OBJECTIVE

Students will be able to explore farming methods used in Ancient Greece

Students will be able to make olive oil

Students will be able to taste two significant Greek crops

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What was farming like in Ancient Greece?

How has farming changed and stayed the same?

What have we learned in the history of farming?

MATERIALS NEEDED

• Slideshow-Food and Farms of Ancient Greece
• Olive Tasting Notes
• Olives for mashing into paste 
• Mortar and pestle 
• Clean stones
• Linen/cloth filter 
• Glass cup to strain into 
• Paper towel sheets for tasting on 
• Under-ripe green greek olives
• Ripe purple greek olives
• Pomegranate 
• Cutting board 
• Knife

PROCEDURE

• Go through the slideshow and show the map – what countries are near? – think like a farmer – What is the climate like here? What is the land like?
  • Compare the weather in Athens and weather in your region
• Discuss Mediterranean crops
  • Many crops grow well in Europe and the Mediterranean, and not in other regions. Many of these crops can also be grown in California
  • In New England we really grow a lot of American crops
  • In South America they do not grow Greek crops really at all
  • What do the Mediterranean and California have in common?

WRAP UP

• Olive olive making
  • Come up and mash stone to make the olive paste, then it would be strained
• Olive tasting- Use the Olive Tasting Notes worksheet to describe the flavors
  • How do olives grow? 
  • How are olives harvested and processed?
• Pomegranate tasting