Dipping green leaves in boiled water to ferment them quickly

[nzmessa]

I read the following from a grower on another site and wonder if anyone else has tried this?

Dunk a few green leaves in just boiled water for about 10 seconds then hang indoors and they will be mostly brown in just a few hours. It's way faster than steaming them. They'll dry to shredding dryness in a few days. Then after shredding, give them a misty spray of rum in thin layers. Wrap tightly in zip lock bags for 48 hours. Spread out again to dry stirring occasionally and it will dry in a couple of hours. I've been doing it this way for over 20 years and it works for me.

Clearly it has worked OK for this person or, at least, he is used to the result it achieves but any ideas what you might be missing out on by processing the leaf so quickly? Chemical reactions etc?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I suppose if his "green leaves" were fully matured, the heat could accelerate curing. My questions are, why rum? what are you covering up? steam curing? there is no such thing; and, if it was this simple, why would commercial growers spend so much on barns and manual labour?

I think this is an example of a shortcut that will produce inferior leaf that meets his low personal standards ("it works for me").

 

[deluxestogie]

any ideas what you might be missing out on by processing the leaf so quickly?

If this were a meaningful method, it would have saved the tobacco industry a staggering amount of money. Unfortunately, you just end up with cooked, uncured leaf. The high heat immediately destroys the oxidizing enzymes within the leaf lamina. Any subsequent biochemical changes will depend on whatever microbes can survive the ethanol.

Bob

 

[Old Gasman]

I think dunking the leaves in Snake Oil would be just as effective but more expensive.

 

[burge]

Bob is right. Fermentation happens as the leaves break down and the enzymes provide the aging process. The result when you open a bag of Don's tobacco it smells like ammonia till the oxygen gets in. From my understanding the boiling makes a cavendish. Not sure of the process there.

 

[deluxestogie]

Boiling or steaming color-cured tobacco leaf over many hours produces Cavendish. Boiling green leaf does not break down chlorophyll (e.g. cooked spinach), so some other mechanism is at play in the secret hack.

I think it might be a full-time job to debunk every proposed alternative to the centuries-long, well documented processes of tobacco growing, harvesting, color-curing and finishing. All I can suggest is that you compare the outcome of testing the hack, to your outcome from traditional methods. Valid, new approaches occasionally come to light.

Bob

 

[nzmessa]

I suppose if his "green leaves" were fully matured, the heat could accelerate curing. My questions are, why rum? what are you covering up? steam curing? there is no such thing; and, if it was this simple, why would commercial growers spend so much on barns and manual labour?

I think this is an example of a shortcut that will produce inferior leaf that meets his low personal standards ("it works for me").

Yes I agree. I'm not interested in trying such shortcuts unless there is a history of many using the same method and find it effective. As you say, he is likely just used to the inferior smokable product that it achieves. I was interested to know if it was a shortcut anyone else had heard of. Not a method I'll be trying.

 

[nzmessa]

If this were a meaningful method, it would have saved the tobacco industry a staggering amount of money. Unfortunately, you just end up with cooked, uncured leaf. The high heat immediately destroys the oxidizing enzymes within the leaf lamina. Any subsequent biochemical changes will depend on whatever microbes can survive the ethanol.

Bob

That's what I was wondering. I'm just a newbie and don't know all the technical stuff that goes on when curing but after reading many posts on the forums I was thinking it must kill off properties in the leaf that make it an enjoyable smoke. Appreciate the info. Thanks Bob.