North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com>]

I'm no expert on canning, but this procedure doesn't
sound safe to me. It's great that it works for you,
Karen, but I can see potential problems.

A vacuum seal is good for preventing microbes from
getting into your delicacies after they're canned, but
I can easily picture microbes getting into the jars
before the lids go on, and surviving and thriving
because there's no great heat to kill them afterwards.
Maybe this works for concentrated things like jams,
which have too much sugar and acid to support most
life, but I'd worry about juice.

Sometimes when I'm making broth for soup, I'll pour it
into a container while still warm, put the lid on, and
put it in the fridge. (Not great for the fridge temp,
I know, but sometimes convenient.) The container
"vacuum seals" itself in the fridge, just because it
went from hot to cold. That seal doesn't mean it's
sterile, just that no new microbes can get in to
compete with the microbes that are already in there. I
know I'll have to use this broth in a few days before
it goes bad.

For preserving things, I generally prefer to freeze
rather than can, since the taste is so much closer to
fresh. This requires lots of freezer space of course.
I don't know how this would work for asian pears,
since the texture is such an important part of the
asian pear experience, and freezing doesn't preserve
that. Maybe freezing the juice would be worth trying.

Melissa

> for canning fresh juice, i clean and oven sterilize
> glass quart juice  
> jars (275ºF oven for 45 minutes) while i heat the
> juice to 180ºF  
> (don't boil it or you ruin the flavors).  put hot
> juice into hot jars  
> and seal the lid back on tight, and you'll hear the
> little pings of  
> sucked down, vacuum-tight lids in no time.
> 
> the hot jars method also works with any other sweet,
> acidic fruity-goo  
> you might make:  pour boiling hot syrups, jellies,
> jams, fruit butters  
> into oven hot jars, and seal the lids and they will
> vacuum seal  
> themselves, without the 5 minute boiling water bath.
>  i've used the  
> method for all my jams, juices and syrups for the
> last 10 years to no  
> ill effect.
> 
> 
> karen tillou
> oregon city, OR - zone 8a and wet
>