We use strawberry jam as an example to explore the underlying principles of water activity an important technique for food preservation.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Andrea Jean Cleaning | 2020-10-12 13:00:21 |  421,772 Views |
How to Clean STRAWBERRIES with SALT! (Do Bugs Really Crawl Out?) | Andrea Jean Cleaning
For those of us in northern climates strawberries are the first tangible sign that summer has truly arrived. These delicate berries full of water and sugar are beloved by both humans and the millions of microbial populations. To enjoy strawberries you have to be quick because the invisible kingdom of bacteria and fungi is just as eager to take a bite. Every moment your harvest of berries sits on the counter they become increasingly susceptible to microbial colonization through enzymatic decay. It’s a race against time to determine who eats the berry first: you or the microbes.
Your best defense short of eating them right away is canning but “canning” is a bit of a misnomer; it’s actually an extension. All preserved foods have a shelf life and eventually they will deteriorate to the point of being inedible. Ultimately we’re just trying to buy ourselves time and the more we understand the science behind canning the more time we can buy.
Most microbes thrive in environments similar to those in which human life exists. They require the same basic elements: water food and oxygen.* They also have environmental preferences for certain temperatures and acidity levels. It helps to visualize a microbe as a wealthy upper-class matron in Boca Raton: the environment has to be just right for it to thrive. Too hot too cold too dry too acidic too salty too much of anything and the microbe will die. And just like the retirees in Boca microbes have varying degrees of hardiness; the more delicate the microbe the less it costs to kill. If we don’t want these old farts… er… microbes around we can alter the chemical and physical conditions of the environment creating barriers that block them and increase the edibility of a food.
