Some Cooking Advice and Secrets

• Try to pick out fruit that is dry and in optimal condition, the fruit should not look bruised and they should all have a similar size.
• Make sure the fruit isn’t too green because then when they are kept and stored they lose part of their flavor and will have an insipid taste. On the other hand don’t use fruit that is too ripe either, as they will break when preparing them.
• Wash the fruit really well. Don’t use any detergents or disinfectants that will only destroy the microbial flora.
• Keep things scrupulously clean when handling food such as your hands, clothes, hair, utensils, etc.
• Use stainless steel casseroles and containers or crystal ones. Avoid using reactive materials such as aluminum.
• Don’t use metal sifters with acid fruit. These can affect the color and the flavor of the preserved fruit.
• Jello is a very common unifying agent within the kitchen. Agar is also a unifying agent that has a vegetable origin and is elaborated based on algae. Keep in mind that in order to dissolve jello, the jello needs to be poured into the hot water, never pour the water over the jello though.
• It is not difficult to prepare home made marmalades. Some of them only require about half an hour of cooking. But in order to be successful it is fundamental to be able to tell when the preparation is ready. One infallible way of doing this consists on taking the preparation out of the stove and placing a little on a plate and then let it cool. Then with a knife or with your finger, draw a line. If the edges come back together, it needs to be cooked more, however, if they stay in place, the sweet is just right and done.
• Avoid using artificial materials to filtrate and dry the fruit. It is preferable to use natural ones such as muslin without whitener, cheesecloths etc. as these will not damage the flavor and the quality of the preserved fruit.
• Before bottling, make sure to eliminate any possibility of germs by having previously cooked the vegetables or by having poured hot water over them for five minutes.
• When making a marmalade recipe that contains less than 50% sugar, it is necessary to sterilize the marmalade. If the product contains more sugar quantity, sterilizing it is not necessary since the saccharose acts as a preservative.