Perhaps I should just let this thread die, but I always concerned about how people assess the information they find on the internet. desertmarcy, I am curious as to why you believe that Dr. Metcalf is a "qualified" individual? Because he is a professor of microbiology? I can assure you, that is NOT sufficient qualification. And the reason I can assure you of that is that I am also a professor of microbiology and I certainly do NOT know as much about food safety as many of the contributors to this forum, including Linda Lou and Carol. There are many areas of microbiology, food safety is a very specialized field. I was curious, so I went to the Cal State Sacramento web page and looked up Dr. Metcalf. His page describes his research with solar cooking. Wondering where he received his degree and what his previous research has been, I attempted to view his curriculum vitae - it was an inactive link. I then did a literature search to see if he has published his findings. He has only one peer reviewed publication on solar water purification and that was from 1999 - considered quite a long time ago in scientific research. On his web page, he states that most of the world believes that water must be boiled for 20 minutes to be safe, but that it can be pasteurized by heating to 65C (149°F). There is an important point here and that is the word pasteurization. It is very different than sterilization. Pasteurization only removes some of the microbes that are present, those that are thought to be most likely to cause illness. It certainly will not remove all microbes. His research appears to be mostly directed toward finding ways that people in developing countries can make their food safer. It is probably a powerful tool in those situations, people don't have money or resources to cook and prepare food the way we do here. Being able to pasteurize water is a huge accomplishment in those situations. However, appying those principles in countries that do have the ability to prepare food with more care seems unwise in my opinion. It is a proven fact that water must be boiled for 20 minutes to inactivate bacterial endospores, including those of Clostridium botulinum which causes botulism. The USDA has carried out extensive studies to determine safe methods for home canning of foods. While they may err on the side of excessive safety (I'm not saying they do, only that they may), they have used scientific experiments to support their findings. I understand the concern for diminishing energy resources, but compromising the safety of one's food seems a very high risk to take in order to conserve. This is, of course, only my opinion and, as stated above everyone has to decide what level of risk is acceptable. I did however wish to point out that one must evaluate information from the internet very carefully and know what the qualifications are of the person providing the information. Perhaps you know more about Dr. Metcalf than I could find. Sorry this is so long.

Actually, it wasn't me to resurrected this old post. My B&B recipe isn't actually one. Yes, there is tumeric added for the yellow color. I primarily used a packaged mix from Ball for my B&Bs. Then, I add extra mustard seeds and celery seeds to each jar before cold packing the cuke slices. Spears may be OK too, but I like the texture of a crinkle cut slice. Beause I also like dill, I will also add a few dill seeds. As to the sugar required on the packet from Ball, I don't use any, but intead use a small amount of Splenda. It may take about a cup of Splenda to sweeten the B&B compared to a five pound bag of sugar. Mrs. Fannings is store bought B&B and are also yellow with lots of celery seeds added. They also use a little cider vinegar along with the white distilled. Because I may make double batches, I would use a B&B mix as well as a sweet pickle mix together. With the two, and the added spices it helps to round out the flavor. You could also cut down on the sugar, and mustard seed, the add some dill and see if that will entice them to try a B&B pickle.

This is a fantastic topping that might be just what Lexilani was originally looking for. It's perfect to go on top of cheesecake. I did find that my second batch was thinner than my first. To up the natural pectin, you could include the lemon seeds in a mesh bag during the simmer and remove them before canning. Look up the jell tests (put some on a plate in the freezer, check whether it sheets when running off a spoon, cook to 218° F) if you need help checking the set. You can use all blueberries and leave out the mango if you can figure out the yield (in cups) of 2 mangos so you have the same total volume of fruit. Melissa Blueberry-Mango-Frangelico Topping 2 mangos, peeled & diced 2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen) 1 cup sugar 1 cup water 2 tbsp. lemon juice 1 tsp. grated lemon rind 2 tbsp. Franjelico Combine all ingredients (except liqueur) in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes or until liquid has thickened. Stir in Frangelico and cook for 5 more minutes. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. BWB for 10 minutes for half-pints and 15 minutes for pints. This made a little over 2 pints for me. I've used lime instead of lemon...and peaches instead of mangos and both variations also taste good :-) I believe this came from Topp & Howard's 'Small Batch Preserving.' SuzyQ2

I canned all but the two or three chunks I tried along the way. I brought one of the six jars to a baby shower today and they were very well received! I think I was told how good they were by everyone who tried them (several of the ladies told me more than once) and there was even one friend who said she doesn't normally like sweet pickles, but she liked these! So yeah hurray! And now for the confession. I don't like sweet pickles. (At least I didn't.) I thought the recipe and the response to it would make me into a lover of them; and even if it didn't, my oldest brother likes sweet pickles, so I thought I would give several of the jars to him no matter what. Now, as odd as this sounds, I was so distracted when I tasted them by not knowing if they were objectively good sweet pickles, I didn't realize they were growing on me. They have a definite charm and I would like to try them with some other ingredients. Before I officially ask for an idea, I will search a bit. Tuna and mayo with chopped LLSPC on toast sounds pretty appealing right about now! Thank Linda Lou for the recipe and the guidance. And the guidance. And the guidance... Helen