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December
7, 2006
The other day my son was gathering things to wear for his middle school “decades dance.” His class was to dress based on 1960s styles. “Mom, do you have any bell-bottom pants from the 1960s that I can wear?” he asked. “If I had any clothes left from then, they would be too small for you. How old do you think I am, anyway?” I teased. He didn’t say anything, but he looked at me a little sheepishly. “Well, do you know where I can get some? I’d like a tie-dyed shirt, medallion and sunglasses, too,” he said. As I searched the house for clothes that would pass for 1960s high fashion, I thought about how fads keep reappearing. In the fashion world, skin-tight jeans and leggings are “in.” Short boots are back, too. In the world of food, the Atkins diet comes to mind as a fad that reappeared a few years ago after its initial popularity in the 1970s. Restaurants and food companies jumped onboard with high-protein foods, but now, for the most part, the fad is gone. Lately, with the approaching holiday season, another fad from a few years ago has reappeared. Based on the calls I receive, bread in a jar or canned bread seems to be growing in popularity. The Internet has recipes galore and some specialty cookbooks include bread-in-a-jar recipes. Despite the novelty, bread baked in a jar is not considered safe. To make canned bread, quick-bread batter is baked in greased wide-mouth canning jars. After you remove the jars from the oven, you apply canning lids and the heat creates a vacuum that seals the jars. I guess the next step is to apply a colorful bow and give them to your friends. Since I’m assuming people enjoy their friends’ company and want to keep them around, my best advice is to “can” this idea. Glass canning jars are not designed to be used as baking containers. The expansion of the bread during the baking process could result in breakage of the jars and possibly injury to you. Bread in a jar may be hazardous to your health. According to research we did at NDSU, the batters are high in moisture and low in acid content. Some of the ingredients may contain inactive forms of bacteria called spores that can become active as a result of the heating process. The air-tight environment of sealed jars provides ideal conditions for the development of the potentially deadly botulism toxin. We inoculated some of our batter with a type of bacteria similar to C. botulinum, but not as dangerous. After our bread samples were made and sealed in jars, we stored the jars for a few weeks. Some of our research samples spoiled in the jars, producing foul-smelling, multicolored bread. Other bread-filled jars had bulging tops, indicating gas production by the bacteria. Obviously, the heat of the oven did not kill the germs that were present. Trust me. You wouldn’t have wanted to taste these bread samples, even if I had added a bow. When making your own food gifts packed in jars or other containers, think “dry.” Dry soup mixes, cookie mixes and cocoa mixes sealed in jars are safe, thoughtful gifts. Here’s another safe food-in-a-jar recipe idea. This one was shared by Carmen Rath-Wald, NDSU Extension agent in Emmons and Logan counties. It’s made with potato flakes and dry milk with special seasonings.
### Source:
Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
Market Advisor: |
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North Dakota State University |
