Ways to keep food

In your book, Our Wondrous World (Chapter 3), Detective Disha looks for ways to save food from spoiling. On the balcony, her Amma and Appa are drying chillies on a mat under the Sun, to make chilli powder that will last the whole year. Drying in the Sun removes the moisture from the chillies, and without moisture, microbes cannot grow.

In the kitchen, her Paati pours mustard oil into a jar of pickled green mangoes. Paati explains that oil stops air from getting in, and that keeps the pickles safe. Oil keeps out air and stops microbes from growing.

The next morning, Disha opens the fridge. Milk, vegetables, butter and a cake are inside. Appa explains that a fridge makes the food too cold for microbes to grow well. Cold slows down microbes.

Disha's grandfather tells her that people also used salt, sugar and spices like pepper to keep food from spoiling, and we still do. And Anna tells her that food factories pack food in air-tight cans and packets to keep microbes away.