In article >,
George Shirley > wrote:

> ljp wrote:
> > When drying apples I'm supposed to pre-treat with ascorbic acid or
> > lemon juice. I'm having trouble finding either. I did find Fruit
> > Fresh (a gold by-product) that contains ascorbic acid. However, it
> > contains dextrose and other %%$#. I thought I saw a comment that it
> > wasn't a good substitute for the ascorbic acid.
> I use Fruit Fresh for pre-treating white fruit that is to be dehydrated
> or canned with no problems.
> >
> > I want to start drying before winter (possibly next week here) so I
> > will use the Fruit Fresh.
> >
> > I expect the lemon juice shortage is temporary, but I would like to
> > know where folks usually find ascorbic acid.
> Ascorbic acid is Vitamin C, go to the drug store or market and get some
> 1000 milligram vitamin C tablets and grind them up and mix with water.

Vitamin C (and other) supplements almost always have non-active
ingredients like stearic acid, magnesium stearate, cellulose, etc. (I'm
used to reading ingredients since I have to avoid all forms of gluten)
I don't know how these other ingredients would figure in the preserving
mix.

C supplements also often have other active ingredients and there are a
multitude of those. In addition, not all vitamin C is ascorbic acid
based. There's beta-carotene, vitamin C complex, rose hips, and a bevy
of different forms.

It might be worthwhile to find out if ascorbic acid in gelatin capsules
might be more pure. It would certainly be easier to just open the
capsule than grinding up a tablet.

Isabella
--
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust"
-T.S. Eliot