Preppers: do you have enough ascorbic acid/lemon juice stashed?

[beefsteak]

Dear wife, Helen is much happier this morning, now that she's discovered her wonderful homemade bread she spoils us with daily, is now rising properly and plump as before--before she got into some stashed wheat flour.

Lately, her wonderful smelling bread resembled small dense mounds with golden crust offerings.

Yesterday yours truly rooted around for the manual for her rav fav bread maker du jour, which she promptly set down to read all 17 pdf pages.

She discovered much to our joint amazement, that yeast requires ascorbic acid to be added to the ingredients placed in the breadmaker in order to rise properly. Evidently, stashed flour loses its natural ascorbic acid! The .pdf recommendation was 1/4 cup she tells me, of lemon juice.

Sure enough, light, fluffy and nearly lifting the lid off the breadmaker was the result last night. Helen is strutting since solving the mystery of her disappointing bread lumps.

Tall bread lasts as much as 3 days if we're not on a sandwich binge. Short dense loaves last barely 1.25 days. Grandchildren and summertime eating may shorten the 3 days due to more sandwiches. LOL

Helen hopes this helps someone check out their preps for stashed lemon juice concentrate. Don't think that stuff ever goes bad on the shelves.


beefsteak (for Helen)

[Heimdhal]

Fruit Fresh is another handy form of Ascorbic acid. Most home canners will have some around. Its basicaly powdered AA. Theres no citrus flavor to it, so you can use it near any recipe without adding flavor, if so desired.

[beefsteak]

Please note, Helen has corrected me. It is 1 TEASPOON added of Lemon Juice/ascorbic acid, not 1/4 cup as I typed above. Good thing Helen asked to read what I posted, huh.

Sorry ladies and laddies.


lovingly corrected by mortified Helen, beefsteak

[osoab]

You can also buy it in bulk. I picked some up at the amish bulk place. It was 16.49/lb. I only picked up 1/3 of a lb.

[beefsteak]

Heimdahl,

Helen is wondering if you know how much powdered ascorbic acid vis a vis Fruit Fresh it takes to equal 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice? Is it a 1:1 reconstitution ratio instruction on the box?


Osoab,
Same question to you, please.


beefsteak

[Heimdhal]

Beef,

No clue the exact, but I would bet its probably close to 1:1. Im sure it wouldnt hurt when you're talking only 1/4 TSP anyways. ;)

[osoab]

I really bought it for canning purposes. I just follow directions.

[steel_ag]

Lime trees are easy to grow.

[osoab]

Lime trees are easy to grow.

Not in Northern climates

[steel_ag]

if you grow 'em in a large pot, they're easy to grow, i know, i've done it. put 'em outside when it's warm, take indoors when cold and/or shelter them as appropriate.

[Edward]

I had no idea how useful this forum was going to be when I signed up.

[osoab]

if you grow 'em in a large pot, they're easy to grow, i know, i've done it. put 'em outside when it's warm, take indoors when cold and/or shelter them as appropriate.


I should have clarified, that they are hard to grow when you don't keep them watered. :o

I will also add that when taking cuttings for clones, do not use the tops. Cut an 10" stem and the top four inches throw away. I have never gotten any of the tops to root. Only a thicker stem.

[osoab]

I had no idea how useful this forum was going to be when I signed up.

Glad you signed up Edward. What brought you to GSUS, if I may ask?

[Dogman]

I had no idea how useful this forum was going to be when I signed up.


Welcome to the madhouse, where the inmates run the show!

[osoab]

beefsteak. Will this help?

http://www.spartafit.com/food%20search/details.php?detail=9152&rate=Lemon+juice%2C+raw

1fl oz of Lemon Juice = 14.03mg of ascorbic acid.

[milehi]

If lemon juice = ascorbic acid, is that the same as powdered citric acid, which I have alot of to keep my homemade lotion from getting funky?

[Shami-Amourae]

Add in Sauerkraut (http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?61159-Raw-Lacto-Fermented-Sauerkraut) to the list. It's one of the cheapest and most concentrated forms of Vitamin C you can MAKE. Plus it will provide you with added energy and probiotic cultures that YOU make.

Lacto-fermentation is a pre-digestive process that releases more Vitamins and Minerals than your body ever could extract on its own. It is also another form of food preservation. It multiplies nutrition and every prepper IMO should learn this skill. It's completely overlooked.

[osoab]

If lemon juice = ascorbic acid, is that the same as powdered citric acid, which I have alot of to keep my homemade lotion from getting funky?


....:o

[beefsteak]

Add in Sauerkraut (http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?61159-Raw-Lacto-Fermented-Sauerkraut) to the list. It's one of the cheapest and most concentrated forms of Vitamin C you can MAKE. Plus it will provide you with added energy and probiotic cultures that YOU make.

Lacto-fermentation is a pre-digestive process that releases more Vitamins and Minerals than your body ever could extract on its own. It is also another form of food preservation. It multiplies nutrition and every prepper IMO should learn this skill. It's completely overlooked.

Are you suggesting 1/4oz dried sauerkraut to the dry ingredients in order to bake fresh bread from scratch using stashed/stale flour?

What will that do to the taste of the bread? Nothing good me thinks.

WOW

[Shami-Amourae]

No. I'm saying you can grow it, ferment it, and can it yourself.

[beefsteak]

Then may I politely suggest you take your sauerkraut suggestion to another thread instead of hijacking this one? This is about ascorbic acid and rescuing stale bread flour in a SHTF / prepper dumpy dense loaves of homemade bread thread.


beefsteak

[beefsteak]

Osoab,
now I will weigh 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice to determine--in fluid oz basis--the result, and report back.

Thank you for that factual, on topic response. I found it truly helpful. Would you perhaps have the link for that info? ;D


beefsteak

[osoab]

beefsteak. Will this help?

http://www.spartafit.com/food%20search/details.php?detail=9152&rate=Lemon+juice%2C+raw

1fl oz of Lemon Juice = 14.03mg of ascorbic acid.


Osoab,
now I will weigh 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice to determine--in fluid oz basis--the result, and report back.

Thank you for that factual, on topic response. I found it truly helpful. Would you perhaps have the link for that info? ;D


beefsteak


it's right there. :cool:

Here's the tablespoons per fluid ounce info.


1 fluid ounce = 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon = 0.5 fluid ounce

NOTE: that is for FLUID ounces, not dry ounces. Dry ounces are a measure of weight, but fluid ounces is a measure of volume. Converting between weight and volume depends on the density of the substance. Look at the question linked to the left "How many grams are in a tablespoon?" if you want to know how many dry ounces are in one tablespoon of various foods.


Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_tablespoons_are_in_one_fluid_ounce#ixzz1z bgya0uO

[Shami-Amourae]

Then may I politely suggest you take your sauerkraut suggestion to another thread instead of hijacking this one? This is about ascorbic acid and rescuing stale bread flour in a SHTF / prepper dumpy dense loaves of homemade bread thread.


beefsteak

I apologize. I'll be more conscious to not try to change the subject too much in the future.

[beefsteak]

Shami,
you're such a good egg, it pained me to type that request. Thanks, bud!


beefsteak

[beefsteak]

Yours truly has weighed 1 teaspoon LEMON JUICE. It weighs 5.7g wt/vol.

There are 3 teaspoons in 1 Tablespoon, and 2 Tablespoons to 1 Fluid oz.

Therefore, the following conclusions appear to me and Helen based upon your researched dataset showing

1 ) The fact that the ascorbic acid (AA) instruction is in a liquid a.k.a., dissolved form means liquid is the preferred AA delivery form when making bread. Yes, dissolved lemon juice is slightly heavier than the 1 fluid oz WATER standard assumed in all datasets due to solids inherent in lemon juice.

2 ) 1 Fluid oz contains 14.03 mg AA acc'd to Osoab's research (or 0.001403g -- a dry wt, not fluid vol)

3 ) 1 teaspoon (Vol.) lemon juice which weighs 5.7g wt/vol contains (14.03mg/6 teaspoons in 2 tablespoons acc'd to Osoab's dataset) = 2.338mg (also written 0.002338g) of AA in the breadmaker machine's 17pg .pdf recommendation for
optimal yeast activation supplementation.

4 ) 1000 mg of Rose hips Vit C (1 tablet) will produce enough AA at the recommended levels' addition to prepper stale bread flour to "doctor" 427,716 loaves of bread by the addition of 0.002338g AA per loaf. [1g = 1000mg/0.002338g from Bullet Pt 3) ]

5 ) 1 C water weighs a generally accepted 250ml.

6 ) 427,716 loaves of now leavened bread created at rate of 1 loaf per day would provide for slightly less than 1,170 years--yes adjusted for 292 leap years from dissolving that single tablet of 1000mg Rose hips Vit C.

If one were to consider "once and done" dissolving and storing 1 Rose hips Vit C 1000mg tablet dissolved in recommend portion within 5.697g water (5.7g minus .002338mg AA required to activated the yeastie beasties [<---Helen's name for Fleischman pkgd contents] )
(TIMES) 427,716 loaves of bread, the following facts emerge in trying to calculate
the total amount of water required to properly "encourage optimum yeast activity" using stale/stashed prepper bread flour:

5.697g wt 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice x 427,716 loaves extrapolates to:
= 2,436,698g H2O
= 9,747.79 cups of H2O,
= 609gal H2O into which dissolve then store one entire 1000mg Vit C Rose hips AA caplet.

Helen has no storage for 609gal of H2O containing properly dissolved 1000mg Vit C tablet sourced AA for her stale/stashed/prepper bread flour.......

So, after briefly contemplating hari kari and/or trichotillomania, or just stashing (x) 32oz (946ml) lemon juice each lasting approx 4 month (32oz x 6 teaspoons per fluid oz) multiplied times a reasonable maximum life expectancy (40? years) or 120 lemon juice bottles (generic or branded.)

Short of whittling away, ad nauseum a single 1000mg Vit C Rose hips tablet and meticulously weighing same for the rest of her adult life, Helen is seeking comments? :rolleyes:

Please keep it clean for my dear saint of a wife, k?


beefsteak & Helen wishing all a happy Independence Day 2012 celebration with self and loved ones.

[Old Herb Lady]

This is what I keep on hand for lemon juice for SHTF:

http://www.truelemon.com/true-lemon.html


Also, beefsteak---shami's point was valid---the topic of the thread is "Preppers: do you have enough ascorbic acid/lemon juice stashed?"
The bread question in your OP is what you want a response to, however, if someone is looking up/searching ascorbic acid/lemon juice etc....
his input is very valuable in response to the thread title and I didn't see it as a derail AT ALL .

just sayin !

Best regards & Happy 4th to you & Helen !

[ImaCannin]

Most Citric Acid is made from GMO corn. Fruit Fresh is a good example. You can use apple cider vinegar in your bread recipes instead. Measure equal amounts of ACV and Yeast ( if the recipe calls for a table spoon of yeast, use a table spoon of ACV.) When canning or dehydrating and you need to soak your fruit, lemon juice works well.
this is the lemon juice I usually use. 3186

[gunDriller]

Most Citric Acid is made from GMO corn. Fruit Fresh is a good example. You can use apple cider vinegar in your bread recipes instead.

i find apple cider vinegar is also useful for marinating meat that has a gamey flavor.

i use ACV, Red Wine Vinegar, & Vegetable Oil - and also some liquid smoke.

it sounds like ACV is good for more than just marinating meat though.