Skip to main content
Ingenium Logo

You are leaving IngeniumCanada.org

✖


This link leads to an external website that Ingenium does not control. Please read the third-party’s privacy policies before entering personal information or conducting a transaction on their site.

Have questions? Review our Privacy Statement

Vous quittez IngeniumCanada.org

✖


Ce lien mène à un site Web externe qu'Ingenium ne contrôle pas. Veuillez lire les politiques de confidentialité des tiers avant de partager des renseignements personnels ou d'effectuer une transaction sur leur site.

Questions? Consultez notre Énoncé de confidentialité

Ingenium Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

Langue

  • Français
Search Toggle

Menu des liens rapides

  • Tickets
  • Ingenium Locations
  • Shop
  • Donate
  • Join
Menu

Main Navigation

  • Plan Your Visit
    • Health and Safety
    • Hours
    • Admission
    • Location and Directions
    • Accessibility
    • Browse All Visitor Information
    • Buy Tickets
    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • About the Museum
  • What's On at the Museum
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • Spaces and Studios
  • Bookings and Rentals
    • School Programs
    • Birthday Parties
    • Summer Camps
    • Venue Rentals
    • Travelling Exhibitions
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Group Visits
  • Educational Programs
    • School Programs
    • Host a Program
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Program Location
      • At the Museum
      • At Your School
      • Online
      • Browse all Educational Programs
    • Popular Links
      • 3D Educational Resources
      • Online Resources for Science at Home
      • Digital Learning Kits
      • Games and Apps
      • Recipes
      • Try This Out
  • Collection and Research
    • Research Institute
    • Research Projects
    • Collection Resources
      • Ingenium Collection
      • Collection Highlights
      • Conservation and Collection Services
    • Library and Archives
      • Library and Archives Services
      • Library Catalogue
      • Digital Archives
    • Open Access
      • Ingenium APIs
      • Open Data
      • Open Documents
  • Projects and Initiatives
    • Ingenium Channel
    • Aquaculture Initiatives
    • Soil Superheroes
    • Draw with Rob Canada
    • Canola! Seeds of Innovation
    • Food for Health

Apples: Stop the Browning!

Hours and Location

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week
Address
901 Prince of Wales Drive, Ottawa, ON
Admission
Browse all Visitor Information for Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
Browse All Visitor Information

Apples: Stop the Browning!

A stream of water pours over five apple slices in a metal colander.
Download PDF version

Have you ever wondered if there was something you could do to stop apples from turning brown after they’re cut? The good news is lemon juice will do the trick — but some people don’t like the taste of lemon-y apples. Are there any other ingredients in your kitchen that can keep apples in their original splendor? Become a food scientist at home and find out!

Materials

  • One or two apples, cut into slices
  • Lemon juice
  • Two other edible, liquid ingredients of your choice (e.g., orange juice, honey)
  • One edible powdered ingredient (e.g., baking soda, salt)
  • Five sandwich bags
  • Plates
  • A permanent marker
  • Small pieces of paper
  • A spoon
  • A way to keep track of time

Ingredients are displayed on a tabletop, along with a cutting board and utensils. In the back, there is a jug of orange juice, a box of table salt, a bottle of lemon juice, and a squeeze bottle of honey, as well as three red and yellow apples on a plate to the side.

Instructions

  1. Set a few apple slices aside in a sandwich bag. These are your control — you won’t put anything on these.
  2. Pour a spoonful of liquid in another bag and add some apple slices. Close the bag tightly, and make a label for it, writing down which ingredient it contains. Repeat with a different bag for each ingredient.
    Tip: you may want to dissolve your dry ingredient in water.
    A spliced image is divided into four quadrants. Each shows a different ingredient being poured into a plastic sandwich bag with a metal spoon.
  3. Make sure the apple slices are completely coated in the liquid. Next, remove them from the bags and lay them out on plates, with their labels. Lay your control apples out nearby.
  4. Now you start the timer! Compare your apples after 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 120 minutes. Do you see a difference? Which ingredient seems to have worked best?
    Two side-by-side images show what happens to sliced apples over time; the images are separated by a large black arrow. On each image, there are four plates and a cutting board, each lined with four apple slices. The word “Start” is written above the first image, and “120 minutes” is written above the second image.
  5. Give the apples a taste test! Which one do you find the tastiest? What are your conclusions?

Suggestions

  • Keep the experiment going! See how long your apples slices stay white. Do they all eventually turn brown?
  • Try using different apple varieties, comparing how much each one browns.

What’s happening?

An enzyme is like a little scissor that, in just the right conditions (such as when it touches air), can change the shape of other molecules.

When we cut an apple, oxygen from the air makes an enzyme in the fruit turn other compounds, called phenols, into melanin. Melanin is the same brown pigment as in our skin!

By blocking oxygen or making the conditions acidic, you prevent the enzymes from working. If the enzyme doesn’t work, it doesn’t transform the phenols. This keeps the apple white!

Go further

Educational Activity Kit: Apples
Cold storage: Making the most of Your harvest

Program Details

AGRICULTURE
Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
Program Location
Online
  • View all programs at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
  • View other programs related to Food, Agriculture

Footer

About Canada Agriculture and Food Museum

Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
Located on a national heritage site, the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum is the world’s only working farm in the heart of a capital city.
Read More about the Museum

Contact Us

Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
901 Prince of Wales Drive
Ottawa ON K2C 3K1
Canada

613-991-3044
1-866-442-4416
contact@IngeniumCanada.org
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Museum

    • About the Museum
    • Visitor Information
    • Accessibility
    • Careers
  • Visit

    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
    • Canada Aviation and Space Museum
    • Canada Science and Technology Museum
    • Ingenium Centre
  • Support

    • The Foundation
    • Ways to Donate
    • Membership
    • Corporate Memberships
    • Volunteering
    • Partnerships
    • Online Boutique
    • Venue Rentals
    • Book a Travelling Exhibition
  • For Media

    • Newsroom
    • Awards
    • The Channel

Connect with us

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest Ingenium news straight to your inbox!

Sign Up

Legal Bits

Ingenium Privacy Statement

© 2023 Ingenium

Symbol of the Government of Canada
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Health and Safety
    • Hours
    • Admission
    • Location and Directions
    • Accessibility
    • Browse All Visitor Information
    • Buy Tickets
    • Online Resources for Science at Home
    • About the Museum
  • What's On at the Museum
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • Spaces and Studios
  • Bookings and Rentals
    • School Programs
    • Birthday Parties
    • Summer Camps
    • Venue Rentals
    • Travelling Exhibitions
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Group Visits
  • Educational Programs
    • School Programs
    • Host a Program
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Program Location
      • At the Museum
      • At Your School
      • Online
      • Browse all Educational Programs
    • Popular Links
      • 3D Educational Resources
      • Online Resources for Science at Home
      • Digital Learning Kits
      • Games and Apps
      • Recipes
      • Try This Out
  • Collection and Research
    • Research Institute
    • Research Projects
    • Collection Resources
      • Ingenium Collection
      • Collection Highlights
      • Conservation and Collection Services
    • Library and Archives
      • Library and Archives Services
      • Library Catalogue
      • Digital Archives
    • Open Access
      • Ingenium APIs
      • Open Data
      • Open Documents
  • Projects and Initiatives
    • Ingenium Channel
    • Aquaculture Initiatives
    • Soil Superheroes
    • Draw with Rob Canada
    • Canola! Seeds of Innovation
    • Food for Health