Vegetable Lesson Plan

Unit Topic: Vegetables

State Standard: Identify how to preserve nutrients in the food preparation process.
Supportive Objective: After the lesson the students will identify the colors and the effect on food
preparation in vegetables by participating in the lab with 100% accuracy.
Supportive Concept: Vegetables can be classifies in four colors, red, yellow, green and white.
Supplies Needed: Lab sheets, instructions for students, broccoli, red cabbage, vinegar, baking
soda.

Content and Learning Activities:

30 minutes
Effect of cooking can change the color
Vegetables can be green, yellow, white, or red.
Green: chlorophyll
Bright green to gray green
Cook in small amount so water with short cooking time
Yellow: carotene
Yellow orange color
Small amount of water with the pan covered
White: flavones
White to yellow/dark gray
Overcooking cause the color change
Red: anthocyanin
Red to purple/blue
Add acid to keep food red
Cook in small amounts of water with the pan lid on

Pass out lab sheet “Effects of cooking and color change”

Explain the procedure to the class and assign each group one item to cook.
Have on a tray for each group the following items for their group to cook
Group A will cook broccoli and group B with cook Red cabbage Total of eight groups.
1. Cook with the lid on (A and B)
2. Cook with the lid off (A and B)
3. Cook with 1 tsp vinegar added to water (A and B)
4. Cook with ½ tsp baking soda added to water (A and B) I will do one because there are
only 7 groups.
Cook the vegetables for only 15 minutes.
Leave the vegetable in the pan and label what you have made. Students will then walk around
and observe what has happened to the vegetables.
Compare the colors and textures of all vegetables and explain their observations.
10 minutes (if there is time left over)
Methods of cooking vegetables. Give each table a method of cooking a vegetable they will
present in class. Give them a few minutes to look it up in the book and them present each one.
In water/ boiling
Steaming
Pressure Cooking
Baking
Frying
Broiling
Microwave

Give an example of a vegetable you will cook in the way given, if nutrients are lost, and the
process of cooking.

Sources: Guide to Good Food

Evaluation: I will read their evaluation sheets.