Throughout this process, I have learnt a lot about patience. After hours in the lab, I learnt that unless I criticised the process I was using, I wouldn’t be able to move on. This mindset was particularly useful to me when I was learning to plate my agar, because initially I had many anomalies in my data, as the fungal broth was not spread equally across the plate. While my final data had anomalies, being able to collect tangible data was a sign of success. I enjoyed this process and I feel like it gave me greater insight into the strength of natural preservatives and also how the process through which it is used affects the efficacy of the preservative. For this reason, if I had the opportunity to conduct further studies in this same field, it would be on the effects of a intangible factor like sunlight on fungal growth, as several fruits and vegetables are dried before pickling. Overall, I believe that it was the challenges that I faced that led to a thorough study.