Glad to be back

7/12/2014

And . . . . I'm back. It was absolutely great to do Country Living Christmas in Harrogate but my goodness it had to take over my life for a bit. We were very lucky to be asked to present one of the room sets at the entrance to the show, plus have a stand AND demonstrate on two stages. I wouldn't have missed any of it but am very conscious

4 Comments

kevin

16/12/2014 09:30:37 am

great!

back just in time for Christmas :)

Lynne Gill link

7/1/2015 09:47:27 am

Hi Rosie, just found your blog - I'm getting ready for marmalade making and I haven't done it for YEARS! So really good to find you. Can I ask your opinion on something. I have had comments made online by an American lady who is quite well known for her youtube videos, that we in Europe are heading for botulism at the very least, and would never get our produce allowed in the USA because we don't further process our jams, jellies, marmalades and pickles using the water bath canning system. I've been bombarded with scientific papers and references. I DO understand the need for canning bottles fruits and veggies, but we've been making jam for centuries with no problems, as long as your gear is scrupulously clean and sterilised. Can you comment on this?

kevin pike

8/1/2015 03:43:17 am

HI Lynne,

Interesting comment from the ‘well known’ American Lady. While she is correct in stating that botulism is an issue in preserves, it is an extremely very low risk in jams and chutneys. Basically you have to have done something very wrong for it to happen.

As you probably know botulism and any other bacteria needs water and air to thrive. With the Jam and chutney making process they create an environment where this process is very hard to achieve. (you can’t completely remove it).

So as long as you followed the correct steps, cleaning jars with hot water and soap to remove any residue and heating them in the oven they will be clean, then placing the hot produce in the jar to the top and sealing with the correct lid while hot, the jar will in effect to the task that the second canning process that she mentions. Especially with the new lids that now have a ‘seal’. These won’t need to be stored in the fridge but just in a cool place out of the sun light. The exception is the ‘low sugar’ Jam which do need to be stored in a fridge as the lower level of sugar does not preserve the produce as well.

This will create a ait tight environment were not moisture is allowed to enter which could start the process of mould growing.

The exception would be pickles. As this is normally storing veg in vinegar with no ‘cooking’ process as such (with the exception of piccalilli, ploughman’s were they are really a cross with a pickle & a chutney) you have to be more careful and make sure that you carried out the correct process of bringing (either with salt or a salt water solution) and making sure you use a vinegar with an acid content of 5% or more. Again placed in sterilised jars. The water content is important in this, because if there is too much it will dilute the vinegar, it will lower the acid level which will promote bacteria growth.

Again if you have the right level of acid in the vinegar it should be ok.

I hope that answers your questions.

Rosemary link

9/1/2015 03:51:56 am

Hi Lynne - thank you for your question, which exercises are preserving muscles from time to time. Kevin has answered you very well ( he was paying attention in my classes then! ) If you follow the correct ratio of ingredients and the correct procedure for each type of preserve, then there shouldn't be any problems.

Difficulties arise when people start altering say, the sugar level in jam. Preserving is more like a chemical experiment than cooking, and once you mess with the proportions then you are not making a preserve. The clue is in the name. These methods have been developed from the dawn of time, beginning in Stone Age times. We now want to start leaving things out to be 'more healthy'. Use good ingredients, correct proportions, correct method and you'll be OK.

As Kevin says, I think it is best practice for home producers and small artisans to wash, rinse and sterilise the jars. This doesn't happen in commercial production however, the jars are used off of the pallet, and are not heated. I only say this to put the other side of things.

I hope that this helps Lynne, the USA have their own rules which are a bit 'belt and braces' but that isn't really surprising in this day and age!

Good to hear from you - keep in touch

Rosemary

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