At what temperature are the enzymes killedd

[les]

I have been reading alot about temperature. Is there any science to back up at what temperature enzymes are killed. Do they "die" a slow death (such as hindered at 104, maimed at 110, fried at 112 and/or killed at 115)? Also, how long does it take to kill enzymes, lets say, at 112?

There just seems to be a lot of conflicting information

[Stina]

I use the finger method. I stick my finger in it and just warm a raw soup before it actually gets hot.

[brownies]

I'm sure that is something that is different for each food. The common consistences seems to be not to heat your food above 115 degrees. Just to be safe I stick to just over 100 on my dehydrator.

I tend to think it matters on the climate which the food originates from. It seems like a vegi that evolved in an extremely cold place should have a lower temperature tolerance than one that evolved in an extremely warm climate. .

[sport]

I have read that at 118 they are all dead in 15 minutes.

[rayofsunshine]

I do what brownie does. I keep my dehydrator around 100 for dehydratiing foods. I'm not sure how accurate the temperature control is, so I feel good about that.

Your right, I think every raw food book I look at has a different temp that kills enzymes.

[SheLovesToEat]

I do what brownie does. I keep my dehydrator around 100 for dehydratiing foods. I'm not sure how accurate the temperature control is, so I feel good about that.

Your right, I think every raw food book I look at has a different temp that kills enzymes.


i didnt trust my old dehydrator so i put a kitchen themometer in there to monitor the temperature when i was using it. and many times i had to adjust the temperature down because at what WAS suppose to be 110 ...was registering closer to 115.

anyway.... i set it to running then i would check it after it got warmed up before i put the food in. if it was going to be going for a long time i wanted to make sure it was the right temp.

the themometer was a big help for peace of mind.

[EZ rider]

I think enzymes are in their best condition in unheated, uncooked natural foods. But if a person feels it necessary to heat the food before eating it then I have heard that the food can be heated to a temperature of 118 degrees F before rendering it "dead".

[petaltothemetal]

The moisture content of food has something to do with it, too. Moister foods resist longer. But I don't know how I'd measure this accurately so I also keep my dehydrator between 100 and 105 degrees.

[souldanzer]

There is no *one* temperature at which enzymes are killed. Enzymes are made of proteins, which start to disintegrate at a temperature of about 104 degrees. Some enzymes/proteins are stable at temperatures higher than that, up to about 118 degrees.

You can think of your own body as an example. The reason why fever gets dangerous above 104 is because enzymes/proteins are starting to get damaged.

And it is the temperature of the food or organism itself that counts, not the environmental temperature. Those two can be very different, i.e. depending on water content of the food (which cools the food through evaporation).

Basically this means that a food heated to 104 degrees will most likely have the most enzymes alive, the higher the temperature goes the less enzymes will be alive, with most of them dead at about 118 degrees.

Souldanzer :o

[rawishvegan]

I always read that it's between 104 and 118. However in my excalibur book (I wish I could find the page so I could quote it directly), I read that tests were done by an enzymologist and enzymes live up to 140. In wet food exposed to that temperature enzymes denature. Very confusing. It also states that you can turn the temperature up for a few hours in your dehydrator because it takes a couple hours for the air to heat to that temperature. And even though the temp is 155 your food will safely stay under 118 because of the moisture and internal temperature of the food (Depending on what you are hydrating). I have just started thumbing through this book but I think it will be very helpful. If I find that page Iwill earmark it so I can post it here.

[MysticTree]

Enzymes are not killed. They are not alive. They are proteins the structure of which gets denatured (scrambled for want of a better word) as temperatures rise.