Food Processing Commons^™

Preserving The Harvest: How To Preserve Chokecherries, Callahan K. Adams, Andrea Schmutz

All Current Publications

A treasured wild fruit in Utah and across the Intermountain West, chokecherries offer both cultural heritage and culinary versatility. With proper handling and research-tested preservation methods, you can safely transform them into delicious jellies, syrups, and more. Whether using a steam juicer or stovetop method, following tested recipes and adjusting for elevation ensures both safety and quality. This fact sheet provides information and recipes to safely preserve chokecherries.

Utah Altitude Adjustments For Home Canning, Margie Memmott, Ariel Petersen, Callahan Adams, Andrea Schmutz

All Current Publications

Knowing your altitude is critical for canning. Safe home food preservation depends on adjusting processing times and pressures for altitude. This fact sheet provides a county-by-county and town-by-town listing of elevations across Utah, paired with the boiling-water and pressure canner adjustments recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Center for Home Food Preservation. By referencing this resource, Extension educators, food preservation instructors, and home canners can quickly identify the correct processing adjustment for their location.

Farmers Markets As Community Infrastructure: Evidence From A Three-Year Statewide Data Project In Utah, Jaclyn Pace, Roslynn Mccann, Blue Cook, Steven Price, Lorali Smith, Dianna Parkynn, Joshua Cafferty

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Utah farmers markets play a critical role in food access, small business viability, and community connection, yet limited statewide data document their impact. The Utah Farmers Market Network (UFMN) and Utah State University (USU) Extension conducted a mixed-methods evaluation (2023–2025) and found that farmers markets make valuable contributions to the community.

Preserve The Harvest: Canning Goat Meat At Home, Callie Adams, Andrea Schmutz

All Current Publications

Due to its lean composition and nutritional profile similar to those of other tested meats, goat is well-suited for pressure canning. Follow USDA and Utah State University (USU) Extension altitude guidelines. This fact sheet provides guidelines for selecting high-quality meat, using proper equipment, and adhering to tested methods. Home canners can safely preserve goat meat and enjoy its benefits year-round.

Community Solar Dehydrator Plans, Kate Weigel, Roslynn Mccann

All Current Publications

As interest in home gardening and self sufficiency surged during the pandemic, many are looking for ways to preserve foods from their newfound harvests. This fact sheet provides an overview of how to build a community solar food dehydrator for food preservation, based on our experience doing so for the community of Moab, Utah. A list of needed building materials, tools, and specific plans are included.

Wear Behaviors Of Process Cheese With Varying Formulations And The Development Of Predictive Models On Shreddability, Jason Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Process Cheese is manufactured by grinding, mixing, and heating with agitation one or more of the same varieties of natural cheese with an emulsifying agent to create a cheese with desirable properties. After process cheese is made, it is often sliced or shredded. Some of its properties affect how well it can be sliced or shredded and can lead to loss of material due to cheese sticking to equipment or being too crumbly. The loss of material, called wear behavior can incur significant losses to cheese manufacturing operations. The purpose of this study was to produce process cheese formulations with …

Effect Of Long Pasteurization Run Times On Bacterial Numbers In Milk, Brynli Tattersall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project was funded by the Western Dairy Center to understand how long a milk pasteurizer can be operated before increases in bacterial numbers are observed in the pasteurized milk. While pasteurization kills pathogenic bacteria there are some non-pathogenic bacteria that can survive and have the ability to become attached to the surfaces in the cooling sections of the pasteurizer. Some bacteria can also produce spores that survive pasteurization even if the bacterial cells are killed. Temperatures in the cooling section remain in a range suitable for growth of these heat-tolerant bacteria and can allow germination of bacterial spores. While …

Preserving Pomegranates, Charlotte P. Brennand, Suzanne Jorgenson

All Current Publications

This publication describes pomegranates and how to store and can them. It also provides nutritional information.

Avoiding Common (Major And Minor) Canning Mistakes, Kathleen Riggs

All Current Publications

This publication gives tips on avoiding common canning mistakes.

Principles Of Boiling Water Canning, Kathleen Riggs, Brian Nummer

All Current Publications

This publication discusses the basic principles of boiling water cannings.

Principles Of Pressure Canning, Kathleen Riggs, Brian Nummer

All Current Publications

This publication discusses the basic principles of pressure canning.

Preserving Figs, Carolyn Washburn, Charlotte P. Brennand

All Current Publications

This publication provides facts about figs including selection and preparation; freezing; canning; jams jelly, preserves; drying; pickling; storage; and nutritional information.

Preserving Apples, Kathleen Riggs, Charlotte Brennand

All Current Publications

This publication describes selecting apples, preparing them for freezing and canning, drying, storage, and nutritional information

Effects Of Processing And Packaging Modifications On The Quality And Shelf Life In Meats, Abdulla Khan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Shelf life of foods, mainly meat and meat products, is affected by its physical and chemical properties like color, pH, water holding capacity etc. In developed countries
food losses occur at production, retail and consumer levels with meat commodities accounting for 41% of the total loss in US during 2008. These losses are because of
spoilage due to inappropriate packaging, improper storage conditions, food wastage, and lack of consumer awareness. By focusing on shelf life and quality issues at the production level, we can overcome some of the major problems faced by the food manufacturers.

Active packaging is an innovative …

Preserving Pears, Charlotte P. Brennand, Teresa Hunsaker

All Current Publications

This publications provides information on pears, including freezing, canning, drying, storing, and nutritional information.

Preserving Tomatoes, Pauline Williams, Charlotte P. Brennand

All Current Publications

This publication provides information of preserving tomatoes by freezing, canning, and drying, and includes recipes.

Preserving Grapes, Christine Jensen, Charlotte P. Brennand

All Current Publications

This publication describes grapes, how to select, can, freeze and dry them. It gives storage and nutritional information.

Preserving Pole And Bush Beans, Brian Nummer

All Current Publications

This publication provides information on the varieties of beans and how to best plant and harvest them.

Preserving Summer Squash, Brian Nummer

All Current Publications

This publication includes information about varieties, planting and harvesting, ways to preserve, nutrition, and recipes.

Preserving Apricots, Charlotte P. Brennand, Ann Henderson

All Current Publications

This publication provides information on the proper selection, preparation, freezing, and canning of apricots.

Preserving Berries, Charlotte P. Brennand, Debra Proctor

All Current Publications

This publication describes kinds of berries, how to select, can, freeze, and dry them. It also gives storage and nutritional information.

Preserving Chile, Charlotte P. Brennand

All Current Publications

1. The best way to preserve chile depends on how you plan to use it and your available storage space. Frozen or canned chile is best for chile rellenos and salsas. Stews can use frozen, canned or dried chile. Dried chile has minimal storage requirements and is light-weight for taking on camping trips. Pickled chiles can be used on a relish plate or as an ingredient in other dishes.

Preserving Venison, Charlotte P. Brennand, Brian A. Nummer, Margie P. Memmott

All Current Publications

This publication describes venison and how to properly select, can, freeze, and store it.

Cook Surface Precautions For Home Canning, Brian Nummer

All Current Publications

This publication discusses the advantages and disadvantages to different surface options for home-canning.

Food Storage Exposed To Floodwater, Fire And Chemicals, Christine E. Jensen

All Current Publications

This publication gives tips and instructions on how to deal with food storage that has been exposed to floodwater, fire, and chemicals.

Boiling Water Canning Lemon Or Lime Curd, Brian Nummer

All Current Publications

This publication includes recipe and instructions on canning lemon and lime curd using boiling water method.

Texture Profile Analysis And Melting In Relation To Proteolysis As Influenced By Aging Temperature And Cultures In Cheddar Cheese, Taylor Rasmussen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Changes in cheese physical properties during aging are related to proteolysis by coagulant type, culture enzymes, and non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB). Storage temperature also affects aging rate. Cultures are important for flavor development , but less is understood about their role in melting and textural properties.

Our objective was to make Cheddar cheese using different cultures, to age it at 6 and 13°C, and measure physical and proteolytic properties over 12 mo to determine whether changes in texture and melting correlated with the extent of proteolysis that occurred during aging.

Cheese was manufactured using Lactococcus lactis starter culture either …

Pressure Canning Hydrated Wheat, Brian Nummer

All Current Publications

This is a statement regarding the untested canning practices of hydrated wheat berries.

Prevention Of Pigment Deterioration And Lipid Oxidation In Ground Beef And Pork, Preetha Jayasingh

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fresh beef was modified-atmosphere packaged in carbon monoxide or oxygen to prolong red surface color. After comparison of several packaging method using carbon monoxide, steaks pretreated with 5% carbon monoxide for 24 hours and then vacuum packaged had the best combination of color and microbial stability (5 weeks), with the least potential for carbon monoxide inhalation.

In the evaluation of ground beef in high-oxygen, modified-atmosphere-packaging, thiobarbituric-acid numbers increased over time, and the flavor was disliked slightly after 6 or 10 days of storage at 2° Celsius.

The antioxidant effect of milk-mineral was tested in raw and cooked ground pork stored …

Influence Of Storage Duration, Temperature, And Oxygen On Quality Of Stored Dehydrated Foods, Omima Ali Darag

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was undertaken to determine the effect of oxygen absorber packets (OAP) (AGELESS Z.300 E) in improving the shelf-life of selected dried food products, including dried potato pearls, dried sliced apple, dried carrot, white rice, nonfat dry milk, all purpose flour, rolled oats, and wheat. Items were stored at four different temperatures (-20, 10, 21, and 29.5°C) over a period of 24 months with observations at 6-month intervals. Hunter colorimeter, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) germination rate, gluten weight, and volume were parameters used as quality indicators of various dried foods.

Statistical analysis indicated a significant time and temperature …