The problem that I am trying to solve is if aloe juice can save your berries from mold if you wash it in aloe juice instead of washing it with water.

If I dip the strawberries in aloe juice, then the strawberries would stay fresh for longer than the strawberries dipped in water.

● Drinking glass with wide top

● 1 ½ cup of Water

● Sticky notes

● Pen

● 1 1/2 Aloe vera juice (99.8% of Aloe)

● Paper towels one roll

● 6 pints or 4 ½ of Fresh Strawberries

● Pint-size strawberry containers, plastic

● ½ tbsp Dawn dish soap

● Sink

● Kitchen towel

● Plastic wrap

● Newspaper

● Disposable gloves

● Lab notebook

● Graph paper Optional: Camera

1. Gather materials

2. Wash the strawberries in 3 cups aloe vera juice

3. Wash another batch of strawberries in water

4. Put down two paper towels, label them as aloe juice and the other as water

5. Take a strawberry that has been washed in aloe juice and place it in the aloe juice paper towel

6. Then take a similar strawberry to the one you just put down and that has been washed in water and put it in the paper towel that has been labeled water

7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have 12 strawberries in each group.

8. let all the strawberries dry for about 1hour and 45 minutes

9. While you wait for your strawberries to dry throw away the liquids by pouring them down the sink.

10. Clean the sink then pour the glasses with warm water then add a few drops of dishwashing soap and wash the two pint containers and the glasses too

11. Wash off all the soapy water and then wipe the containers and glasses dry with a kitchen towel

12. With sticky note write the words water on one sticky note and aloe vera juice on another one

13. You also have to write Trial 1 on both sticky notes

14. You can put the labels on the side of the containers

15. When your strawberries are fully dry, put the strawberries in their proper containers where they were washed like the strawberries washed in aloe juice goes in the container labeled aloe juice

16. Wrap each container with two layers of plastic wrap

17. Find a place where the containers can stay moist and make sure to avoid sunlight but don’t put your containers in the fridge because Mold grows best at room temperature

18. Throw away your used paper towels in the trash

19. Repeat all step for a total of 3 trials

Independent Variable- The independent variable in my project is the different liquids that l wash my strawberries in.

Dependent Variable- The dependent variable in my project is the amount of mold that grows.

Constants- The constant in my experiment is the strawberries that l use. Temperature of room l keeping my strawberries and how much water/aloe juice I wash my strawberries in.

Control- The strawberries that aren’t washed.

The conclusion to my project is that the aloe vera juice did not help the strawberries not get mold faster; it just made the process of getting mold faster. Some materials that I used for this experiment were Aloe juice, Dawn dish soap, strawberries, containers, and paper towels. This project’s time span was about four days and it left me with some very smelly strawberries. Some of my procedures were that I needed to wash and dry my strawberries, put plastic wrap and put them in a room where there was no sunlight and that it was room temperature. When I took the strawberries out on the fourth day I realized that there was some moisture in the bottom of the containers and that the strawberries smelled horribly.

Can Aloe Vera save your strawberries from mold? Well this was the question I faced when l did my experiment. The purpose of my experiment is to see if with different liquids like Aloe vera juice, can save your strawberries from mold. Also, to see how with different strategies with dipping and where you place them can help you keep them from getting mold.

With the trails of dipping the strawberries in water and in aloe juice, I have figured out that my hypothesis was incorrect. My hypothesis was that “ If I dip my strawberries in aloe juice, then the strawberries would stay fresh for longer than the strawberries dipped in water.”My hypothesis was incorrect because in a matter of three days the aloe vera strawberries had gotten lots of mold. However, the other strawberries had gotten only a little bit of mold during the time span of four days. The reason why I believe that the aloe vera got mold faster is because the aloe vera juice had sugar and I believe that it may have caused a reaction with the strawberries.

Now here is a small summary of what l did in this experiment. I dipped each strawberry that I thought were alike and dipped them in the aloe vera juice or in water. Then, I put them on a paper towel and dried them. Then, I put them in containers and put two layers of plastic wrap on top of them. Then, I put them in my closet where then I learned that mold grows faster in dark and room temperature places.

During this experiment I had some very interesting findings. Some of my findings are that when you grow mold it smells a lot. Another is that when you grow mold it gets fuzzy like cotton. Another one is that the strawberries dipped in aloe got mold faster than the ones with water. These findings can help you by showing you ways to keep your strawberries safe from mold for longer.

The findings that I found at the end of my project can help industries that sell fruit or vegetables help keep them fresh. It can also help you or your family keep mold from growing. Now with the result of my project you know just to keep on washing your strawberries with water instead of aloe juice . You also know not to keep your fruits and vegetables in a closet like I did. Now with all of these findings that I am telling you I hope that you know that when your strawberries smell to throw them away.

Some of my sources that I used were from science buddies like De Brabandere Sabine "Can Aloe Juice Save Your Berries from Mold?" Gotten from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/MicroBio_p033/microbiology/can-aloe-juice-save-your-berries-from-mold. Accessed 17 Feb. 2021. And Sciencing.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS