Comments on: Is a nitrogen flush from natural gas acceptable for preserving health food? http://www.nsimh.net/natural-health/is-a-nitrogen-flush-from-natural-gas-acceptable-for-preserving-health-food/ Wed, 12 May 2010 21:40:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: microbioguy74 http://www.nsimh.net/natural-health/is-a-nitrogen-flush-from-natural-gas-acceptable-for-preserving-health-food/#comment-6128 microbioguy74 Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:49:59 +0000 http://www.nsimh.net/natural-health/is-a-nitrogen-flush-from-natural-gas-acceptable-for-preserving-health-food#comment-6128 Water content is one thing you could look at. If the water availability is low enough it will discourage bacterial growth. This is the same reason that a popular natural way of preserving food is drying. Another thought would be looking at individual components of the bar. If it contains a fruit then there will be natural yeast. Raisins would be ok because they are dried but if you use for example a strawberry you would either have to dry it, or you could make a paste by smashing up the berries, heating the mash to pasteurize it, then add the paste back to the product as a fruit layer. Nuts such as almonds, peanuts, etc. could be roasted before going into the bar. Honey is naturally bacteriostatic and can act as a binding agent for your ingredients as well as a natural preservative. I hope this helps give some ideas.<br><b>References : </b><br> Water content is one thing you could look at. If the water availability is low enough it will discourage bacterial growth. This is the same reason that a popular natural way of preserving food is drying.

Another thought would be looking at individual components of the bar. If it contains a fruit then there will be natural yeast. Raisins would be ok because they are dried but if you use for example a strawberry you would either have to dry it, or you could make a paste by smashing up the berries, heating the mash to pasteurize it, then add the paste back to the product as a fruit layer.

Nuts such as almonds, peanuts, etc. could be roasted before going into the bar. Honey is naturally bacteriostatic and can act as a binding agent for your ingredients as well as a natural preservative.

I hope this helps give some ideas.
References :

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