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Food and nutrition

Dry mustard in pickles

Can dry mustard be substituted for mustard seed when I can pickles? If so, how much?

Yes, dry mustard can safely be used as a substitute for mustard seed. However, it may make the brine cloudier than mustard seed would and it may alter the flavor.

For 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds, use 1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard.

This is most likely for use in making mustard rather then being used to flavor a brine.

You will have to decide what sort of mustard flavor you want in the pickles. And since even mustard pickles, which use dry mustard, vary from 1/4 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons of dry mustard for 2 to 6 pints of pickles, there is a lot of individual preferences going on in recipes. So the exact amount of dry mustard needed will vary.

Jessica Kovarik
Extension Associate

Pickled beets caution

In the pickled beets recipe in GH1459, Quality for Keeps: Pack a Pickled Product it says, to cook beets covered with boiling water about 25 to 30 minutes. Then it cautions to "drain and discard liquid."

Why can't I use the liquid the beets were cooked in, assuming that I scrubbed the beets first?

I contacted the director for the National Center for Home Food Preservation. She says, "All the experts who have reviewed USDA recommendations in the past or developed them added that statement."

"I suspect beets are not that clean and trap soils. Spores of clostridium botulinum bacteria are found in soils. They are not destroyed by boiling. So if you use that water, you may be adding these spores to your pickled product. Also, the cooking liquid most likely could have precipitated dirt or soil in it that could interfere with the product quality when finished. And the pigments could lend undesirable coloring to the finished product after all that boiling."

Jessica Kovarik
Extension Associate

Canning peaches

I plan to can several pints of fresh, white peaches from a local orchard. After reading the instructions on your Web site, I wonder if pressure packing them after heating them through in the syrup is necessary. Also, won't pressure canning delicate peaches for 10 minutes turn them to mush?

You do not have to pack peaches in syrup. You may choose to use water, juice or a very light, light or medium syrup.

It is recommended however that you use the hot pack method rather than the raw pack method. A raw pack, or filling the jars with peaches and adding a hot liquid, is not recommended as it makes poor quality peaches. It is therefore recommended when canning the peaches to use either a boiling-water canner or a pressure canner. The boiling method is only safe to use with fruits, tomatoes, pickles and when making jam, jelly and preserves. Pressure canners are the only safe canning method for vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood because the temperature in a pressure canner can reach 240 degrees and above, which is necessary to prevent botulism.

Addressing your concern about 10 minutes being too long in a pressure canner, I have looked at a variety of sources and all tables and charts list a 10 minute cooking time.

Lastly, I noticed you will be using fresh peaches from an orchard so I thought I'd pass along this tip: peaches that have ripened for at least one day after harvest are the best to use.

Jessica Kovarik
Extension Associate

Freezing asparagus

I like to stir-fry asparagus. Can it be frozen without blanching so the stalks remain firmer?

Blanching actually prepares your vegetables for freezing so that taste, texture, and color are not lost during the process.

Sarah Janicek
Nutritional Sciences Extension Associate

Freezer storage times

I was cleaning out my freezer and came across two packages of salmon and a package of frankfurters. They were frozen about eight months ago. Can they be used or should I discard them?

The proper freezer storage times for frankfurters is one to two months and for salmon it is two months. It would be best for you to discard this frozen food. Here are some MU Extension publications about proper freezer storage times:

Sarah Janicek
Nutritional Sciences Extension Associate

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Updated 1/11/08