![]() If you’re using unpasteurized eggs (any egg that’s still in its shell is unpasteurized) you risk having Salmonella, a highly undesirable micro organism in your almond paste. These help prevent the growth of micro organisms. In order to help prevent growth of any micro organisms some manufacturers will add preservatives such as potassium sorbate. Preventing yeast & mould growth – Sorbate This is why you’ll find recipes telling you to store the almond paste in the fridge. Unfortunately, some microorganisms such as yeasts and moulds can grow at the water activity of almond paste. As such, almond paste is pretty safe from harmful spoilage. This doesn’t mean they’ll die, but if they are present they won’t proliferate. ![]() A lot of harmful micro organisms do not grow anymore at water activity <0,9. Micro organisms, which can spoil our food, need enough available water to grow and survive. Adding more water will raise this value, adding more sugar will lower it. The water activity of almond paste hovers around 0.8. Water activity is a very important parameter for determining the shelf life of foods since it impacts whether and which micro organisms can grow in/on a product. The water activity of milk is very high, about 1 (the maximum value) whereas that of a dry cracker is more around 0.3-0.4. Water activity is a measure for the amount of available water in a product. As a result, almond paste has a very low water activity. At the same time it also has a pretty low moisture content (in our recipe <12%). Microbiological safety & Water activityĪlmond paste has a very high sugar content. If it does get drier, just mix in a bit of water (or egg) to loosen it back up again. It is a very stable product and is even said to become better when a few days older! Do take care that the almond paste is wrapped well so it doesn’t loose any moisture and dries out. A good almond paste contains a lot of sugar and almonds with relatively little moisture.
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