Thursday, October 3, 2013

Preserve your Jack-o'-lantern

Want to preserve your Jack O'lantern this Halloween? Good news, since you are a brewer, you already have access to a solution that is quick, easy and works wonders.
 

Potassium Metabisulfite, also know as campden, works well as a preservative. It used to be used to keep lettuce and other vegetables looking their best at the salad bar, but when it was over used and people put their vinegary salad dressing on the veggies it would produce an unpleasant gas, that would make you choke… so it’s use was limited.

The good news is you don’t normally put dressing on your Jack O’lantern, so you shouldn’t run into any issues. Just make up a solution of water and Campden (I did one tablet per gallon of water. Either spray it all over the finished carving with a spray bottle, or fill your sink with the solution and roll your JO’L around in it. You want to get the inside and outside rinsed off.

The campden will kill any of the bacteria and wild yeast on the pumpkin and help it look healthier for several days longer than if you did nothing.

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