Citric acid?

[msminnamouse]

Does anyone use this for food preservation? I mean for foods that haven't been dehydrated or canned.

How do you use it?? Is it very effective? Won't it make everything taste bitter or acidic?

 

[Inferno]

Citric acid can be used as a preservative. I'm not sure how much to add though.
From a scientific perspective, citric acid (aka hydrogen citrate) is found within the citric acid (aka TCA or Kreb's) cycle. It allows for cellular respiration, occuring in the matrix of mitochondria.
Just don't heat it to above 170 degrees celsius since it will chemically decompose and may be rendered useless.

 

[YT2095]

this: Citric Acid Profile
will assist as a General outline.

 

[bethzaring]

i use citric acid as one ingredient in making mozzarella cheese, but not in food preservation. I don't know if it adds a flavor because I also add lipase for taste enhancement. I believe the citric acid is added more for texture, not flavor. It does not make the cheese taste bitter.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Well, msminnamouse, not sure where you are headed with this - what you are trying to preserve or how you are trying to preserve it. If you're not going to dehydrate it (which is usually salt/sugar/cold smoke cured) or canned (where citric acid is ued to raise the acidity of low acid foods or for jams/jellies/preserves to interact with the pectin to help in jelling) what's left - freezing? In that case - the citric acid might be used as an anti-browning agent before blanching and freezing.

You might want to explore the National Center for Home Food Preservation and do a search on "citric acid" to see how it is used.

 

[Inferno]

Does anyone use this for food preservation? I mean for foods that haven't been dehydrated or canned.

How do you use it?? Is it very effective? Won't it make everything taste bitter or acidic?

It won't make everything taste acidic or bitter if a) You don't use a whole lot and b) You neutralize it, such as citric acid with N,N-Dimethylmethanamine (trimethylamine).

I sometimes use lime or lemon juice with diced peaches as part of a desert. I soak them briefly in the juice then when I want to use them, I take them out and with the rest of the desert, there's no taste of the citric acid but the peaches do not go brown. It's a similar thing you would do with cauliflower and milk.

 

[CanningPantry]

Citric acid is commonly used with tomato product canning. Most fruits have enough acid content to enable safe water bath canning. Most veggies require pressure canning as they have little acid content.

Tomatoes are technically a fruit, but are of borderline pH (a measure of acidity) for safe waterbath canning and should either be pressure canned, or have lemon juice or citric acid added to lower the pH to a safe level for water bath canning.

Do not think that you may add lemon juice or citric acid to veggies and be able to water bath can them. They MUST be pressure canned.

 

[CharlieD]

I use it when making jellies, also some Russian soup call for it. i.e. green borscht. i also like to make soda drink. Water, syrop, citrick acid, baking soda.