[CH] re: Botulism (retry)

Tina Brooks (shoestring_louise@yahoo.com)
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:58:36 -0800 (PST) 

I'll try this again...

I just wanted to add the comment from the
Peppermaster... the spores
 croak at 240 degrees. Live botulism croaks in boiling
water. The spores
 are tougher little critters because they're
encapsulated and protected.

Based on the process you described though, you're not
necessarily safe.

Pouring the safe stock into the heated jars, it's
highly unlikely at
 the point that they'll still be infected with
botulism, but in order to
 be certain that you are safe, you'll need to put the
safe stock into the
 jars and then pressure cook THEM and then they'll be
safe. You need to
 bring the entire jar, contents and all up to
temperature and at that
 point, your ph won't even come into it.

The problem with the process you describe is that the
spores could be
 in the air, in the clean jar, in the container you
use to pour it into
 the jars, the ladle could be contaminated, etc... you
get the idea.

T

chilehead@tough-love.com wrote: Hey Cameron! 

I checked with Alton Brown (Actually his book "I'm
Just Here For The
 Food") 
which I received for Christmas. Here's a quote: 

"Today's pressure cookers are both safe and efficient.
The heat inside
 a 
pressure cooker creates steam, which expands, creating
15 pounds per
 square 
inch of pressure, which in turn raises the boiling
point of liquid to
 250F. 
In this extreme heat, foods cook two-thirds faster
than they would in 
boiling water." 

Ergo, if botulism croaks at 240F as John T says,
you're good to go. 

Dave
TLCC
> 
> Here is a question which is a bit off topic but to
do with food
 storage in 
> general. It could apply to peppers. 
> 
> For Christmas I received a super cool Kuhn Rikon
pressure cooker set:
>

http://www.kuhnrikon.com/products/pressure_cookers/pressure.php3?id=11
> and the results are fantastic, the main reason being
that these
 cookers do 
> not continuously vent steam when up to pressure.
Instead you adjust
 the 
> heat to keep an indicator on a red line and the
contents are cooked
 while 
> sealed at pressure. You can barely even smell what's
cooking. 
> 
> The question is this. I have been making beef,
chicken pork and all
 sorts 
> of other stocks by pressure cooking leftovers,
scraps and bones for 
> periods of time from half an hour up. So at the end
of making the
 stock, 
> it is sterile. I then strain the stock into quart
preserving jars in
 which 
> I have just previously boiled water in the microwave
oven to make
 them 
> good and hot. Refrigerated when cool. So we have a
sterile liquid
 with a 
> pH around neutral going into a non-sterilized but
pretty clean jar
 and 
> sealed at close to 100C. Only a limited amount of
air trapped so
 basically 
> anaerobic conditions. What's your opinion of the
dangers of long term
 
> storage in the fridge? (By which I mean a month or
two.)
> -- 
> ---
>                      Regards,               Cameron.

=====

Tina Brooks
VP Marketing, Peppermaster Hot Sauces www.peppermaster.com
Brooks Pepperfire Foods Inc. www.pepperfire.ca

Phone: (514) 393-3430
26 St. Jean Baptiste, East
Rigaud, Quebec, Canada
J0P 1P0

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