Ms. Schwartz's 3rd grade class makes salsa

Today the 3rd graders in Ms. Schwartz's class made salsa roja using ingredients from the school garden and Gelson's Markets.

We started the lesson with an explanation of salsa roja and salsa verde and the origin of salsa, a demonstration of the ingredients and the recipe. Salsa as we know it was named in Mexico in the 1500s by Spanish explorers but it has its origin with the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs.

Each child was given a reusable IKEA plate and a plastic knife. They then cut several cherry 100 tomatoes and cilantro into small pieces. They had the chance to sample the tomato and cilantro before it was combined in a classroom bowl with garlic, onion, lime juice and olive oil.  Some children measure and prepared these other ingredients. They were also given an opportunity to taste jalapeno pepper.

Most of the children ate the salsa and everyone ate the chips!

We use reusable plates for many of our cooking lessons at school in order to create less waste. The vegetable scraps were composted.

Thanks to Winter and Lara for assisting in this lesson!



Salsa Recipe (for a large group-alter for just a few)

8 tomatoes
1 jalapeno pepper
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 slices onion
2 cloves garlic
3 T. lime juice
3 T. olive oil