Food Preservation and Nutrition for Preppers

Canning                              

High Acid Foods Acceptable for Water Bath Canning

Low Acid Foods with a pH of 4.6 or less

Food Item                                                    Approx. pH

Apples                                                                           3.2-4.0

Apricots                                                                        3.8-4.0

Blackberries                                                                 3.85-4.5

Blueberries                                                                   3.1-3.2

Cherries                                                                        3.25-4.54

Figs                                                                               4.6

Grapes                                                                          2.8-3-8

Grapefruit                                                                    3.0-3.75

Jams and Jellies with added lemon juice                   3.0-4.5

Ketchup                                                                       3.9

Lemon and Lime                                                         2.0-2.8

Mangoes                                                                      3.4-4.8 *

Peaches                                                                       3.3-4-0

Pears                                                                           3.5-4.6

Persimmons                                                                4.42-4.7*

Pineapple                                                                    3.2-4.0

Plums                                                                          2.8-4.3

Pomegranate                                                               2.93-3.2

Prunes                                                                         3.63-3.2

Raspberries                                                                 3.22-3.95

Rhubarb                                                                      3.10-3.4

Sauerkraut                                                                  3.3-3.60

Strawberries                                                                3.0-3.9

Tomatillos                                                                    3.83

Tomatoes                                                                      3.5-4.9*

*Test with litmus to check pH. If the pH is not low enough, add lemon juice or vinegar.   Many pickled items are high acid and can be water bath processed due to the added vinegar. Check your recipe for processing instructions. 

You can purchase an pH meter online on Amazon.

All other food that are not in recipes that add appropriate amount of acid must be processed in a pressure canner. When in doubt, pressure can it!!

Here are a few of my "Go To" books on food preservation:

Ball Blue Book

How to Dry Foods, by Deanna Delong, HP Books

All About Pickling, by the staff at Ortho Books

Canning, Freezing and Drying, by the editors of Sunset Books

Fancy Pantry, by Helen Witty

New on my Book Shelf : The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving 

**See other favorites from my bookshelf on the LIBRARY tab on this blog**

                                          Nutrition

Recommended Daily Intake for Adults

2000 Kcal.
Fat less than 70 gm.
Carbs. at least 260 gm.
Total sugars 90 gm.
Protein 50 gm.
Salt less than 6 gm.

Vitamins

B1 (Thiamine) 1 mg. men, .8 mg. for women
B2 (Riboflavin) 1.3 mg. men, 1.1 mg. women
B3 (Niacin) 16 mg. men, 14 mg. women
B5 (Pantothenic Acid) 5 mg.
B6 (Pyridoxine) 1.7 mg. men, 1.5 mg. women
B7 (Biotin) 30 mcg.
B9 (Folate) 400 mcg.
B-12  2.4 mcg.
Vit. C 75 mg.
Vit. D 10-20 mcg.
Vit. E 10 mg.
Vit. K 120 mcg. men, 900 mcg. women
Vit. A 900 mcg. men, 700 mcg. women

Minerals

Calcium 1000 mg.
Copper 2 mg.
Iodine 150 mcg.
Iron 15 mg.
Magnesium 350 mg.
Manganese 5 mg.
Phosphorus 1000 mg.
Potassium 3500 mg.
Zinc 15 mg.


                              Recipes

Brussel Sprout Quinoa Salad
Ingredients

Quinoa, 1 cup sprouted or cooked

Brussel sprouts, 1 lb. raw, shredded

Sweet Potatoes, 2 cups, fresh raw grated, cooked and cubed or freeze dried and re hydrated.

Almonds,1 cup raw, soaked and chopped or 1 cup sprouted sunflower seeds

Craisins, ½ cup

Kale, 1 cup finely shredded fresh kale slightly bruised by massaging or ½ cup dehydrated kale slightly crushed

Red onions, 1 cup fermented or slivered raw

Dressing
Maple syrup, ¼ to 1/3 cup

Balsamic Vinegar, 1/3 cup

2 Tbsp. Quality Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp. Toasted Sesame oil

2 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil

¼ to ½ tsp. liquid smoke

Garlic, 2 cloves fermented or whole bruised

½ tsp. salt

Put ingredients in a bullet blender and process until the garlic is incorporated and liquids homogenize. If the oils want to separate, add 1 tbsp very hot water and process again.

To Assemble

Place Brussel sprouts in a bowl and gently fluff and seperate pieces a little. Add sweet potatoes of your choice, onions, almonds or sunflower seeds (or some of both equaling 1 cup), Craisins, kale, work together with your hands until everything is well distributed. Add quinoa. At this point the salad can be covered and refrigerated for use within a day or so, or dressed an hour or so before serving.

Of course any of the ingredients can be increased or decreased to your taste. Particularly the dressing. If you like your salad with more dressing, make a double batch and dress, taste and redress after an hour or so if you want a more pronounced dressing flavor.

Raw Gluten Free Sauerkraut Superfood Crackers

Ingredients

Naturally Fermented Sauerkraut, 2 cups drained, (if you don't have fermented kraut,you can use pickled, just realize the taste will be more pungent so use less.)

Carrot pulp or finely grated carrots (squeezed dry), 1 cup

Onion, thinly sliced and chopped, 1 cup

Buckwheat, ½ cup sprouted

Raw sunflower seeds, ½ cup sprouted,

Raw almonds, soaked ½ cup

Flax seed, ground, 1/3 cup

Salt, 1 tsp., Chili flakes ½ tsp., Coriander seeds ½., Cumin ½,

Black Pepper ½ tsp., Turmeric ½ tsp., Garam Masala. 1 tsp.,

Garlic powder, 1 tsp.

Assembly

Put the sauerkraut, carrot pulp, onion, in a food processor and pulse a few times to chop well but not puree. Add buckwheat to vegetables and pulse a few more times. In a bullet blender, grind almonds, flax, coriander, cumin and black pepper. Add blended spices, salt, and garlic powder to food processor and pulse a few times to blend well.

Put a silpat.dehydrator sheet on a dehydrator tray, spread the mixture out thinly and evenly, edge to edge, leaving no holes or thin spots. Using a ruler and a knife, cut the mix in long strips 1.5 inches wide. Then turn the sheet and mark 1.5 inches wide in the other direction. Place the sheet in the dehydrator, set the dehydrator temperature to 115 degrees and dehydrate until bone dry. 12-18 hours depending on the ambient humidity. Once dry break them apart and store the crackers in an air tight container.

**It is possible that you may have more than one tray's worth of mixture, if after you have mixture left after the first tray the thickness you desire,then form up the remainder to a similar thickness and mark as before. It will not be a whole tray so just keep the edges straight and thickness consistent.

Cranberry Power Bites

Ingredients

2 cups whole grain rolled oats, (not quick oats)

1 cup Craisins

1.5 cups almonds

2 tbsp. orange zest or 1/2 tsp orange extract

10 pitted Medjool dates

1  4 oz. jar of Cranberry Conserve, (recipe in Ball Blue Book) or other thick preserves, strawberry would be good but may be a little wetter than cranberry conserve so add less than 4 oz., working in by increments until the proper consistency is achieved. 

1 tsp. Ceylon cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla, I use Mexican vanilla but regular will do.

Assembly

Put oats and almonds in a high speed blender and pulverize to small bits. Add remaining ingredients, except for conserve or preserves. Blend. Remove from blender and place in a large bowl. Hand mix in the conserve or preserves, being sure to work in well so that when you start to form into balls the goods will stick together. Take a handful and squeeze lightly, if the mix sticks together well and can be rolled into a firm ball, then it is good. If it falls apart add more conserve or preserves, if it is too wet or sticky add more blended oats. Use a heaping tsp. of the mix and roll it into a nice tight ball. I put mine in the dehydrator for an hour to dry the surface so they wouldn't stick together. Recipe make 60 1 inch bites. You can also pat into a casserole dish lined with parchment paper to a depth of 1 inch, then turn out onto dehydrator tray and peel off the paper. Dehydrate for 1 hour then cut into 1" squares. If you don't have a dehydrator, then air dry a few hours covered lightly with cheese cloth, before storing away.