North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Stephen Sadler" <Docshiva@Docshiva.org>]

There are many, many people who preserve food by methods that are not
recommended, and get away with it.  The USDA bases its recommendations not
just on one person's long experience, but to avoid spoilage in, hopefully,
all cases where recommended methods are used.  
Fruit preserving is relatively low risk.  High acid fruit juices will
ferment and later turn to vinegar, usually, which may result in unintended
product, and you wouldn't want to get the kids drunk on your fermented
juice, but the health risk is small.  The risk becomes greater if someone
generalizes from their successes with one juice to another lower-acid one
where the spoilage pathogens might be extremely harmful.

If your jars seal well, then you had a vacuum, whether water-bathed or not.
It may not be as complete a vacuum; but I wouldn't worry about additional
contamination.  I would worry about contaminants not killed initially.  Lids
should be sterilized before use.  You're still right to be concerned about
pasteurization without a water bath: the water bath would kill lingering
pathogens on the lid as well as in the juice.  

For fruit juices, I like to make concentrates by the freezing method I've
posted here a few times.  But, to can Asian Pear juice:

I like to run my juicer parts and jar lids through the dishwasher to
sterilize them first; do make sure that the juicer or press is clean and, if
possible, at least somewhat sterile.  Juice into a sterilized jar
(dishwashers or boiling water will sterilize.  Put your juice in a pan or
kettle and bring up to 200 degrees. Add two tablespoons lemon juice per
quart of juice. Pour into hot, sterilized jars leaving an inch of headroom,
cap with sterile lids and rings, and hot-water-bath process (190 degrees)
for 30 minutes.  

Asian pears can be preserved the same as apples or pears, but the recipes
will need to be acidified by that 2T lemon juice per quart.  It's
recommended that Asian pear butter/spread/jam etc. be held in the freezer
until use.

~ Stephen

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Melissa Kacalanos
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 2:21 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Asian pear recipes and preservation

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
> 


      
_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list 
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web
sites.
Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have
permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
No exceptions.  
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used
to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/