Rec.food.preserving Mini FAQ
Eric
Posting-Frequency: monthly (on or about 5th)
Last-modified: 2002/08/20
Copyright: (c) 1999-2002 Eric Decker ( and others as specified within )
Maintainer: Eric Decker <ericn...@getcomputing.com>
Rec.Food.Preserving MINI FAQ
A SYNOPSIS of FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) AND TIPS FOR PARTICIPATION
in the rec.food.preserving newsgroup.
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Disclaimer: No author represented in this FAQ is qualified to establish
scheduled processes nor is any author a competent processing authority in
the sense of 21 CFR 113.83 et alia.
Beware of anonymous posters who contravene known safety standards. Circa
late 2001, early 2002, there is at least one poster active in RFP who has
consistently repudiated long-standing food-preserving authorities.
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(C) Copyright 1999-2002 Eric Decker. All rights reserved.
You may use and copy this file provided that the contributors' names, copyright
attributes, this copyright and *all* disclaimers remain intact.
While every effort has been made to be clear, concise and accurate, no
warranties are implied. What you do with the information presented here is
your business. The same caveat applies to any communication you may have with
any person in rec.food.preserving or for that matter by e-mail.
CHARTER
Rec.food.preserving is a newsgroup devoted to the discussion of recipes,
equipment, and techniques of food preservation. Current food preservation
techniques that rightly should be discussed in this forum include canning,
freezing, dehydration, pickling, smoking, salting and potting.
Foodstuffs are defined as produce (both fruits and vegetables), meat, fish,
dairy products, culinary and medicinal herbs. Discussions should be limited
to home-grown or home-preserved foods.
Addendum to the RFP CHARTER.
"This newsgroup is for those who can, jar, and preserve foods for personal
and family use. Due to liability and health concerns, we can not provide
information here on methods of food packaging or preservation for products
to be sold to the public. Please contact the agency or office in your area
that handles such questions. Thank you for your interest!"
***
---
Bob wrote: an excellent article outling the ramifications of
commercial posts in RFP. It is deemed to be a street-wise amplification
of Usenet rules, RFP Charter, the addendum to RFP Charter and as such
deserves to be presented here.
"I think the biggest issue here is product liability. Let's say hypothetically
that you start selling your famous low-salt, no preservatives "Crispy Canned
Carrots", that are still somewhat crisp cuz you just blanch them and put them
in hot jars, top off with hot "honey broth", and seal without processing them.
And you kill several families and maim a couple of others due to botulism
poisoning.
When the victims sue you, they are gonna try to extract millions of dollars
from everyone even peripherally related to the defective product. If you
obtained advice for your commercial product from someone on this newsgroup,
*especially* if they were not qualified nor credentialed to give advice on
commercial food preparation, they could get sucked into the lawsuit.
Now, if you lied to us and said this was just home canning for your own use,
then you obtained the information deceptively and against the charter of Usenet
newsgroups in general and this group in particular. Whoever had given you the
advice would then be insulated somewhat from liability.
So in summary, it is inappropriate for you to ask questions here about
commercial food preparation. If you ask anyway, don't tell us it is a
commercial product. Otherwise you will generally be ignored and maybe asked to
leave."
---
rec.food.preserving has been a close-knit group since its inception.
It has managed to stay that way but it has not been by accident. Over the years
there has been a lot of effort expended by many RFPers into keeping the junk out
of RFP. Those who have nothing good to say are invited to leave. We thank them
for
doing so.
************************************************************************************
Rembering:
Susan Hattie Steinsapir - a dear, sweet friend of RFP who crossed over to the
summerland Sunday (1/29-1/30/96) Rest in peace sweet princess. We cherish your
memory always.
**************************************************************************************
[Where can I get this rec.food.preserving Mini FAQ or the rec.food.preserving
FAQ ?]
From rec.food.preserving or the Official RTFM Archive
The MINI FAQ will be posted around the 5th of each month to rec.food.preserving
only. The main RFP FAQ is posted around the 20th of each month.
NOTE: rec.food.preserving will always have the most current or revised
version - as will rtfm. [ see below ]
Easiest way to get the RFP FAQ on browser equipped systems:
Plug the following URL into your browser - "save as" *.txt. The format is
viewable in Notepad and the like. On Windows 9x and NT systems, *.txt files are
native to the Explorer interface. Click part1, use the Search menu to find your
topic.
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/rec/food/preserving/
This FAQ is also available via anonymous ftp from:
rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/rec/food/preserving/
You will need a text viewer like List.com on non-unix systems for viewing this
output.
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RFP FAQ index goes as follows:
Sections 1 through 1.2.5 are in Part1
Sections 1.2.6 through 3.3.3 are in part2
Sections 4 through 10.4 are in part3
Sections 11 through 12.6.2 are in part4
Sections 13 through 13.1.6 are in part5
Sections 14 through 17 are in part6
Download part1. It has the Index and Table of Contents which will guide you to
the
part you want should you wish to download only selected parts.
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Some generic tips:
Large jars
--
> I would like to can in some larger jars. Everything I have has
> pressures and times for 1/2 pint, pint, and quarts. How much
> difference is half gallon jars. Or even gallon.
There are no timetables for jars larger than a quart (liter?) anymore
except for acidic fruit juices. But I love 1/2 gallon jars for making
refrigerator pickles, or storing dry goods, or taking lemonade to a
picnic.
From: Zxcvbob
........................
Lime Pickles
--
Here's my "famous" recipe:
You will need about 7 or 8 pounds of medium cukes, enough to make 2 gallons
when sliced. Place these sliced cukes in a non-reactive pot or crock or
large food-grade plastic bucket. Make a solution of 1 cup pickling lie in 1
gallon of water and cover the sliced cukes with it, add a little more water
if needed to cover. Allow to sit overnight. I like to weight them down with
a plate to keep under the lime water
The next day you will need to drain and rinse well. Let the cukes site in
fresh water for several hour then drain and rinse again. I like to repeat
this process a couple times.
Then you make this brine: 9 cups sugar, 2 quarts vinegar, 2 1/2 Tbsp
pickling salt, 1 Tbsp pickling spice (remove red peppers if they are in
large pieces), 2 cinnamon sticks. Bring to heat to allow sugar to dissolve.
Pour over cuckes and allow to sit overnight.
The next day you put all in a large cooking pot and bring to a boil. Simmer
until the cukes are somewhat transparent. You can add a few drops of food
coloring if you like. Ladle into hot sterilized pint jars and seal. Process
in BWB canner for 5 minutes.
This recipe took the Steinfeld's 75th Anniversary Pickle at the Oregon State
Fair a couple years back and has won the "Best of Category for Pickles" at
the Multnomah County Oregon Fair several times as well as been judged the
"Best Pickle in the County."
From: Ma Pickle
...................
Garlic turns blue
--
The sulfur compounds in garlic (thiols or some type) can be
broken up by active enzymes in the garlic allowing the sulfur
to react with any copper in solution. This results in copper
sulfides which is what you see as the "blue" discoloration.
The enzymes can be denatured by high temperature processing.
My understanding is that the enzymes are more abundant in immature
garlic. The amount of copper required is tiny, but my further
understanding is that ordinary table salt should not be used
in preference to "canning salt". In any case the blue discoloration
presents no hazard. The conventional wisdom for eliminating
blue garlic seems to be:
1.) Use mature garlic (lower enzyme content)
2.) Process at high temperature (denature enzyme)
3.) Use "canning salt" (remove source of copper)
An off topic note about thiols: These are the compounds that
give skunks that "twang". Sulfur seems to be natures way
of making things stink (either good or bad).
From: Steve Kissel
...........................
Garlic in oil
--
>I had a great garlic harvest this year and would like to perserve some
>garlic for longer than the dried garlic usually lasts. I have heard about
>perserving whole or diced peeled garlic cloves in olive oil but can't
>find much info about this. Can anyone help???
Don't do it.
Here's a bit of information that I copied a few years ago from a now
defunct food safety site:
Regardless of its flavor potency, garlic is a low-acid vegetable. The pH
of a clove of garlic typically ranges from 5.3 to 6.3. As with all
low-acid vegetables, garlic will support the growth and subsequent toxin
production of the bacterium Clostridium botulinum when given the right
conditions. These conditions include improper home canning and improper
preparation and storage of fresh herb and garlic-in-oil mixtures.
Moisture, room temperature, lack of oxygen, and low-acid conditions all
favor the growth of Clostridium botulinum. When growing, this bacterium
produces an extremely potent toxin that causes the illness botulism. If
untreated, death can result within a few days of consuming the toxic
food.
STORING GARLIC IN OIL
Extreme care must be taken when preparing flavored oils with garlic or
when storing garlic in oil. Peeled garlic cloves may be submerged in oil
and stored in the freezer for several months. Do not store garlic in oil
at room temperature. Garlic-in-oil mixtures stored at room temperature
provide perfect conditions for producing botulism toxin (low acidity, no
free oxygen in the oil, and warm temperatures). The same hazard exists
for roasted garlic stored in oil. At least three outbreaks of botulism
associated with garlic-in-oil mixtures have been reported in North
America.
From: Ross Reid
..............
Dehydrating con-on-the cob
>I wonder if it can be dehydrated on the cob and
>then either stored that way, or shelled for storage as kernals?
Yes. Remove husks, dry on the cob in your dehydrator
or peel husks back, tie togethor and hang across the
kitchen.
From: Shawn Turner
...............
Most every routine question that pops up in rec.food.preserving has been asked
and
answered before. Many if not all of those worthwhile discussions have been
incorporated into the RFP FAQ.
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The "Basic Resources" of RFP are:
1. The RecFoodPreserving FAQ, pay attention to the _version_. Old versions may
be picked up by Internet search engines. Older versions contain outdated
information.
2. The un-official archive at http://recipes.alastra.com/ choose "preserving"
or
"preserving meats"
3. Google. Plug in this URL
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?hl=en
Enter your Keyword(s) and specify rec.food.preserving as the Forum.
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Please be polite and expend some effort yourself. The very least you can do
is research the Basic Resources. Nobody wishes to be treated like a doormat. If
you give no indication of effort on your part it is quite likely your request
will be ignored.
Quite often the newbie is lacking in terminology. Reading the FAQ will help a
beginner grasp the terms which are bandied about in the newsgroup. The FAQ is
provided to you through the efforts of many participants in RFP. It is
considered
rude to ask for a recipe without doing the basic research of reading / checking
the FAQ. If you have researched the FAQ and still need help - ask. You will be
amazed at the outpouring of help.
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Where can I get a recipe for ....?
Read the FAQ and/or goto http://recipes.alastra.com/ choose "preserving"
or "preserving meats". Stephanie and Peter Da Silva has expended great
efforts over many years in the archival of preserving recipes posted in
rec.food.preserving. Please avail yourself of that altruism ... send her
a note of thanks if you find what you seek.
or goto www.google.com and do an advanced groups search for your subject
matter. Specify rec.food.preserving as your target newsgroup. Ask your
favourite geek for help if you don't know how to do a power search.
--
Kansas State Extension Preserving web site
http://129.130.75.14/ext_f&n/foodpreservation/welcome.htm
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Where do I find ....?
Most probably it is mentioned in the Main FAQ.
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What book(s) are suggested?
Numerous fine publications are mentioned in the FAQ. Practically everyone
mentioned is known first-hand by a RFPer. It is in the FAQ because a person
we know and trust has recommended it.
Putting Food By, Ball Blue Book and Bernardin Homecanning Guide are
perennial favourites.
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Where can I get equipment? [ besides Wal-mart ]
Once again the FAQ has a long list of phone numbers, URLS and such.
If you read the FAQ and still have a question, I assure you it will be
very welcome in the newsgroup.
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Can you email recipe(s) to me?
No thanks. If it is worth typing and is informative it is worth sharing with
ALL. If you will not make the effort to read the newsgroup .. Pay for the
service and then being your servant won't be so bad :-)
--
A RFPer was saying recently:
This is just my opinion, which is never humble, but subject to change
with evidence to the contrary.
I don't know if you'll get this or not, but here's the deal with me:
Usenet is for sharing. I'll post all sorts of things here in response
to Q's or of general interest (i.e., here's recipe I tried that came
out well). And certainly will send a cc of a response to the group to
the initial poster if I feel it's warranted.
But you'll find very few people who will just send you recipes to your
email. The nature of groups such as this is that we share among each
other. If you want the recipes, you'll have to check in regularly and
look for subject headings which interest you.
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If you have any suggestions for revisions or additions to this FAQ, please
send it to me.
Happy Preserving
Eric
---------------------- end of RFP MINI-FAQ -----------------------------