As American as Apple Pie:
Investigating the Ingredients in an American Favorite
EXTENDED VERSION
Unit: The Apple Genomics Project
Lesson: As American as Apple Pie: Investigating the Ingredients in an American Favorite
Audience: This lesson is intended for use with upper elementary, middle or high school science, agriculture, or family and consumer science classes. This is an ideal lesson for integration across the curriculum, including geography, language arts, and mathematics extensions.
Student Learning Objectives:
At the completion of this lesson the students will be able to:
1. List the ingredients needed to make apple pie filling.
2. Tell where (state or country) each ingredient in apple pie filling is produced, and identify their locations on a map or globe.
3. Discuss the importance of each commodity to the economy of the area (state or country) that produces it.
4. Name some recommended varieties of apples for use in cooking, and explain why the characteristics of apple varieties may change the quality of the final product.
5. Construct a pie chart showing relative amounts of each ingredient in an apple pie.
Student Activities:
· Taste pies made with different varieties of apples and record observations.
· Take notes on lesson content as presented by instructor.
· Identify on a map or globe the locations of the states or countries where each commodity used in apple pie filling is produced.
· Use library and Internet resources to investigate the natural history and production practices of each ingredient in the recipe for apple pie filling.
· Convert amounts of apple pie filling ingredients into a common unit (cups, tablespoons, or teaspoons), determine relative percents of each ingredient on a dry weight basis, and represent these calculations on a pie chart.
Problems & Questions for Study:
- What are the ingredients in apple pie filling?
- Where (state or country) is each ingredient in apple pie filling produced?
- Where are these locations on a map or globe?
- How important to their respective local economies, and to the global economy, is the production of each of these commodities?
- What are some recommended varieties of apples for use in pies?
- Why does the quality of the pie change, depending on the variety of apple used?
- How do the relative amounts of each ingredient in apple pie filling compare?
- How “American” is apple pie?
Documentation of Competencies and Academic Standards Met by This Lesson:
National Academic Standards
Science Content Standard F for Grades 9-12: Develop understanding of science and technology in local, national, and global challenges.
Math Numbers and Operations Standard for Grades 9-12: Understand meanings of operations and how they relate to one another.
Math Communication Standard for Grades 9-12: Use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely.
Math Connections Standard for Grades 9-12: Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics.
Math Representation Standard for Grades 9-12: Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas; use representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical phenomena.
English Language Arts Standard 1: Read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information.
English Language Arts Standard 8: Use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
Economics Standard 1: Scarcity. Understand that productive resources are limited.
Economics Standard 6: Specialization and Trade. When individuals, regions, and nations specialize in what they can produce at the lowest cost and then trade with others, both production and consumption increase.
Geography Standard 1: Use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
Geography Standard 11: Understand the patterns and networks of economic interdependence on earth’s surface.
Technology Standard 7 for Grades 9-12: Routinely and efficiently use online information resources to meet needs for collaboration, research, publication, communication, and productivity.
Technology Standard 8 for Grades 9-12: Select and apply technology tools for research, information analysis, problem solving, and decision making in content learning.
Technology Standard 10 for Grades 9-12: Collaborate with peers, experts, and others to contribute to a content-related knowledge base by using technology to compile, synthesize, produce, and disseminate information, models, and other creative works.
Connection to Supervised Agricultural Experience/Career Development
Careers related to horticulture include fruit grower, extension agent, plant cytologist, flower grader, bacteriologist, grounds keeper, and tree surgeon. [For more careers, visit the FFA Career Center at http://www.ffa.org/index.cfm?method=c_job.CareerSearch.]
FFA proficiency areas related to horticulture include floriculture, landscape architecture, and specialty crop production. [For more proficiency areas, visit the National FFA website for proficiencies at http://www.ffa.org/programs/proficiency/index.html.]
Connection to FFA/Leadership Development/Personal Growth
Career Development Events (CDEs) related to horticulture include floriculture and nursery & landscaping. [For more information on CDEs, visit http://www.ffa.org/programs/cde/index.html.]
Motivation/Interest Approach:
Ask the class to bake a number of pies, each made with a different variety of apple, according to the As American as Apple Pie: Recipe. (Alternatively, the instructor can make the pies ahead of time.) Then, number each pie consecutively. Allow students to try each pie and make observations about differences in quality of the pie. Students should use the As American as Apple Pie: Tasting the Difference worksheet to record their observations. Students may also try to identify the ingredients they can taste in the pies. Ask the class to discuss their observations. The discussion will segue into the lesson content.
An alternative interest approach could be to purchase an apple pie from a local vendor, and ask students to taste the pie and identify the ingredients used to make it. Ask students to come up with list of the ingredients they identified, then compare this list to that on the As American as Apple Pie: Recipe handout. This discussion will then segue into the lesson content.
Content Outline & Teaching Procedures:
A. What are the ingredients in apple pie filling?
1. Ingredients for apple pie include: apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Depending on the recipe, there may be additional ingredients.
B. Where (state or country) is each ingredient in apple pie filling produced?
1. Apples
a. The top apple-producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
b. These states produce nearly 85 percent of the nation’s apple supply each year.
2. Sugar
a. Sugar is produced in at least 121 countries, as sugar beets and sugar cane.
b. Australia is the largest producer of sugar cane.
c. Brazil is the largest exporter of sugar cane.
3. Flour
a. Flour is made from wheat. The United States consumes flour mostly grown within its own borders. North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana are the top wheat-producing states in the U.S.
b. Other top wheat-producing countries include Egypt, Japan, and Mexico.
4. Cinnamon
a. The spice cinnamon is produced from the bark of an evergreen tree.
b. Cinnamon is grown and produced in Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Malaysia, and India.
5. Salt
a. The United States is the leading producer of salt, followed by China and Germany.
b. Salt may be mined or artificially produced.
6. Nutmeg
a. Nutmeg is derived from the fruit of a type of evergreen tree native to southeastern Asia.
b. The leading nutmeg-producing countries are Indonesia and Grenada, followed by India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, and some small Caribbean islands.
7. Lemon juice
a. Lemon juice is produced from lemons.
b. Lemons probably originated in Persia.
c. The world’s leading producers of lemons are Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, South Africa and Australia.
8. Based on this information, what conclusions can we draw about the saying, “As American as Apple Pie”?
C. Where are these locations on a map or globe?
1. Ask students to locate each of the states or countries mentioned above on a map or globe.
D. How important to their respective local economies, and to the global economy, is the production of each of these commodities?
1. Local importance
a. These commodities are very important to the areas in which they are produced. Production of each commodity provides jobs for local residents and brings money, business, and in some cases, tourism, to the communities in which these crops are raised.
2. Global importance
a. These commodities are also very important to the global economy. Since different agricultural commodities cannot be produced in every country, exchanging commodities among countries becomes necessary. Countries may have differing roles in the global economy, depending on how widely produced a particular commodity is. For instance, cinnamon and nutmeg are two spices that are grown in only a few countries; hence, the producing countries play a large part in the trading of these two commodities on a global scale. Other commodities, like sugar, are produced by a large number of countries. While still important to global trade because sugar is so widely used, each sugar-producing country has only a small role in the global market.
E. What are some recommended varieties of apples for use in pies?
1. According to the U.S. Apple Association, the best varieties for use in apple pie filling include: Cameo, Cortland, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, Idared, Jonathan, McIntosh, Newtown Pippin, Cripps Pink, and Rome Beauty.
2. According to the U.S. Apple Association, acceptable varieties (but not the best) for use in apple pies include: Braeburn, Empire, Fuji, Gala, Ginger Gold, and Jonagold.
3. According to the U.S. Apple Association, varieties that should not be used in apple pies include: Red Delicious.
4. Students should note that these are simply recommendations of apple varieties to use in pies. The list is somewhat subjective and dependent on personal preferences.
F. Why does the taste of the pie change, depending on the variety of apple used?
1. According to the U.S. Apple Association, there are over 7,500 cultivated apple varieties in existence, including about 2,500 varieties grown in the U.S. Each apple variety has its own unique flavor, texture, color, and other characteristics, which arise from the genetics of each variety. These characteristics (especially flavor and texture) affect quality aspects of an apple pie, such as how it tastes or how it cooks.
2. Chemistry is the reason these apple characteristics change the nature of the pie. Each apple variety has unique genetics, and thus unique chemical properties that arise from these genetics. Water content, sugar content, and ripeness (conversion of starch to sugar) all affect the physical properties of each apple variety, which the consumer can detect in a final product such as pie. For example, Red Delicious apples tend to have a higher starch content to allow longer storage than other apple varieties; many consumers therefore prefer to avoid Red Delicious apples in their baking, because higher starch content usually leads to a less tasty final product.
G. How do the relative amounts of each ingredient in apple pie filling compare?
1. Recipe for apple pie filling: 6 cups apples, thinly sliced and peeled
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2. Ask students to convert the amounts of each ingredient into a common measure, such as cups or tablespoons.
a. Conversions are as follows:
1. One cup = 16 tablespoons = 48 teaspoons
2. One tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 0.063 cups
3. One teaspoon = 0.333 tablespoons = 0.021 cups
3. Ask students to determine relative percents of each ingredient, using the conversions above.
4. Ask students to represent their calculations on a “pie” chart.
References & Teaching Aids:
· Recipe for “Classic Apple Pie Filling” from New York Apple Country: http://www.nyapplecountry.com/classicpie.htm
· Sugar: http://www.sucrose.com/
· Flour: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flour
· Cinnamon: www.itdg.org/docs/technical_ information_service/cinnamon.pdf
· Salt: http://www.saltinstitute.org/ (includes salt-related curriculum)
http://www.saltsense.co.uk/index.htm
· Nutmeg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutmeg
· Lemons: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lemon.html
· World agriculture: http://www.fao.org/
· Kitchen conversions calculator: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/conversions.htm
· Apple variety uses: http://www.usapple.org/consumers/appleguide/variety.shtml
· How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, by Marjorie Priceman. 1996. Dragonfly Books: New York, NY. ISBN # 0-679-88083-6. (Ages 4-8)
Additional Material:
Handouts
As American as Apple Pie: Class Notes 1
As American as Apple Pie: Class Notes 2
As American as Apple Pie: Recipe
As American as Apple Pie: Recommended Cooking Varieties
Transparencies
As American as Apple Pie: United States Map
As American as Apple Pie: World Map
Worksheets
As American as Apple Pie: Ingredient Conversions
As American as Apple Pie: Tasting the Difference
As American as Apple Pie: Research Project
Name: ______
As American as Apple Pie: Class Notes 1
A. Ingredients in apple pie filling include:
* Depending on the recipe, there may be additional ingredients.
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
6. ______
7. ______
B. Where ingredients in apple pie filling are produced:
1. Apples
a. The top apple-producing states are:
1. ______4. ______
2. ______5. ______
3. ______6. ______
b. These states produce nearly ______of the nation’s apple supply each year.
2. Sugar
a. Produced in at least ______countries, as ______and
______.
b. ______is the largest producer of sugar cane.
c. ______is the largest exporter of sugar cane.
3. Flour
a. Flour is made from ______.
b. The United States consumes flour mostly grown within its own borders. The top wheat- producing states are:
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
c. Other top wheat-producing countries include:
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. Cinnamon
a. The spice cinnamon is produced from ______.
b. Cinnamon is grown and produced in:
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. Salt
a. ______is the leading producer of salt, followed by ______
and ______.
b. Salt may be ______or artificially ______.