So I’m interested in grinding up some fruits (strawberries or whatever) and just throwing them in a jar and preserving them. Basically I want to make a jam without pectin or sugar. How terrible of an idea is this?
So I’m interested in grinding up some fruits (strawberries or whatever) and just throwing them in a jar and preserving them. Basically I want to make a jam without pectin or sugar. How terrible of an idea is this?
If you just put the fruit in the jar and do nothing you might end up with a fruit wine mash if you are lucky or a pile of rotten fruit if you are not. (This is assuming that you’ve let air escape the jar every day. If not you jar would have exploded in your cellar)
This is the first kind of fermentation. The one you are the most likely to get. There is other kind of fermentation like kombucha or lacto-fermentation that you can get, you can “guide” by adding salt or some kind of yeast to get the fermentation you want.
You can also add alcohol to jar to preserve the fruit. This is how you get amaretto cherries for example.
Of course there is the option to add sugar but you already pushed this idea away.
Last option is to canned it to sterilize it at high temperature but it’s not really an area I’ve explored much.
Oh, yeah, sorry I wasn’t very clear with my idea. I figured I’d throw them in a clean jar and sterilize it the same way you would with regular canned goods. The safest way would be to use a pressure canner, as far as I know. I figure if we’re certain it’s sterile then everything else about the interior is all about preferred taste and fighting molecular degradation.
You would have to pressure can this. Water bath canning would not kill the real nasties like botulism. The sugar or vinegar in jams and pickles respectively prevent those germs from growing out of control which is critical. There is virtually no realistic way to ensure all your equipment is sterile enough to guarantee you will not end up with contamination. It would be a huge risk.
Only pressure canning would actually kill them because the temp gets high enough. Water bath canning is not sufficient.
I think water bath can be enough if the pH is below 4.6.
Below this pH the botulism cannot survive.
According to this chart pH values of common foods and ingredients the fruits you are talking about have a pH well below 4.6 so in theory it could work in a water bath.
However you need to be very careful about what you are doing, unlike fermentation or preserving in sugar, canning can kill you if not done properly. It’s generally not advised to can food without strictly following an approved recipe.
Yes but what OP is asking woudlnt reach those pH values.