Page 6 theview . com March 2017
How Sweet It Is !
Story and photos by Kim Odom , City of Lakeland , Special to THE VIEW 38002
A dozen youth , in grades 1-6 , got a lesson in nature ’ s plants that produce some of the finest ingredients used to make some of their favorite candies during the Lakeland Parks and Recreation Department and Memphis Botanic Garden , “ Nature ’ s Candy Store ,” workshop held at IH Clubhouse Saturday , Feb . 18 .
Memphis Botanic Garden representative , Kristen Zemaitis , led kids on engaging experiments including making their own colonial mint candies and sampling class-made chewing gum .
“ The Memphis Botanic Garden outreach program is a way we can ‘ bring the garden to you ,’” said Zemaitis , event coordinator . “ We hope to bring children an awareness of the natural environment around them whether they are here at the garden , in a classroom or community center .”
“ The program ‘ Nature ' s Candy Store ’ helps children answer the question : “ where does chocolate , vanilla , and cinnamon come from ?’ It all starts with plants ,” Zemaitis added .
Using their sense of smell , youth were asked to close their eyes and guess what ingredient they could identify by smelling a piece of candy given to them . An impressive number of youth used their sharp sense of smell to identify a variety of ingredients .
“ Why have the Memphis Botanic Garden come teach about candy ?," stated Zemaitis . “ Every single piece of candy that you eat has at least one plant ingredients ... some 2-3 ."
Participants learned about various trees and the plant origins of chocolate , vanilla , licorice , and cinnamon , all ingredients in
Creating chewing gum during class , McKenzie Nichols , 8 , rolls the sticky concoction given to her between her fingers until it looked just like a piece of bubble gum before popping it in her mouth .
some of our favorite treats . Among the many lessons of nature ’ s plants , the class learned that the sapodilla tree is the source of the chicle , a sticky sap , which is a component of chewing gum . They got a close up look at how chicle , syrup and a little cherry Kool-Aid come together to form , delicious cherry-flavored chewing gum .
Although not all the youth were impressed with the taste of the colonial mint candies ( mint leaves dipped in sugar ) sampled during class – the chewing gum
delighted their youthful palettes . Rolling the bit of sample given to her , between her fingers before popping the gum in her mouth , Madison Smith , had what looked just like a piece of bubble gum . The nine-year-old gave the gum a big thumbs up on taste .
At the end of the presentation on nature ’ s plant origins , youth put on their smocks and decorated their own candy pizzas with many of the ingredients they had just learned about . Each participant received a pizza crust made of melted chocolate , Rice Krispies cereal , and marshmallows . They were provided a variety of candies to decorate with including M & M ’ s chocolate candies , gummy bears , gum drops , candy corn , and more . Once all the pizza creations were complete , each youth participant was awarded a Junior Master
Abby Simpson , 10 , Kate Capps , 8 , Claire Simpson , 8 , earned a junior chef hat at the “ Nature ’ s Candy Store ,” workshop presented by Memphis Botanic Garden and Lakeland Parks and Recreation . The junior bakers created a take-home candy pizza at the event .
Chef hat for their creative abilities .
Peter Aguilar said of the Nature ’ s Candy Store workshop , “ This is the best day of my life .” The eight-year-old said he was happy to learn so much about the ingredients of some of his favorite candy , and added , “ I am happy because I got to make my very own candy pizza .”