Ascorbic Acid Crystals

[jjsooner73]

Hmmm...just looked on Epicurious and see that this is just Vitamin C Crystals. OK, the lady in the Healthy Living section at Central Market should have known that!! The recipe I have for Peach Butter calls for it.
Can I just use the "Fruit Fresh" stuff? It's pretty much the same thing isn't it? To keep fruit from discoloring?

[valchemist]

Jen,

I don't know what is in "Fruit Fresh" so I can't comment there.

But I do know that the protective effect of ascorbic acid (aka Vitamin C) is due to the fact that it is acidic. So a tablespoon or two of lemon juice (which contains citric acid) will do the trick!

Val

p.s. the amount of lemon juice would obviously depend on the amount of peaches you are using. maybe if you searched online for a peach butter recipe, you would find the correct proportions.

[jjsooner73]

Thanks Val.
Peach Butter isn't on the agenda until later this week, so I have some time to do some searching to see how much lemon juice.
About to go make pepper jelly. Yum.

[Beth]

Check the Fresh Fruit box -- I haven't used any in ages, but if it says that's what it is, I would use it and assume that your recipe was written to be generic rather than using a brand name. If you are pulling the recipe from a book, it might have a section that talks about supplies and ingredients that could help clarify. I can see you getting hooked already!

[MKSquared]

Digging up this old thread, hoping that Jen's online today ...

I have a feeling we're working out of the same book ("Blue Ribbon Preserves"), based on a few of your old posts, Jen. Did you ever make the peach butter? The recipe calls for OJ, lemon juice, and ascorbic acid crystals. Doesn't that seem like overkill? Think I could do without the crystals?

[jjsooner73]

Hi Mary Kate--yes, that is the book I have, but I never did make the peach butter. :( I did make apple butter, but from "The Ball Blue Book" (not to be confused with, "Blue Ball BOok", lol. I friend and I both said that at different times at the apple orchard where we picked apples last year.


For comparison, I looked in the Ball book, and their peach butter is just sugar and peaches. They also have a recipe for spiced peach butter, but other than the addition of spices there is no difference.
Their apricot and pear butters both have orange or lemon juice added, but it doesn't mention any other acids.

So yes, that sounds like overkill!

HTH! Happy canning.

[ellamay]

FYI, the spiced peach butter from the Ball canning book is excellent. That is the first thing I ever canned. :-)