Hypothesis

We hypothesize that pure distilled white vinegar will make the best-tasting pickles because it is most commonly used to make pickles and has a PH of 2.5. 

When it comes to pickling, you want your liquid to be acidic (but not too acidic) because, over a short period, the pickles will contribute more to acidity as they pickle over time and become more sour. (Because nobody wants a sour pickle.) 

Distilled white vinegar is the most commonly used because it has a clean, crisp flavor that best holds the produce's original taste and color

Distilled white vinegar is the most popular vinegar for pickling because it creates a clean crisp flavor, leaving the original greenish color, and it has a PH of 2.5 which is very acidic! How do we taste food? Taste buds have very sensitive microscopic hairs called microvilli (say: mye-kro-VILL-eye). Those tiny hairs send messages to the brain about how something tastes, so you know if it's sweet, sour, bitter, or salty. The average person has about 10,000 taste buds and they're replaced every 2 weeks or so. What is pickling? Pickling is the process of preserving a food's life by submerging it in brine or vinegar. The pickling process usually affects the food's texture and flavor. The resulting food is called a pickle,or, if named, the name is prefaced with the name “pickled”. Why did we pickle the cucumbers for 11 days? Well when we met up to eat the pickles it was the only night our families could meet up and the ideal time period for pickling is roughly two weeks.   

Variables 

Responding variables:

-Taste and texture of pickles 

Manipulated variables:

-Varied acidic ingredients (vinegar types)

Controlled variables:

-How long the cucumbers pickle 

-How much vinegar and other pickling ingredients are added 

-Quantity of cucumbers in each jar

-What type of jars are used

-Environment the jars are held in

Procedure

1. Buy all materials/ingredients  

2 . Boil jars (so we can prevent bacteria growth)

3 . To make each vinegar mixture 

a.  To the medium saucepan add the sugar, water, vinegar, salt 

b. Heat and stir until salt and sugar dissolve (50°C)

c. Put cucumbers, garlic, dill in the 3 jars tightly

d. Put 110g of the vinegar mixture in each jar  

e. Clean rim and seal jars tightly 

f. Add jars to warm water (50°C) bring to a boil for 10 minutes, ensure jars are submerged the whole time

g. Remove from pot, let jars cool for 3 hours them move to a controlled environment 

11 days later

5. Release the pickles 

6. Create vinegar codes A,B,C,D WH,WW,AC,RICE 

7. Get our siblings/parents individually to taste test the pickles and fill out the survey 

8.Switch the codes so they don't remember which is which 

9.conduct the pickle tasting and survey again

10.switch codes once more 

11.conduct the tasting and survey again

12.collect the information gathered from the surveys to make graphs for each tasting/survey    

Pickle recipe

https://www.loveandlemons.com/dill-pickles-recipe/

Vinegar website

https://greatlakespickling.com/what-vinegar-to-use-in-pickling/#:~:text=Vinegar%20Options%20for%20Pickling%20and,the%20produce%20or%2C%20the%20seasonings.

PH scale and its effects on pickles

https://greatlakespickling.com/does-it-matter-which-vinegar-i-use-for-pickling/#:~:text=When%20it%20comes%20to%20pickling,the%20liquid%20as%20they%20ferment.

Some reasoning for our hypothesis

https://www.steviestorck.com/blog/2022/7/7/quick-pickling-101

How pickles ferment and how to get the best-tasting pickle

https://extension.umn.edu/preserving-and-preparing/how-make-fermented-pickles#:~:text=Fermented%20%20pickles%20or%20%20brined%20%20pickles,are%20associate%20with%20%20fermented%20%20pickles.

Fun Facts Site

https://nomsmagazine.com/weird-pickle-facts/

Why Garlic Turns Blue

https://www.thespruceeats.com/garlic-turns-blue-when-pickled-1327752

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1756464617302670