Fruity Taste Test

• Strawberries and other fruit are often dressed with black pepper or other savory condiments to bring out the sweetness of the fruit. Test this theory by cutting up a few different kinds of sweet fruit like strawberries, cantaloupe, apples, pears and peaches. Taste each one without pepper and note the taste on a data sheet. Clear your palette with a sip of water after each tasting.
  
  Dip a second bite of each fruit into a little black pepper. Roll the fruit around on your tongue to note the contrasting flavors. Mark on your data sheet whether the fruit tastes sweeter, more tart or the same.
  
  

Pepper Wars

• This experiment is for those looking for an organic alternative to chemical insect repellents. Pour a teaspoon of sugar (white, brown or raw) onto each of five paper plates. Surround each sugar mound with a ring of a different kind of pepper. Surround the first with black pepper, the second with white pepper, the third with cayenne pepper and the last with paprika. The fifth plate will act as a control so you can see how many ants are in the area.
  
  Place the plates side-by-side in an area you know has some ant mounds. Record which plate has the fewest ants on it the next morning.
  
  

Pepper vs. Salt

• The laws of osmosis state that water will always move through cells from areas of high water concentration to areas of low water concentration. Discover how salt and pepper affect these laws by creating a water solution with each. Pour about 2 tablespoons of each spice into a separate glass of water. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Next, place a crisp, fresh piece of celery into each glass. Allow them to sit for an hour. Pull both pieces of celery out of the water. The water will have moved out of the celery in the salt solution, causing it to wilt. Pepper doesn't have the same affect.
  
  

Surface Tension

• Items are able to float and move on top of water because of surface tension. If an item does not break the surface tension on water, it can float in one place almost infinitely. If something comes along to break that surface tension, the floating items will either move to accommodate the break or sink. You can demonstrate this with black pepper, water and dish soap.
  
  Fill a shallow dish, like a cookie sheet or deep plate, with water. Sprinkle black pepper in a very thin, even layer over the top of the water. It should float. Squirt a drop of dish soap into the water. The pepper will seem to "run" away from the soap as it breaks the water's surface tension.