View Full Version : Unrefrigerated Jams, Jellies, Preserves ....
Rocketman
03-24-2007, 22:21
I was looking at jellies, jams and preserves in the grocery store and looking to see how many state "Refrigerate After Opening". I would like to carry some of these great tasting items on the AT.
I found only two brands that didn't state "Refrigerate After Opening" and these were Crosse and Ballard (orange marmalade and red current jelly....) and something called Simplicity (Strawberry Pecan Jam, Blackberry Pecan Jam and Cherry Pecan Jam....).
Crosse and Ballard are a Smuckers product. On the Smuckers website, I found some information in a FAQ.
http://www.smucker.com/faq/product/pg3.asp#2?
Product
Q. Do I have to refrigerate Smucker's peanut butter?
A. The food items we produce are classified as non-perishable. Refrigeration is not necessary, although it does slow down the oil-separation process.
Q. Should I refrigerate your preserves, jellies, toppings, etc.?
A. The food items we produce are classified as non-perishable. Refrigeration is not necessary but recommended. Under normal conditions, unopened products should remain safe to eat indefinitely. However, over time the flavor and color of products will decline. Our products have a "best when purchased by" date on the back label.
This may indicate that these products would be good trail foods, if properly repackaged.
Folks have repackaged peanut butter for a long time, so that isn't new.
But, repackaged Blackberry Pecan Jam sounds really great over a cracker or a piece of flatbread.
Anybody have any experience with Jams and Jelleys in general, and these brands in particular?
Yeah, I bought some with which to experiment.
Joshrm78
03-24-2007, 23:01
ive seen jelly in little travel size packets like ketchup
cant find em but just use these http://onlinestore.smucker.com/display_product.cfm?prod_id=326&cat_id=22
best of all you can get them free from a diner
Last year when I was living in a dorm with out a kitchen I kept a jar of jam on my dresser. I used it about twice aweek until empty and never had a problem with it.
Rocketman
03-25-2007, 07:03
Last year when I was living in a dorm with out a kitchen I kept a jar of jam on my dresser. I used it about twice aweek until empty and never had a problem with it.
Jams and jelleys and preserves are really old technologies of storing fruits for the winter or keeping them for use long after the harvest.
It is natural to think that they would keep well without refrigeration, because there wasn't refrigeration in the early days when these foods were developed.
Good to hear of your modern experience.
Tasted good to have the jam around the dorm to satisfy the sweet tooth, I'll bet, and it will taste great to have on long hikes.:sun
Most US food companies tell you to refrigrate nearly everything these days, but in truth, a lot of it we just didn't 10 years ago! Some is probably a fear of lawsuits, so they cover themselves, another is that the cold can slow down stuff going bad or getting funky.
Only advice I can give is this: Use a clean utensil every time you dip! If you want funky jam, your dirty fingers and or slobber on your spoon will do it ;)
You might also look, you can get jam and preserves in squeeze bottles now!
Appalachian Tater
03-25-2007, 10:38
Unfortunately, even a new jar of jam could make you sick. For instance, there was recently a batch of peanut butter contaminated with Salmonella. The very young or old and those who are immuno-comprimised are at the most risk.
Foods preserved with sugar or salt or by dehydration (or a combination) are relatively safe, but use common sense. Don't lick a spoon then stick it back it in the jar or put your fingers in it or leave the jar out in the sun!
A more frequent cause of gastro-intestinal problems (vomiting, stomachache, diarrhea) while hiking is the transmission of organisms such as E. coli because (believe it or not) some people do not wash their hands as often as they should.
Appalachian Tater
03-25-2007, 10:39
You might also look, you can get jam and preserves in squeeze bottles now!
That's a great suggestion.
Not licking a spoon and putting it back in the jar makes sense.
Like I ever had much sense.
I think I'll go take a big honk off the milk jug in the fridge.
Brrrb Oregon
03-25-2007, 18:19
Jams and jelleys and preserves are really old technologies of storing fruits for the winter or keeping them for use long after the harvest.
It is natural to think that they would keep well without refrigeration, because there wasn't refrigeration in the early days when these foods were developed.
Keep in mind, though, that this works along the lines of salt pork, which also didn't used to need refrigeration....the preserved meat was preserved with a LOT of salt or salt and sugar and the preserved jams were preserved with a LOT of sugar. The high amounts of salt and sugar made the foods too dehydrating for bacteria to live in them. Dried meat and fruit, likewise, remain sound by depriving any bacteria that landed on them of sufficient water to multiply.
Also, there is a pre-pressure-cooker method of preserving jams that uses hot parafin wax poured over the piping hot jam in the super-clean jar. People still do it. This allows you to preserve using levels of sugar that would otherwise very slowly allow spoilage. Maybe you lost a jar or two a year, but that's the way life went.
Oh, and don't forget....in the old days, people got sick from contaminated food. They got sick often, and sometimes they died. That is also just the way life went. They only had a rough empirical knowledge of food safety, and besides...they had to eat something! The tough ones were miserable on a periodic basis, and the weak ones died.
Unfortunately, even a new jar of jam could make you sick. For instance, there was recently a batch of peanut butter contaminated with Salmonella. The very young or old and those who are immuno-comprimised are at the most risk.
Foods preserved with sugar or salt or by dehydration (or a combination) are relatively safe, but use common sense. Don't lick a spoon then stick it back it in the jar or put your fingers in it or leave the jar out in the sun!
A more frequent cause of gastro-intestinal problems (vomiting, stomachache, diarrhea) while hiking is the transmission of organisms such as E. coli because (believe it or not) some people do not wash their hands as often as they should.
Commericial food preparation poses drawbacks on many fronts--hydrocarbon and energy consumption being two--but contamination is really not one of them. In spite of some high-profile cases, commericially-prepared foods are, statistically speaking, much safer than that prepared at home, not the other way around. Commercial food preservation is able to use conditions of temperature, pressure, and overall cleanliness that simply aren't available in home kitchens. This "increased" safety presumes safe handling at home, though.....think commericially-slaughtered poultry. (The likelihood of any single commercially-slaughtered chicken being contaminated with an amount of enteric bacteria that is safe to consume with proper cooking is somewhere around 70%)
That isn't to say you can't preserve your own foods quite successfully. It is to say that unless you are scrupulous about your kitchen hygiene, the safety of the food you prepare won't be even close to that prepared commercially. It may be higher in nutritional content, less consumptive of fuel, more to your liking gastronomically, and so on, but you would do well to make it as safe, let alone safer, than what is available commercially.
As you say, amateur preparation conditions are what cause the most food-borne illness. Learn the rules, and don't be sloppy about following them, at home or on the trail!
max patch
03-25-2007, 18:24
On my thru I had peanut butter and jelly on a bagel every day for lunch. And a hunk of cheddar cheese.
I bought regular jelly without even thinking about the refrigeration issue.
Never got sick.
Rocketman
03-25-2007, 21:46
You might also look, you can get jam and preserves in squeeze bottles now!
Do you remember any brand names at all? That sounds even better than repackaging, except you can pick some good (expensive) jams to repackage.
Jim
TJ aka Teej
03-25-2007, 21:49
You'll eat it all before it even starts to 'go bad' - so worry not.
Growing up in the sticks as I did, our moms used to always pack us peanut butter and jelly specifically because it wouldn't go bad.
jan latham
03-25-2007, 22:50
Most items such as jams, jellies, even some like cream cheese can be kept without refridgeration--they do grow mold if you don't eat them quickly enough but mold can be scraped off, it grows very shallowly and underneath the food is good. The only danger is if the food was contaminated before you got it, for instance with staph at the factory or later by you or another person "double-dipping". You can't control the factory stuff but if you avoid any double dipping of your own then you should be ok.
MedicineMan
03-26-2007, 05:34
but mold can eventually get a toe hold on the surface....so look for the green patches of it and rejoice for the free souce of penicillin :)
Another sweetening option is honey, its even more mold resistant than sugar and also bacteriocidal--can even clean/saturate wounds with it (and if you've got garlic juice even better!)....anyway, honey found in Tut's tomb was still good after several millenia.
Do you remember any brand names at all? That sounds even better than repackaging, except you can pick some good (expensive) jams to repackage.
Jim
It was Smuckers and Welches and the like. Target and Walmart carry them. They are the type that have the cap on the bottom, so no shaking needed to get it out.
Brrrb Oregon
03-26-2007, 17:48
It was Smuckers and Welches and the like. Target and Walmart carry them. They are the type that have the cap on the bottom, so no shaking needed to get it out.
With the added advantage that it is easier to dispense without contaminating it (with who knows what) and without getting a spoon or knife dirty scooping it out.
You'll eat it all before it even starts to 'go bad' - so worry not.
Just keep in mind that the "reduced sugar" types might be the exception. It is the high sugar content that retards the microbial growth. "White death" is tough on those little beasties....again, because it is dehydrating.