[Sca-cooks] preserving fruits without sugar
Stefan li Rous
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Tue Jun 26 18:58:16 PDT 2007
Vittoria asked about preserving some fruit:
<<< - I would love to dry some of the fruit, but don't have access to a
dehydrator. Has anyone had success with sun-drying? Any tips? (I'm
currently in hot and arid Southern California, perfect conditions for
sun-drying, but I'd be happy to hear any recommended "dos and don'ts"
before
I actually attempt it.) >>>
An oven set on low can be used. So can sun drying. Both of these are
covered in this file in the FOOD section of the Florilegium:
drying-foods-msg (55K) 9/16/02 Drying foods in period and for
the SCA.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/drying-foods-msg.html
<<< - Is it possible to make jam using honey in place of sugar, or to
leave the
sugar out entirely? (I don't care if it's not as sweet -- in fact, I'd
prefer that -- but I imagine some sugar would be necessary to get the
stuff
to gel properly and to preserve it.) >>>
I'm not sure how much info there is in this file on preserves using
honey, but it might be worth a look:
marmalades-msg (104K) 4/30/07 Period marmalades and fruit
jellies and jams
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/marmalades-msg.html
<<<- I've seen some descriptions of whole fruits preserved in honey
-- I think
in Platina or Apicius, but all my books are still in storage so I can't
double-check that. Basically, they say to put whole, cleaned, raw
fruits (I
think figs, grapes?, apples and pears were mentioned) in jars/
vessels, pour
honey over the top, seal it and it'll last for weeks. >>>
I'm not sure if you are speaking of suckets or not.
suckets-msg (7K) 4/ 1/02 Spices, fruit or fruit peel in a
sugar syrup
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/suckets-msg.html
Not a period technique, but have you considered canning some of the
fruit? You don't have to make it into a preserve to do this:
canning-msg (44K) 11/ 5/06 Use of canning in the SCA.
Directions.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/canning-msg.html
And there is pickling of the fruit. Here are some period recipes:
compost-msg (82K) 8/25/06 A pickled food of fruits and
vegetables.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/compost-msg.html
This might have some useful ideas as well:
food-storage-msg (85K) 6/ 8/00 Storing and preserving food in
period. Non-
refrigerated food for camping
and Pennsic.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/food-storage-msg.html
Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at: http://www.florilegium.org ****
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list