Wet Pack Sugar Peaches

Carol Adamek of Dallas has won first place at the State Fair with her cobbler. Carol freezes fresh peaches with a wet pack sugar method. She peels and slices firm, ripe peaches with a knife, squeezing lemon juice over them as she goes.

For every quart of fruit she mixes 1/4 teaspoon of Fruit Fresh with 2 tablespoons water in a bowl. She than adds the cut peaches and 2/3 to 1 cup sugar (depending upon the sweetness of the fruit).

Carol then tosses the peaches with her hands and packages in plastic freezer containers or zip-top freezer bags. She says she still has peaches from last summer that are good.

Freezing Tips

Here is a good collection of tips and basics to review before starting to freeze:

Choose fruit that is firm and ripe. Before freezing refrigerate fruit until chilled because cold fruit freezes better. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry - removing as much moisture as possible.

Fruit Fresh is primarily ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to keep fruit such as peaches from turning brown. It works on guacamole too.

Choose young tender vegetables and chill immediately. Rinse as if you were preparing them fresh. Blanch most vegetables to overcome effects of enzymes which cause deterioration. Pat dry removing as much moisture as you can.

Using plastic freezer containers? Select shapes that let the cold penetrate quickly, e.g. A long flat rectangular container is better than a cube. Be sure to leave 1/2 inch headspace to allow for expansion. This space also is a place where ice crystals can form. Plastic containers are best for short term storage. Glass jars with rounded shoulders are not recomended for freezing as they can break when contents freeze.

Using plastic zip top bags? Buy those made for freezing as they are heavier than regular zip-top bags. Reusing bags can be a bad idea since tiny holes often will develop over time. After filling the bags, squeeze the air out of zip-top bags by squeezing air out and closing the zipper within 1/2 inch of the end. Slowly push the bags into a bowl of cool water making sure no water enters inside the zip-top bag. The water pressure will squeeze out the air. Zip the top close and remove from the water.

Ice Trays are great for freezing liquids, stocks and sauces. After freezing pop into plastic bags for longer term storage.

Label bags or containers with the name of contents and the "use by" date. Use most frozen fruit and vegetables within 6 months (conservative).

Frozen Fried Okra

This freezing method makes fried okra super convenient for fast and easy meals just about any time - ready for skillet or fryer.

Preheat oven to 350F and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Rinse and cut okra into wheels. Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute after the water returns to a boil. Plunge into ice water to stop cooking. Pat dry.

Dip in buttermilk. Then dip in cornmeal seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Lay the prepared wheels on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes to set the crust. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before placing in freeezer bags.

Freezing Whole Okra

Prepare okra for freezing whole by rinsing, then group similar sizes. Blanch pods in boiling water for 3 minutes. The time starts when the water returns to a boil. Plunge the okra into ice water. Pat dry - removing as much moisture as possible. Bag and seal in freezer bags or other appropriate containers. Label and date.

An old timer told us that large pods are still good to eat if your finger can press in on their side. If it's too hard to budge with finger pressure it might be good for seed.

Four Factors Effecting Food Storage

Temperature

has more to do with how long well dried foods store than any other factor. The USDA found seed storage life to double for each 10.08F drop in temperature. Obvious limits exist, but common sense leads one to believe this rule holds true from room temperature down to freezing. The inverse of this rule also holds true with each 10.08F rise in temperature seed storage life is halved. Of course, this applies to other seeds as well.

This chart illustrates constant storage temperature (F) and the corresponding storage life in years. This does not apply to all foods, but is intended to show the relationship temperature has on food storage.

39.76 - - - 40
49.84 - - - 30
59.92 - - - 20
70.00 - - - 10
80.08 - - - 5
90.16 - - - 2.5
100.24 - - 1.25

If you store your food in a warm area, it will only last a fraction of the time if stored in a cool area even if you package food with the very best storage methods. Storing food at 60 degrees F or lower will provide you very good food storage life. An environment of changing temperatures will shorten storage life.

We currently have an average temperature of 80F so we must rotate our stored foods more quickly to avoid spoilage and loss.

Product Moisture

USDA nutritional tables show that dry beans, grains, and flours contain an average of 10% moisture. It is not necessary to remove all moisture but food should be stored as dry as possible. Foods with excess moisture can spoil.

Take care when using dry ice to pack food since ambient moisture condenses and freezes on the outer surface of the dry ice. Long term grain storage should have a moisture content of 10% or less. Food dehydrators are not capable of sufficiently drying foods for long term storage. Foods with 10% moisture levels will crisply snap when bent. Dehydrator foods are leathery and will not store well long term.

Storage Atmosphere

Air contains oxygen which oxidizes foods and promotes bacterial growth which causing food to go rancid. Here are a couple of professional approaches to removing oxygen.

DISPLACE OXYGEN: Purge out all the air with an inert gas. Nitrogen is almost always used because it is very inert. Carbon dioxide is also inert. People often use dry ice - which works pretty well.

ABSORB OXYGEN: Oxygen absorber packets offer a high tech approach. Air contains about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and about 1% other gasses. When the oxygen is absorbed, what remains is about 99% pure nitrogen.

Storage containers need to be strong enough to withstand a slight vacuum when using the oxygen absorber packets. If the container is not air tight the packets will be defeated by incoming oxygen which must be absorbed and in time the storage container will no longer be oxygen free.

Storage Container
Containers need to be air tight.

#10 Cans lined with enamel are air tight and prevent rust from forming.

Sealable food storage buckets - Manufacturer studies show an extremely small amount of air transfer through bucket lids - an amount so small it can be said to be hermetically sealed. Sealable food plastic drums. Be sure containers used are made from food grade material or you will have tainted food.

Jelly Making: Test for Pectin

Pectin is the substance in fruit that when combined with fruit acid and heated with sugar, causes the fruit juice to "jell." Some fruits contain little or no pectin, but most fruits and some vegetables contain it in varying amounts, and it is more abundant in underripe fruits than fully ripe fruits.

The Test
Mix 1 tablespoon of cooked unsweetened juice with 1 T grain alcohol. Wood or denatured alcohol may be used but should not be tasted as they are poisonous.

Juice rich in pectin will form a large clot.

Juices moderately high in pectin will form a few smaller clots.

Juice very low in pectin will form small flaky sediment.

These fruits are rich in acid and pectin:
Sour apples
Blackberries, sour
crab apples
cranberries
currants, red
gooseberries
grapefruit
grapes
lemons
oranges, sour
plums (most varieties)

These fruits are rich in pectin but low in acid
Sweet apples
Quinces

These fruits are high in acit but low in pectin:
Apricots
Cherries
Pineapples
Strawberries

The following fruit is low in both acid and pectin:
Raspberries
Elderberries
Peaches
Overripe fruits

Jelly Making: Adding the right amount of sugar

The amount of sugar to be added will depend upon the pectin and acid content of the juice. The only home method to determine the acid content of fruit juice is to taste it. If the juice tastes sweet, lemon or lime juice should be added.

For juices rich in pectin add 3/4 cup sugar per cup of juice.

For juices low in pectin add only 1/2 cup sugar per cup of juice.

The juice should be boiling when the sugar is added and the juice and sugar should be cooked as rapidly as possible until the jellying point is reached.

Overripe fruits are low in both acid and pectin.

Jelly Making: Test for the Jellying Point

Dip a cold spoon into the boiling syrup. At first when the spoon is inserted and raised above the steam you will observe a single drip formation (not illustrated). As the boiling fruit and sugar mixture nears the jellying point it will drop from the side of the spoon in two drops. When the drops run together and slide off the spoon in a sheet the jelly is finished and should be taken from the stove top immediately.

Thermometers are excellent for consistenly good results, but the sheet test should also be used, since the jellying point is not always the same. The range of temperature my vary from seven to ten degrees about the boiling point or 212 F at sea level.