Moldy jam causes a stir at Sqirl

Earlier this month I wrote about how there is no clean part of moldy bread. Perhaps I was sensing mold in the air because recent events have brought the subject to the forefront. Jessica Koslow, owner of the highly regarded Los Angeles cafe Sqirl, has come under fire for reportedly scraping the mold off containers of Sqirl’s house-made jam and serving the remainder to guests. The exposé originated after disgruntled workers alerted food blogger Joe Rosenthal to the practice, with one of them sending Rosenthal a photo of an extremely moldy jam bucket that they claimed was from Sqirl.

Koslow did not deny the allegations, but instead released a statement defending the practice as well as addressing claims that restaurant employees were forced to work in an unsafe “shadow” kitchen. Koslow asserts that since she uses less sugar in her jams and jellies, they are more susceptible to mold. In her defense of the practice of skimming mold off the top, she references mycologist Dr. Patrick Hickey. When contacted by a reporter, Dr. Hickey said that he did not recall meeting or speaking with Koslow and did not agree that scraping off the mold was acceptable in a commercial setting. “There’s a danger that the toxins could build up in that jam and diffuse down deeper,” he said, noting that there was also a risk to workers in handling the potentially toxic substance.

I admit that I, too, have scraped off a small bit of mold in jam and spread the rest on my toast. But just as with eating an over-easy egg or raw cookie dough, there is a risk in ignoring The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food safety guidelines regarding mold on jellies and jams. Despite the current unwelcome streak of not listening to experts about personal safety, Americans are generally a cautious bunch, which is why there are warnings on menus about ordering rare steaks, most states prohibit the sale of raw milk, and we cannot import certain cheese products. The USDA guidelines for food preservation likewise take a conservative approach – too conservative, according to some.

When I wrote last month about finding solace in Jordan Champagne’s new jam book It Starts with Fruit, I left out my misgivings about the recipes contained in the tome. Like Koslow, Champagne uses far less sugar than the USDA recommends for food safety. Champagne glosses over this and dismisses other recommended practices such as sterilizing jars and equipment, claiming they are unnecessary. Champagne says that “we now understand the exact science behind food preservation,” implying that USDA guidelines are out of date and overly cautious. However, she provides no scientific evidence to bolster her assertion that using less sugar results in an equally safe product, although she does accurately identify the acid level required to prevent botulism.

Champagne notes that jams and jellies made with less sugar (she uses only about one-quarter the amount of USDA-approved recipes) will mold more quickly once opened, but does not indicate that they might not store as well as higher-sugar recipes. I wonder if there will be any backlash from this tome or Koslow’s (if it is also cavalier regarding food safety), just as there was about Tales from a Forager’s Kitchen. Perhaps I am more sensitive to the issue because I have a cottage foods license and food safety training, but I have not used any recipes from Champagne’s book. I have, however, taken inspiration about flavors from it and appreciate its discussion of the pros and cons of using pectin.

While it may be true that sterilizing jars before making jelly is superfluous if you are processing them in a water-bath canner, the step is included in the guidelines for a reason. If you have ever visited an old cemetery, you know that there are frequently multiple headstones for young children in the same family. The reasons for this are varied and include the lack of modern medicines such as antibiotics, but foodborne illness also played a role. If I get listeria poisoning from raw milk, for instance, I will most likely recover, but if a small child gets it, it could easily be fatal. Humans are known to take shortcuts, so requiring sterilization in multiple steps instead of just one acts as a safety net for those who are too impatient to wait the full amount of time for processing or who may not have an accurate thermometer. These days we tend to take food safety for granted, but despite a plethora of rules and regulations, food poisoning is still a frequent occurrence. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year 48 million people in the US become sick from a foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die.

For your personal household use, you are free to play fast and loose with the rules, but if you are serving the public, extra caution is warranted. Koslow is learning this lesson the hard way: I saw an image on social media of an empty sidewalk which is usually packed with people waiting to pick up items from Sqirl. Coincidentally (?) to this controversy, Koslow has a book about jams and jellies set to be released next week called The Sqirl Jam Book: Jelly, Fruit Butter, and Others. The timing of this controversy may suppress interest in this new book, but as the old saying goes, “bad publicity is better than no publicity.” Whether this situation will hinder book sales is anyone’s guess. Koslow’s publisher has released this statement: “…will publish The Sqirl Jam Book on July 21 as planned. We are confident that the jam-making methods are safe and reliable for home cooks, and that readers will find this book to be a beautiful, hardworking and instructive resource.”

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9 Comments

  • Jenny  on  July 16, 2020

    I’ve been sitting on my fingers trying not to leave this comment …. but sporadically I’ve been known to scrap off some mold myself.

  • darcie_b  on  July 16, 2020

    More info on Koslow’s alleged appropriation of her employees’ work without giving them credit: https://la.eater.com/2020/7/16/21323377/los-angeles-sqirl-saga-moldy-jam-recipe-ownership-jessica-koslow

  • veronicafrance  on  July 17, 2020

    Hmm … interesting. I’ve been known to scrape small patches of mould off my own jam (made with the correct amount of sugar and potted while hot in sterilised jars). But it’s absolutely unacceptable in a commercial setting. You don’t know what the vulnerabilities of customers eating it might be.

  • Lem9579  on  July 17, 2020

    I’ve scraped off the tiny bit of mold off cheese and bread. That was only for me to eat. When you are feeding others whether it is at home or in any type of commercial setting you should be extremely cautious and not take any risks.

  • meatn3  on  July 17, 2020

    This practice is irresponsible in a commercial setting. Customers patronize under the assumption that knowledgeable management oversees safe practices. What a person chooses to do in their home has no bearing on how a commercial enterprise should operate. Sqirl abused the public trust and blatantly choose their bottom line over the well being of their patrons.

  • BuenProvecho  on  July 18, 2020

    ” It is also unnecessary to presterilize jars for fruits, tomatoes, and pickled or fermented foods that will be processed 10 minutes or longer in a boiling-water canner.” USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, 2015 revision, p.1-14

    • Darcie  on  July 19, 2020

      Good to know! I have been using an older guide that did not state this.

  • whitewoods  on  July 18, 2020

    I don’t understand why she uses such big buckets for the jams. If you’re using big buckets and the jam is growing mold, then just switch to smaller containers. No?

  • Vanessa  on  July 19, 2020

    I have been puzzling over the assertion that the contributions of the cooks who created the jam recipes have been “erased” because they’re sold as part of Jessica Koslow’s Sqrl enterprise. Isn’t it typical and widely-accepted that what an employee creates for an employer belongs to that employer? Usually, the employer owns what I produce (even when it is the result of my creative process). That’s actually what I’m paid to do: come up with good ideas for my employer. In this case, the result was a recipe for a tasty product, but that intellectual property is the property of the employer.

    I also puzzle over the low-sugar content. If this is part of the recipe developed by the employee, then if they should get personal credit for the tasty end result, should they also personally bear responsibility for the resulting tendency to mold? And didn’t the recipe creatot know that the proportion of sugar is considered unsafe? (Even though the recipe creator may not have also been in charge of the manufacturing of the product, they should have known this was at least slightly dangerous, and especially in a commercial setting.)

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