NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

December 17, 1998

Food Safety Advice: Can the Idea of Making Bread in a Jar

There are many bread-in-a-jar recipes current circulating, some in the popular press. However, a food-safety specialist with the North Dakota State University Extension Service says people who make quick breads using this method are really creating their own recipe for disaster.

"Making quick bread this way is too risky, given the moisture content and the ingredients these recipes call for," says Julie Garden-Robinson, extension food and nutrition specialist at NDSU.

These quick breads bake in glass canning jars. The metal lid and screw ring go on the jar immediately after the bread has baked, and the heat from the bread is supposed to create a vacuum seal that makes the bread shelf stable for a year. This process is unsafe, and not only because there is no water-bath canner or pressure cooker involved, Garden-Robinson says.

Even if a traditional canning method produced the vacuum seal, these quick breads remain potentially poisonous. Research done at Kansas State University a few years ago showed that some bread-in-a-jar recipes contained too little acid, Garden-Robinson explains. The result is quick bread that can support botulism-causing bacteria and other bacteria that produce toxin in the absence of oxygen.

"Canning jars are manufactured for a specific purpose, so it's unlikely this baking procedure has the backing of any manufacturer," says Garden-Robinson.

###

Source: Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136