Preserving in bags with Joule

Cooked some pears - 80 deg for 30 mins, just sugar and spices added, in vac pac bags. Now they are sealed and pasteurised should they now last as long as doing this in jars etc? Anyone had any experience in preserving like this?

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Comments

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Pasteurization isn't the same thing as shelf-stability. While you can preserve things at lower temps in a water bath, there has to be enough acid to make the environment hostile to pathogens. That's what the ChefSteps pickle recipes are all about. But if you're not dealing with something inherently acidic (like tomatoes) or adding an acid like vinegar, you're not going to produce a shelf-stable product. But it should last for a long while if kept sealed in the fridge.

Mark_84280

However, I should be able to recreate the concept of bottled fruit - say - in just the same way - in a vacuum sealed bag? I'm not after the low pH, or high salt, or high sugar of other preserves, just an environment that is similar to bottling...

brian_martin2001

If you're referring to refrigerated bottling: yes. If you're referring to room temperature/shelf stable bottling: no.

JM_463468

It might be possible to simulate retort packing in suitable flexible film packaging in something like the instant pot for shelf stable food, but not with the Joule. Low acid foods are safe and shelf stable when pressure cooked:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retort_pouch

And there's further progress with some resins:

http://www.packagingstrategies.com/articles/89938-extending-shelf-life-while-reducing-preservatives

Some foods like guacamole are ruined by cooking, so there are now commercial pascalization (HPP) systems too:

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/01/putting-the-pressure-on-no-heat-way-to-zap-pathogens/