Mr. Armadillo and I moved into this house in the begining of September, and while unpacking, we found a cupboard in the kitchen full of what looks to be homemade jams and jellies and preserved fruit. None of it is labelled or dated, and the only identifiable thing is large jars of what appears to be peaches. There are also tons of smaller jars that look like various types of jams or jellies, and one type of jar that might be apple-butter. I was thrilled to have a whole stash of homemade preserves at our disposal, and proposed a round of toast-topping roulette, but Mr. Armadillo looked skeptical and put forth the idea that we have no idea how old they are, who made them, or if they’re crawling with bacteria. He claims to know of someone who got terribly sick from eating some contaminated jelly. This coming from the guy who scoffs at my need to keep peanut butter in the 'fridge because “no bacteria can grow in there! There’s way too much sugar”. Uh, by that logic, shouldn’t the sugar-packed jam be perfectly safe?
We showed the stash to our landlords who had absolutely no idea which tenant might have left them.
Is there any way to tell if this stuff is safe to eat? Any reason to think it might not be?
I’m not here to tell you what to do, but a friend of mine once told a story of jars of mysterious liquids and solids left behind by a former tenant. Let’s just say they weren’t jams or jellies… :eek:
I’m not here to tell you what to do, but a friend of mine once told a story of jars of mysterious liquids and solids left behind by a former tenant. Let’s just say they weren’t jams or jellies… :eek:
Bacteria grows on sugar just fine. In fact, bacteria grows on lots of things, sugar or no sugar. Colloids made of pectin, sugar, and fruit parts seem to me to be a peachy source of bacterial culture.
Actually, bacteria don’t like high sugar content, like you find in jam. Jams also tend to be acidic enough to prevent bacterial growth.
That being said, there is no way I’d eat the mystery jam. High sugar and low pH discourage bacterial growth, but they can’t completely prevent it, plus molds love all that sugar. You have no idea how it was treated while it was being made, how clean the jars were to start with, or how long it’s been there - it’s just not worth it.
Alright, already, I’ll toss the freakin’ jam
I come from a very small town, where everybody and their mother traded homemade jam (mmm… homemade pomegranate jelly… mmm…) and stuff around the holidays. I had no idea I’d been gambling with death all these years…
