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Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,258
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

@ECBG wrote:

@loriqvc It would seem that the sweetness thing would might be more regional.  I went back and checked a number of recipes on Cooks dot com where I got it.  Most recipes had the higher sugar.  Sugar isn't for preservation and there's no telling which recipe has been "tweaked" for taste.Smiley Happy


@ECBG 

@loriqvc 

 

Though the amount of sugar placed in any butter or jam recipe may originally have catered to the taste of that period in time, tastes and carb choices are changing some folks' decisions to decrease the amount of sugar in their recipes.  I'm one of those people.

 

However, while taking the year-long Microbiology course required of us, prior to moving forward to our "clinicals" in Nursing School, we learned that sugar is indeed a preservative and anti-bacterial growth factor.  Indeed not as potent as salt, sugar still provides a chemical barrier for cells.

 

Yes, mold will grow like heck on your jams, jellies and butters, but molds/fungi are another story.  That's why it's imperative that we wash, wash, wash our fruit in order to achieve as clean a crop of fruit for canning as possible.

 

Because molds/fungi are biologically classified as "eucaryote" cells, the same as human cells, it's really hard to get rid of them.  This is why boiling your canning jars, per directions, is so very important: we need to kill the fungal spores, which are on the inside of the jars.  And, believe me they are there, even though you can't see them.

 

Easy to kill in the boiling process:  Bacteria, most

More difficult to kill in the boiling process:  Anearobic Bacteria:

     Bacteria which thrive in an oxygen starved atmosphere like

     your newly prepared butter, jam & jelly.

Hard to kill in the boiling process:  Molds/Fungi

 

Follow instructions for a good, long boil.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 43,240
Registered: ‎01-08-2011

@sfnative Wow!  Sugar can somewhat hold back some of the negatives!  Amazing!  Of course science has, thankfully, come a long way!  

Thank you for taking the time to type that explanation.  Much appreciated.Smiley Happy