With the new no-sugar needed pectins such as Pomona Pectin, you can set almost anything even with high water activity and low-acidity, which could lead into unsafe territory. In contrast, the classic USDA simple recipe for water-bath canning blueberries in plain water, with a very high water activity yet no added refined sugar, is safe because the acidity of the blueberries (pH of 3.1 – 3.4) is providing the safety (combined of course with proper processing of the jar to inactivate spoilage mechanisms.) Pectin and water activity The overwhelming amount of sugars in the recipe would lower the water activity immensely. This is a rare example in home canning where sugar is a critical safety preservative, rather than just a flavour, colour or texture enhancer or conserver, as it is most of the time.Īnother good example of a water-bathed recipe which relies entirely on low-water activity for safety is Ball’s Maple Walnut Syrup: the ingredients are walnuts, water, corn syrup, maple syrup and sugar. It is with this rare type of recipe, where you don’t see an acid at all, that it is not safe to even consider reducing the sugar or using a sugar substitute. In doing so, they don’t leave enough water free for any bacteria to use to do anything. What makes this recipe safe for water-bathing is that the sugar and the pectin bind up a great deal of the water in the food product. So in theory, this recipe ought to be pressure canned, because the pH of the only real ingredient is so far above the safe cut-off for water-bathing of 4.6. So, it’s probably roughly around the pH of the water that was used to make the juice from it. 5 Miscellaneous information about water activityĪ small handful of recipes depend on pure sugar for safetyĬonsider the classic recipe for corn cob jelly:Ĭorn is low-acid, with a pH of 6.0 – 7.5.4 Don’t muck with low-water activity recipes.1 A small handful of recipes depend on pure sugar for safety.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |