Canning with splenda

[jebrown]

The other night a few of us at the VFW were talking about canning. Several of us are diabetic. We were wondering if Splenda could substituted for sugar?

Jerry

[Anon001]

Jerry,

Splenda does not have the preservative effects of sugar. However, it can be used if you are making jams and jellies with a product such as sure-gel...

Also, if you are pressure canning or hot water bath, you can use it. If a recipe was to call for 5 lbs of sugar, you would use only one to two cups of Splenda. I found this with a Google search but I mistakenly closed the tab before I copied the url. Just search for "canning with splenda" including the quotes.

Paul

[jebrown]

Thanks Paul
I will do a google search

[gunsmoke]

http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Canning/canning-Splenda.html

This might be what you are looking for with links to other sites/products.

[CanNerd]

If you want to make jams or jellies with Splenda® then use a no sugar required pectin and use the recipes from the inserted flyer. Pomona Pectin is highly recommended in this regard but is more expensive. Recipes requiring gelling and calling for sugar cannot be substituted with an artificial sweetener because it won't gel.

[rAcErRicK]

http://www.rense.com/general65/splend.htm

http://www.naturalnews.com/024302.html

[crmemory]

I, too am a diabetic. I would recommend you look into Stevia. It doesn't have the side effects of artificial sweetners, but is also no carbs. I use it in a lot of stuff.

[CanNerd]

Yes we can find something bad about everything we eat, but some people still like to use Splenda® and it is the only artificial sweetener approved for canning applications.

[jebrown]

Thanks to everyone for your help.
I found a lot of great material from these websites.
I am looking to learn about canning foods for disaster and lean financial times.
I almost never eat jellies or jams. So not a concern there.

Crmemory:
I have never had side effects from any artificial sweetner going bck to the days of Tab diet soda.
As far as Splenda goes some one will find some thing unheallthful in every thing that comes into contact with our body.
There was a big story on CNN several years ago when Splenda hit the market. It was about how many millions of dollars the Sugar industry puts into biased research statisics on how unhealthful artificial sweetners are. C&H Sugar was the biggest finacial contributor.
These practices go all the way back to aspartame.

[Anon001]

The way I see it is that sugars themselves are not bad... but the refined sugars are what cause the problems and Splenda is made from sugar but is also a refinement. However, if I was to select an artificial sweetener it would be Splenda. But, if I don't use sugar, I use honey.

Splenda can be used in canning, but you just have to look up the various recipes and tips and tricks.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

My mom died when I was little, but dad taught me to can. He always taught me to can without sugar except in some pickled dishes and jellies. He would can apples plain then sweeten them as we used them. Same with apple sauce or other fruits. He would add the sugar when he opened the fruit to make pies. That way if the fruit went bad or didn't seal, etc, he wouldn't waste the sugar. He learned that from his Mom during the depression era. They used sugar just before eating or baking.

He would use sugar in making jellies and pickled beets or pickles. But never in anything else. He never used a pressure canner, just a waterbath. It works fine even for beans or corn as long as you boil it several hours to process. I still use waterbath canning for most things sans sugar.

[CanNerd]

He never used a pressure canner, just a waterbath. It works fine even for beans or corn as long as you boil it several hours to process.
No amount of boiling seems to destroy the C. Botulinum spore, which is why you have to get temperatures up to 240°F in a pressure canner, but of course nobody knew that for a long while.

[Anon001]

Personally speaking.... I don't adhere to all the recommendations and I know there are some things that can be done that are not recommended. However, in addition to what CanNerd said... I do know that the ONLY way to get the center of the jars hot enough to kill the bacteria is through heat AND pressure. A hot water bath cannot do it.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

Personally speaking.... I don't adhere to all the recommendations and I know there are some things that can be done that are not recommended. However, in addition to what CanNerd said... I do know that the ONLY way to get the center of the jars hot enough to kill the bacteria is through heat AND pressure. A hot water bath cannot do it.

Well, you have both taught me something. I have done it the other way since I was 14 years old or so. I still boil corn four hours to can it or else just freeze it. I always hotwater bath all the fruit.

Once when I was 19, a pastor's wife tried to teach me to can tomatoes by simply washing the jars in hot soapy water then putting in super hot preboiled tomatoes. The jar seals ping on their own, and she never processed hers further. Mine all exploded a few days later. It was a mess. I think a lot of people do things a certain way simply because that was how they learned, and they have never had any problems with it. I learned to always process my jars of tomatoes after that mess was all over my pantry. Of course, I only boil those 15min if they are precooked.

[Anon001]

I guess a lot of people assume that if a jar "pings" and seals, it is fine. But any jar heated and then cooled will "ping". But that doesn't mean that it was hot enough to kill all bacteria.

What I think I may have read at one point is that some bacteria are killed by the time it reaches the boiling point of 212 F (at sea level) but not all bacteria. But, I don't know if that is the reason it takes pressure to get it to 240.

[NCLee]

Paul, that's my understanding, too. It takes heating all the way through at 240 for the recommended time to kill C. Botulinum spores. The vacuum in sealed jars provides the perfect environment for those spores to produce the toxin that kills folks.

Mom of 7, my mother canned everything with the water bath method, too. Her "recipe" was to boil low acid foods for 4 hours. I remember that she had problems with canned corn spoiling, even after all that boiling. Since botulisum doesn't show any signs of spoiling, that's what makes it so dangerous. Can't see the toxin, can't taste it, either.

One of her rules was that everything that was canned had to be brought to a rolling boil and held there for at least 10 minutes before it could be eaten. We never got sick from her canning, and I expect that rule was the reason why.

A FWIW --- make your own decison. I buy the Ball Blue Book every time a new one is issued. And, I check it for revisons in processing times, and other things. Our food products keep changing due to new breeding breakthroughs and the changing tastes of the public. And research into safe canning practices continues.

The most classic example is that many tomatoes today don't have enough acid in them to safely waterbath using the old methods. Acid has been bred out of them. Now an acid has to be added back to them for safe canning. I've switched over to canning everything in the pressure canner that can be done that way, including tomatoes.

Lee

[CanNerd]

One of her rules was that everything that was canned had to be brought to a rolling boil and held there for at least 10 minutes before it could be eaten. We never got sick from her canning, and I expect that rule was the reason why.
That was what everyone did, even with commercially canned products, for years because nobody knew what Botulism Toxin was then and the scare was very real.

Boiling for 10 minutes kills the active toxin, but its not a recommended procedure to follow today because it can be absorbed through the skin and everything that food came in contact with is highly contaminated, if it is present. And there is still no guarantee that all of the toxin was neutralized.

[Smacktard]

I guess a lot of people assume that if a jar "pings" and seals, it is fine. But any jar heated and then cooled will "ping". But that doesn't mean that it was hot enough to kill all bacteria.

What I think I may have read at one point is that some bacteria are killed by the time it reaches the boiling point of 212 F (at sea level) but not all bacteria. But, I don't know if that is the reason it takes pressure to get it to 240.


Water can't get above 212 F unless it's under presure, other wise the water will just turn to steam and float away, cooling down you water bath, limiting the temperature to 212F.

[MrGreenJeans]

It is so hard to get folks to stop bad canning. Some of my family still think you can boil maters and throw in hot jar, good to go. Tell them it's not safe and we have done it for years. It only takes once, end of story. My aunt that uses a presser canner fills it 3/4 full of water and takes 2 hr.s on some stuff. I have the same canner and it takes 2 qt. water not 31/2. Canning is a great way to enjoy your harvest, but beware it must be done right. Do not cut corners and use the book it's what it's for. Happy and safe canning.

[Mom5farmboys]

It is so hard to get folks to stop bad canning. Some of my family still think you can boil maters and throw in hot jar, good to go. Tell them it's not safe and we have done it for years. It only takes once, end of story. My aunt that uses a presser canner fills it 3/4 full of water and takes 2 hr.s on some stuff. I have the same canner and it takes 2 qt. water not 31/2. Canning is a great way to enjoy your harvest, but beware it must be done right. Do not cut corners and use the book it's what it's for. Happy and safe canning.

I have a girlfriend that does this with her salsa, its called the "Open Kettle" method of canning. I try to tell her that its not a safe way to put up her salsa but she insists that because she's never had a problem she never will have a problem. I hope she never does.

[jebrown]

Thank you all for posting some outstanding informatiion for us newbies. I will start canning next year.
Back n the 80's Whle living in Los Angeles in an aprtment, someone started pounding on my front door. I opened the door to a neighbor lady who was crying and very distraught. She wanted me to go to the store and get some medicine for her husband. I went to their apatment and her husband was in the bedroom throwing up real bad. He was shivering and shaking too. I told her she needed to call 911. She didn't want to call as they were illeagle
aliens. I finaly convinced her to call. They came and took her husband to the hospital. I then drove her to the hospital. When we got there the Doctor told us the shivering was actually seizures. After several tests it was determined that he had Botulism poisoning. They had eaten some canned food from a friend that didn't process it right. It was some kind of meat. He was touch and go for several days but he did pull through. The Doctor said that if he didn't get help with in the next hour he would have died.
On a positive note, the friend sought out some canning classes to leran how to can properly.
Later after graduating the classes she brought me some canned beef to say thank you for helping hr friends. Needless to say I had some concerns but since she had taken the canning classes I took a chance. The beef was delicious and very hot. Which is OK because I am a pepper head. She got so involved in canning properly she continued her education and eventually started teaching canning.

[CanNerd]

You neighbor's were very lucky and being Los Angeles (my location) and the high Mexican population I'm not surprised and one of the reasons why I'm such a stubborn cuss when it comes to preserving food the right way. Once you have witnessed it yourself up close you never want anyone ever to experience it, no matter how rare it may occur.

I had a friend once who gave me a couple jars of his homemade creations. Being in used commercial jars was my first clue and, quizzing him, I learned he didn't know what 'canning' was with a pressure canner or even a boiling water bath. I thanked him for the gift, went home and tossed them in the trash. I made it a point to mail him a nice package of canning information.

[Pigzzilla]

For several recipes using Splenda, go to their website...www.splenda.com They have quite a few for jams and jellies as well as many non canning recipes. You can also use Splenda as a light syrup when canning fruits. The ratios are listed in the Ball book. Pigz

[cubcadet]

The other night a few of us at the VFW were talking about canning. Several of us are diabetic. We were wondering if Splenda could substituted for sugar?

Jerry

My, so many rabbit trails. Anyhow, jebrown, you can name your brand of toxin, but, Splenda IS a toxin and poisonous! Stevia is good for you. It contains lots of vitamin c complex, as well as other goodies, and is harmless in relation to medication and assimilation of nutrients. A good website and video below-

http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2384105525501310962#

cub