Hypothesis:

2. Hypothesis: Dating back to ancient times, salt was a massive part of trading because of its power to preserve things. Based on how much it was used and how big of a factor in trading it was, I think salt will be the most successful out of the 5 natural preservatives I am testing on the 3 food items. I think that orange juice will be the worst because after doing my research, most of the articles I looked at did not include orange juice as a good preservative.

3. Procedure Part 1, Cheese: 1.I gathered 5 plastic bags, 5 pieces of cheese, a sheet tray, and my 5 natural preservatives. 2.I labeled the plastic bag corresponding to the preservative I was going to put in it. 3.I put each preservative into each plastic bag. 4.I dropped a piece of cheese into each bag, sealed the bags, and placed them on the sheet tray. 5.I grabbed an extra plastic bag and put a plain piece of cheese in it with no preservatives. 6.I made a chart to describe what was happening to the cheese. Part 2, Cucumbers: 1.I gathered 5 plastic bags, 5 pieces of cucumber, and my 5 natural preservatives. 2.I labeled the plastic bag corresponding to the preservative I was going to put in it. 3.I put each preservative into each plastic bag. 4.I dropped a cucumber into each bag, sealed the bags, and placed them on the sheet tray. 5.I grabbed an extra plastic bag and put a plain piece of cucumber in it with no preservatives. 6.I made a chart to describe what was happening to the cheese. Part 3, Carrots: 1.I gathered 5 plastic bags, 5 baby carrots, and my 5 natural preservatives. 2.I labeled the plastic bag corresponding to the preservative I was going to put in it. 3.I put each preservative into each plastic bag. 4.I dropped a carrot into each bag, sealed the bags, and placed them on the sheet tray. 5.I grabbed an extra plastic bag and put a plain carrot in it with no preservatives. 6.I made a chart to describe what was happening to the carrot.

4. Conclusion Through my observations, I have concluded that my hypothesis was incorrect. Salt was not the best preservative, also it was not the worst. The worst preservative was lemon juice. Lemon juice made the cucumber have a lot of white mold on it and started to degrade in the bag with the cheese. The best preservative was orange juice. Orange juice was the best preservative. Orange juice did not make anything mold or discolor which was pretty cool because I thought it was going to be the worst. Maybe, another reason orange juice was very successful was because of its high Vitamin C count. If you have time you should really try this experiment!