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The home-made jam expiration date mystery

Baud — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:45:57 -0800

I could sell some very small-scale home-made jam. How can I know what will be the expiration date be ? Since I discovered that jam is not exactly the most complicated recipe out there (one part fruit, one part sugar) I started doing some for my own usage.

Through a sell-your-garden-stuff website about to open I could sell some of my production to people in my area.

It looks like the jams sold in supermarket have an expiration date set two years after they are manufactured.

How can I know what in the cooking process will decide when the expiration date of my home-made jame will be ?

Right now I'm applying boiling water to the pots before putting the jam in it. I suspect there may be more radical way of ensuring an expiration as far away as possible.

standard disclaimer : english is not my mother tongue.

Nice rack.

unSane — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:01:34 -0800

Design for a home-made wooden snowboard/ski/snowshoe rack? Okay, I want to build a snowboard/ski/snowshoe rack which will sit on our covered porch in the winter. A typical load would be:

2 pairs of snowshoes
2-4 snowboards
2-4 pairs of skis
poles for the above

It needs to be fairly simple to build and it would be nice if it could be moved for the summer, or at least transform into a rack for work clothes and boots. So standalone would be best. I'll be making it out of pressure treated lumber.

Any ideas? The Jam Rack is the closest I've seen but it's not stand-alone, or big enough.

Mmm, fresh tagliatelle...

roygbv — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:53:23 -0800

I want to make pasta, but it's oh-so-complicated... The girlfriend and I both enjoy really simple, traditional Italian food. Unfortunately, we're both in college and haven't had a decent Italian dish in months (our school food is terrible). We will both have more free time next semester, and I really enjoy cooking, so I thought it would be appropriate to try and make some healthy and more delicious things.

Home-made pasta seemed to be a nice starting point - my mother makes it and it is incredible, so much better than the store-bought stuff. It is simple to do and would be a great way to spend an afternoon, but there are some snags:

- I've only got a dorm kitchen to work with, meaning a simple electric stove, a sink, and notalot of counter space
- I've got some cooking equipment but do not own a pasta machine, and I'd prefer not to buy one (is there a way to get away with a smaller, less expensive tool?)
- we both eat relatively small portions, so it would be ideal if we could make a batch and store it over a week or two (at home my family would usually eat an entire batch, none left to freeze or whatever)

We are, of course, on a college budget and living in dorm rooms. The most affordable and most simple (easy cleanup) solution would be ideal. What I am really looking for is the least intensive way to make some simple yet excellent pasta. Thanks mefi!