Q and A: Bread in a jar and mastitis

Bread in a jar

I recently watched a cooking show where the chef made an applesauce quick bread that he baked in a wide mouth pint jar. He greased the jar, filled it about half full with the batter, baked the bread at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, then placed sterile lids and rings on them when they came out of the oven. He claims they will seal and keep up to a year. Have you ever done anything like this? Can it be done with yeast bread? My wife has become a canning fool since reading your column and would love to try this.

Bruce Schneider
Hinckley, Ohio

I used to make many different quick breads, canning them in jars as you describe. But experts now advise against this practice, citing that it is possible for botulism to grow in these jars. So I cannot recommend this practice any longer. Sorry. And no, yeast breads never worked using this method. — Jackie

Mastitis

My nubian goat just had her baby, at 1:00 on the Dec.19th. This is not her first time to have a baby but it is the first time for me to be there when she kids. I am afraid I might have done something wrong because one of her bags is hard. We read we needed to give her penicillin so we have but I want to know is there anything else we can do? How long between kiddings?

Lynne White
Lacombe, Louisiana

If your doe has mastitis (usually evidenced by abnormal milk and a hard udder), a week’s course of penicillin injections will do a lot to help. Milking her several times a day (much as you’d drain an abscess) will also help clear the bacteria out of her udder. To provide relief from the swelling, try massaging the udder and using warm compresses on it twice a day. Improvement should be seen within a few days.

I’m not sure what you meat “between kiddings.” Does usually kid once a year. The time between kids in a birth ranges from a few seconds to about half an hour. — Jackie