the solid on the ground and we use they solid to make chocolate, so it’s a good deal for both of us.  Did you know that when cacao beans are roasted and fermented, they make chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor has nothing to do with alcohol..

 

My second sub question is, How was chocolate discovered? In my research I figured out that chocolate dates back to at least 500 BCE. When the texsan mayan, ancient people who lived in Central America enjoyed this chocolate drink. They drank this drink during religious ceremonies like funerals, births, and weddings. Some historians have estimated that chocolate has been around for almost 2,000 years, but recent research says that it might be even older. It takes so long to make chocolate because there are so many steps. First you harvest them, then you ferment them for about a week, then dry them in the sun for a longer time, but if fermentation yeast breaks down, the beans complex sugars giving them that chocolaty flavor. The dried fermented beans get roasted to bring out the flavor. Then the beans are deshelled or winnowed. When you winnow the beans you are separating the cocoa solid from cocoa nibs. Cocoa nibs are either put into chocolate or other cocoa products. It is then grinded and mashed and it creates chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor is then poured into molds until it turns solid. That can get sold as unsweetened chocolate. Some of it is solidified and crushed. The pressing stage separates the cocoa solid from the fat of the cocoa butter.

 

My third sub question, How did chocolate spread to all different kinds of foods? When the cocoa solids get grounded into cocoa powder the cocoa powder is used in hot chocolate. But, chocolate did not only spread to foods some of it goes in products. For example In every piece of chocolate when you crush it and solidify it, it is getting pressed and when you press it, you are separating the cocoa solid from cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is used in hair products, mainly conditioner because it makes hair softer, it is also used in white chocolate. Did you know that white chocolate isn’t even chocolate at all.

 

My fourth sub question is, How did the discovery of chocolate spread to other places? For my site visit I went to hershey chocolate world in penisvanya and I figured that hershey was founded in 1984 by Milton Hershey, but Milton Hershey was not the first person do do something with chocolate, But he was one of the first people to mastraduce chocolate. Milton Hershey was supposed to go on the titanic but his wife, Catherine sweeney, that he called kitty got sick and couldn’t go, thank god. They got married in 1898. If Catherine never got sick, then Hershey Chocolate would not exist.

 

My fifth sub question is, How does milk chocolate and dark chocolate compare. Most people think that milk chocolate is better because it has a lower percent of cocoa in it then dark chocolate. Milk chocolate has a higher percent of milk in it, but in hershey chocolates dark chocolate has no milk in it. Cocoa by itself tastes really bitter. It is all about how much cacao bean goes into the piece of chocolate. Milk chocolate requires at least 10 percent of cocoa, well dark chocolate can have 18-99 percent of cocoa, that is what makes dark chocolate healthier. Milk chocolate is very popular for chocolate. It has to contain at least 12 percent milk in it, which can be milk powder, condensed milk, regular liquid milk or any combination of them. As long as your piece of chocolate contains between 10 and 25 percent chocolate liquor and also contains milk, it is milk chocolate. You can look on the label of your piece of chocolate to see the percent of cocoa it has. It is different in every country. Canada has to be 18 percent to be dark chocolate, but in the United States and Europe it has to be at least 35 percent to be dark chocolate.

 

I loved researching chocolate for my capstone. Chocolate was fun researching because I love chocolate because it tastes so good. I hope that I get another chance to do a fun project like capstone in the future.