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Two Pickle Methods: Vinegar or Salty Water

4th grade nonfiction passage about pickling food: 178 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction pickling food 178 words

Two Pickle Methods: Vinegar or Salty Water

People have pickled food for a very long time. Before refrigerators, pickling helped families keep cucumbers and other vegetables from spoiling. There are two main ways to do it, and they work in different ways.

The first way uses vinegar. A cook pours a mix of vinegar, water, and salt over the vegetables in a jar. Vinegar is sour, and the sourness makes it hard for the germs that spoil food to grow. These pickles are ready quickly, sometimes in just a day or two. They taste sharp and crunchy.

The second way uses only salty water, called brine. The cucumbers sit in the brine for days or weeks. Salt keeps most spoiling germs away, but one helpful kind of bacteria likes the salt. As the bacteria grow, they make the pickles sour on their own. This is called fermenting. The flavor is deeper and more complicated.

Both kinds of pickles can be tasty. If you like a fast snack, vinegar pickles are a good choice. If you like a slow, bubbly flavor, you might prefer fermented ones.

Questions

  1. Why did families pickle vegetables long ago? in the text

  2. What is poured over vegetables in the first pickle method? in the text

  3. How does vinegar help keep food from spoiling? in the text

  4. What is brine? in the text

  5. How do fermented pickles get their sour taste? in the text

  6. Which kind of pickle would be better for someone in a hurry? think about it

Words to know

pickled
kept in vinegar or salty water so it lasts longer
spoiling
going bad so that food is no longer safe to eat
brine
water with a lot of salt in it
fermenting
changing slowly as tiny living things grow in it
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 135 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.7

People have pickled food for a long time. Before refrigerators, pickling kept cucumbers and other vegetables from spoiling. There are two main ways to do it.

The first way uses vinegar. A cook pours vinegar, water, and salt over vegetables in a jar. Vinegar is sour. The sour taste makes it hard for germs to grow. These pickles are ready in a day or two. They taste sharp and crunchy.

The second way uses salty water, called brine. The cucumbers sit in the brine for days or weeks. Salt keeps most germs away. But one helpful kind of bacteria likes the salt. It grows and makes the pickles sour. This is called fermenting. The taste is deeper.

Both kinds are tasty. Vinegar pickles are a good fast snack. Fermented pickles have a slow, bubbly flavor.

▲ This passage · 178 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.1

People have pickled food for a very long time. Before refrigerators, pickling helped families keep cucumbers and other vegetables from spoiling. There are two main ways to do it, and they work in different ways.

The first way uses vinegar. A cook pours a mix of vinegar, water, and salt over the vegetables in a jar. Vinegar is sour, and the sourness makes it hard for the germs that spoil food to grow. These pickles are ready quickly, sometimes in just a day or two. They taste sharp and crunchy.

The second way uses only salty water, called brine. The cucumbers sit in the brine for days or weeks. Salt keeps most spoiling germs away, but one helpful kind of bacteria likes the salt. As the bacteria grow, they make the pickles sour on their own. This is called fermenting. The flavor is deeper and more complicated.

Both kinds of pickles can be tasty. If you like a fast snack, vinegar pickles are a good choice. If you like a slow, bubbly flavor, you might prefer fermented ones.

■ Harder · 195 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 7.8

People have been pickling food for a very long time. Before the invention of refrigerators, pickling helped families preserve cucumbers and other vegetables so that they would not spoil. There are two principal methods, and each one works in a different way.

The first method relies on vinegar. A cook pours a mixture of vinegar, water, and salt over the vegetables packed in a jar. Vinegar is sour, and that sourness makes it difficult for the germs that spoil food to multiply. Pickles made this way are ready quickly, sometimes within a day or two, and they taste sharp and crunchy.

The second method uses nothing but salty water, which is called brine. The cucumbers sit in the brine for days or even weeks. Salt keeps most spoiling germs away, but one helpful kind of bacteria actually thrives in the salt. As these bacteria grow, they turn the pickles sour all by themselves, a process known as fermenting. The resulting flavor is deeper and more complicated.

Both kinds of pickles can be delicious. Anyone who wants a fast snack might choose vinegar pickles, while someone who enjoys a slow, bubbly flavor may prefer fermented ones.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put pickled, spoiling, brine and fermenting on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 6 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Two Pickle Methods: Vinegar or Salty Water"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 178 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.1. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 1 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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