Homemade sea mud

I had the privilege of getting some real green mud - the fresh one from the ocean. Only one certain spot in an inlet on the coast of Maine which is very protected. I've used this mud fresh for over 50 years and it is amazing.

I would like to bottle some up for use for the entire year without having it smell like it went bad.

Is there something that I should do to it in order to pasturize or purify it before bottling?

This is all new to me.

Thanks

D

I think people who buy mud expect it to smell 'bad' or at least they should: it's mud! It comes from the bottom of the ocean, it's filled with all sorts of stuff...we have the same with Dead Sea mud. It seems no matter what's added to it, there's still a weird muddy scent to it.

True, but how does she keep all those bacteria and algae from continuing to grow? It really should be pasturized but I couldn't say how. I wouldn't even think that drying it and rehydrating for use would be sufficient. Too many courses in food sanitation, I guess. Freezing might buy you a bit of time, as drying, but I don't think it's enough to render it "safe".

I personally would not try to save it - or give it to anyone else.

And while I may be going against the trend - and I know you've happily used it for 5 decades, I personally wouldn't use it. Even though it's gathered from an area that is "protected" - that doesn't mean it's clean by any sense of the word. It could have bad bacteria, mold, and heavy metals in it.

But that's me.

carebear said:

True, but how does she keep all those bacteria and algae from continuing to grow? It really should be pasturized but I couldn't say how. I wouldn't even think that drying it and rehydrating for use would be sufficient. Too many courses in food sanitation, I guess. Freezing might buy you a bit of time, as drying, but I don't think it's enough to render it "safe".

I personally would not try to save it - or give it to anyone else.

And while I may be going against the trend - and I know you've happily used it for 5 decades, I personally wouldn't use it. Even though it's gathered from an area that is "protected" - that doesn't mean it's clean by any sense of the word. It could have bad bacteria, mold, and heavy metals in it.

But that's me.

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I agree.

Personally, I wouldn't sell it to anyone, for all the reasons mentioned by others, but if you like it for yourself and it hasn't harmed you yet, I say use it to your heart's content! I'd love to go wade in a natural sea mud bath!!

That mud is chock full of algea, bacteria and microbes. It may look like nothing but mud but I assure you it is teeming with life, and the more "protected" the inlet is, the greater the volume of living organisms. You have no way of knowing WHICH algea, bacteria and microbes are living in the soil unless you test it. Then you would have to know whether those things were harmful or not and carefully control the percentage of each in a batch to match your control batch. The amount and kind of the above also vary from season to season and year to year. Things like red tide, oil spills, a greater than average volume of human, animal or boat traffic will all affect the organisms that live in the mud. I couldn't even imagine purifying it for bottling, but yes, I agree that you SHOULD. If you live in Maine Bar Harbor has some excellent bio and oceanic research facilities. Maybe call and see if they have some suggestions?

JenniferSews,
You sound very knowlegable about the subject. Are you a marine biologist? I am not trying to be a smarty-pants, you sound trained in the field or a related field.

Nope. Just a nurse with an interest in infection control. My husband is a microbiologist and chemistry major. We have a combined interest in opening a business doing infection control for long term care facilities so I am learning everything possible in that direction and at this point my brain is just wired to consider that side of things. A lot of it is just basic biology but people don't consider those things they can't see.

I wonder though, if you got the mud, and heated it considerably for a reasonable length of time, and maintained the heat, to kill said bacteria. Im thinking if you had a pressure cooker and added a wad of distilled water, and some light oil of some sort to increase the temperature? perhaps its worth an experiment with a small amount?

And another thought just popped into my head???? what about canning it?? say if you were canning fresh fruit, and had the same deal... boiling the container to reach a certain temp and keeping it there for a minimum of say 20 mins?

JenniferNurse, do you think that would help to eliminate the "bugs"?

However, I wouldn't be able to make any assumptions on the heavy metals that may be present.

I wonder though, if you got the mud, and heated it considerably for a reasonable length of time, and maintained the heat, to kill said bacteria. Im thinking if you had a pressure cooker and added a wad of distilled water, and some light oil of some sort to increase the temperature? perhaps its worth an experiment with a small amount?

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This is a good solution for most bacteria. The heat has to be very high. However, there are some bacteria that are not only tolerant to heat and pressure, but thrive in heat and pressure. The process that you have described may actually increase the amount of bacteria if this type happens to be in the mud. So while you will kill everything else, those bacteria that are heat and pressure resistant will multiply in number, thus contaminating the mud further.

Hmm.. so the only way that I'd venture into this then, if it were me, I'd get two lots of mud, treat one, and send them both off for testing

I wouldn't think that anything that lived in mud that is at a constantly cool temperature ratings, would survive however, if it was cooked to extreme temps? Perhaps that would be another solution however, to do three tests.

One frozen, one normal, and the other cooked. Get them all three, tested, and compare the results. Sounds expensive, but a fun thing to do no doubt. For curiosity sake anyway?

I wouldn't think that anything that lived in mud that is at a constantly cool temperature ratings, would survive however, if it was cooked to extreme temps? Perhaps that would be another solution however, to do three tests.

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It depends on exactly where the mud was obtained. And honestly, it is doubtful that you have such resistant bacteria in the mud. For example, many forms of bacteria in the ocean are amazingly resistant to extreme temperatures- both hot and cold. Again, you probably do not have such bacteria.