Kelly Rossiter
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When I first thought about preserving food, making jams and pickles seemed like a delightful prospect. Now that I've been reading about it, it seems more like a daunting prospect. I've been reading Small Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard which is apparently the book to use. I especially liked the "small batch" part of title. I just can't see myself purchasing bushels of produce to put up like my Italian and Portaguese neighbours do. In August my whole neighbourhood is redolent with the aroma of cooking tomato sauce and roasting peppers. Some of these people have turned their garages into canning kitchens. I'm thinking that making a couple of jars of this and that is more my speed, just until I see if I can do this successfully. After all, if you wreck a couple of small jars of something, you can shrug your shoulders and move on, if you wreck twenty or thirty jars of something, it would make you cry. So, in the midst of reading about spores and botulism, I am cautiously moving forward, toward the day I actually put my hand to this task.
Today I'm going to talk about the four ways to preserve food. Later in the week I'll review the equipment that is required and then I'll be walking you through the actual process of preserving. After that I'll try to preserve something.
Four Ways to Preserve Foods
1. Heat
The point of all of this preserving activity is to kill mico-organisms and heat is a particularly efficient way of doing that. When you see the term "processing" in recipes it refers to jars of food which are heated to specific temperatures for a specific length of time. The temperature required is based on the density of the food and the size of the jar. High temperatures kill most bacteria, but the spores of Clostridium botulinum may survive, developing into botulism which is extremely poisonous.
2. Acid
When thinking about preserving, you can break foods down into high-acid and low-acid foods. High acid foods have enough acid to prevent the growth of any spores that survive processing. Most fruits, some vegetables and some tomatoes have enough acid to be successfully processed using boiling water. Low acid foods require the addition of an acid, which is known as pickling. Common acids used are vinegars and lemon juice. As a precaution, it is recommended that these preserves be processed in boiling water as well.
3. Sugar
Sugar in high concentrations creates an environment where micro-organisms cannot grow. It is true that molds can grow on jams, but only in the presence of air. When you look at a recipe for jam or jelly, don't cut the amount of sugar down because it seems like too much. It isn't.
4. Freezing
Freezing brings food to such low temperatures that no mico-organism can grow. It can however, change the taste of some vegetables, so blanching first is recommended. Fruit may be frozen raw.
I'm game to move on to the next section and figure out if I have the right equipment to do the job.
Difficulty Level: Moderate
More about preserving fruits and vegetables:
Preserves Become Ideology in a Jar
Preserving the Harvest: Jerusalem Artichoke Pickles
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