Tips in Preserving Fresh Fruits
Seasonality of fruits and vegetables gives us ideas to store fruits and vegetables when the season changes, this is to sustain our nutritional dietary needs. Fruits could last for few days and when it’s not stored properly, it can be rotten. Sometimes we opt to buy fruits in bulk when it reaches its pick season for its market price decreases in which we cannot consume within its targeted lifespan. Fruits could easily loose its vitamins and minerals when it’s not stored properly. Fruits contain 90% of water which means that when harvested, it will possibly dry out when it’s not cooled or preserved which means that water-soluble minerals is absent.
Fresh fruit preserves plays important role in conservation and utilization of fruits during off season. The study of the nutritional facts about fresh fruit preserves can be complex. And there’s no adequate facts presented in any claims. Regardless to what they claim scientist found out that fresh fruit preserves can still be an adequate substitute to fresh and frozen fruits. Furthermore when it is fresh and handled properly during the food processing, best results can still be obtained.
When you want to preserve fruits at home, here are the best things to consider:
1. Choose only fresh fruits.
2. It would be best to preserve fruits after three hours from harvest.
3. Handle gently to avoid bruising.
Depending on methodological techniques that we learned from our family, we sometimes neglect ourselves to the fact and the safest way of canning. Here are some UNSAFE CANNING METHODS:
1. Open kettle canning/ inversion canning – According to the University of Wisconsin Open Kettle Canning involves placing hot food in jars and sealing with no further heat treatment. This method is NOT recommended for home canning of any food because it seldom sterilizes food. Without sufficient heat to destroy bacteria and sterilize the food, the product may spoil. Foods ferment when open-kettle canning does not destroy yeasts, or permits them to enter the jar before it is sealed. Simply getting lids to seal on jars will not prevent food from spoiling.
2. Steam canners – Steam canning is not recommended at this time for either acid or low acid foods. Processing times for use with current models have not been adequately researched. Today's steam canner looks like an upside-down boiling water canner. The base is a shallow pan with a rack that is covered with a high dome lid. After the jars of foods are placed on the canner's base, a small amount of water in the base is brought to a boil and the dome fills with steam. The jars and foods in them are heated by the steam surrounding them. However, steam canners do not heat foods in jars exactly the same as boiling water canning does. Low acid foods are potentially deadly because Clostridium botulinum bacteria could survive the steam canning and produce the poison that causes botulism. Acid foods may also be under processed and therefore could spoil.
3. Oven Canning – is extremely hazardous. When you can food it is important to know and control temperature. With oven-canning the temperature will vary according to accuracy of the oven regulator and how heat circulates. The dry heat penetrates food jars very slowly. Oven-canning can be dangerous regardless of brand of oven, jar, cap or lid you use. Jars may explode, wrecking the oven and seriously cutting or burning someone. Most important, the temperature of the food in the jars during oven-canning is not high enough to destroy dangerous bacteria.
4. Microwave processing -These have not been shown to destroy all bacteria present in the food or heat uniformly. Problems may also occur with siphoning of the food out of the jars and lid failures.
5. Aspirin/ Salicylic Acid – Do not use any chemicals or preserving powders as a substitute for heat treating home-canned food. These will not prevent food from spoiling, or give you a good product. If you do not use a heat treatment, there will not be a vacuum in containers and this will generally accelerate food deterioration. The only safe procedures are boiling water bath process for acid foods and pressure canning for low-acid foods.
