ZIMNICA
Last school year, the Ježići group from the Mak kindergarten participated in the Erasmus + project – Lets go green, guided by the theme of gardening.
What we planted in our small garden, delighted the children when they returned to the kindergarten after the summer.
The vegetables we planted from seed, bore fruit! We picked tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers … there weren’t too many of them, but enough to learn how to plant a plant, what it needs to grow.
We were thinking what we could do with the fruits even though there weren’t many of them so we came up with the idea to make a Zimnica! One of the old ways of preserving food (vinegar, salt) that allows the nutritional properties of seasonal foods to be preserved for use out of season.
In cooperation with the parents, each child brought a few more groceries, salt, vinegar, sugar, jars to the kindergarten, and we went to work.
RECIPE:
3 L of water
1 L vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 cup salt
VEGETABLES (carrots, peppers, cauliflower, green tomatoes, cucumbers)
Having collected various vegetables, we first learned to name it, researched it, tasted it. We sorted the vegetables in containers according to the type and washed them well – they say the cleanliness is half Zimnica.
After washing, we cut the vegetables into larger pieces and, with the help of the educators, washed the jars in which we would put them. The children placed the vegetables according to color, size, structure or variety … it was nice to watch them enjoy their schedule.
With the help of newly painted educational murals on the front of the kindergarten, we saw in a fun way how by changing the seasons, fresh cucumber becomes sour (drawing of a cucumber coming out of a jar). In that part of the yard we prepared pickles and enjoyed the fresh air.
When the children had arranged the vegetables, we poured liquid over them and sealed them well and put them in a dark place where they would be for a month.
After a month of patient waiting, we finally tasted our Zimnica. Some children did not want to try it because it “smells sour”, but when they saw others eating, they still dared. The children are proud of their work and like to eat Zimnica with lunch in kindergarten.
