DigDirt, Safer citric, maybe no, but adding a little more than a half teaspoon per quart doesn't add any taste or liquids to a tomato based sauce, so it CAN make it safer to can at home. I used to add a whole teaspoon of citric a while back. I detest the taste of RealLemon as its made from concentrate and just has no decent flavor that I would use in anything. Who hates to use Pomona pectin because of the tiny amount of calcium it has in it? Some people can taste things others can't. Citric acid has no taste, just a very sour effect in the mouth. Adding vinegar would require several cups to get the acidity down to a safe canning level. Keep in mind its still just 5% acidicty, and not as powerful as citric. To each his own.. Quite honestly, I could care less about any preachings of the NCHFP, or FDA. I feel that common sense and my own canning methods are far safer compared to any that may be stated as being 'not recommended'. As mentioned before, the statement 'not recommended', only tells me that no federal agency or testing labs have done any lengthy testing of the product in question. Recipes are fine for the beginners, but with all I do here, I don't even bother with recipes or measuring anything including bread dough, pastries, or any cooking or baking. I know what is needed and use my common sense when it comes to home canning. Steam canners are safe for me, as I have wasted many hours testing and have concluded they are safe for some high acid things that I PERSONALLY do here. People complain about sugarless jellies getting moldy, never happens here. What did that mold come from? The reason is simple, increase the acidity and you will have a product that will not spoil as easily. Same with pickles. Heat turns cukes to mush in no time. If I were to attempt to heat process my very delicate peppronici, they would be just mush in a jar. I use a very safe method to can them, and as far as I am concerned, and all the testing I have done, with my vacuum method, they have not given me any indication of any possible contamnation from botulism, listeria, or any other bacteria, spore, or harmful anything. Simply put, botulism cannot live in high acids, and neither can any of the other contaminates. That doesn't mean I would condone making pickled eggs, however, as they are simply too dense to can at home, and would leave many doubts in my mind about food safety no matter if my great great great grandmother made them centuries ago, when things were noticably different compared to today. Just got an AARP flyer about some new 'super bugs'. These concern me too, as they should by everyone. We has humans are become less resistant to viruses and diseases, no matter how we live our lives. Personal preferences might not be what you like here, but when you post your own 'personal preferences' about home canning issues you are also doing something that others might find obsessive. I'll get down off my soap box now as I have said my piece.

I can answer a bit about what Coconut Milk (Cream) is. The raw coconut meat is ground and compressed and the juice from it is the Coconut Milk. (The locals (Samoans, Tongans, other Polynesians, etc.) call it Coconut Cream.) The first pressing is the best, of course. (Think of the different types of Olive Oil.) Then the coconut meat is run through the pressing machine again, this time adding some water ... and that product is labeled Coconut Milk. Most all the Coconut Milk we can purchase now is from SE Asia, where tin is cheap, so the product can be produced, canned, exported and sold very reasonably. The Coconut "Cream" is not allowed to be labeled such in the US, because of the USDA definition of what constitutes "cream", so it's called milk. Many companies have two or more different products or labels, indicating the quality, the fat content, the amount of water added, etc. You probably have a favorite brand, and you might prefer a more expensive brand and that's probably because it has less water added, so the flavor is more intense. Incidentally, there's a youtube video showing a Samoan fellow gathering, cracking, and grating a coconut, then squeezing the cream out of the grated meat. (You'll notice he has a New Zealand accent, as most Samoans from Western Samoa do -- because up until the early 1960s the country was a NZ protectorate, and that's the English they were taught. American Samoans speak with an American accent.) In 1997 Western Samoa changed their name back to Samoa, kind of regaining their original status prior to 1914 when it was renamed. My father's Cannery in Apia had men and women husking and peeling the coconuts much the same as the fellow on the video. The fellows used machetes to chop the husks off (which were saved and sold as copra), they used the same machetes to hack off the brown coconut shells (which were saved and sold for charcoal), and the women peeled the dark skin off the coconuts. Buckets of the white coconut meat was carried to the machines and dumped into them, and the coconut cream was squeezed out, and the cans were filled. Then the meat was run through a second time with water, and cans were filled -- and these were labeled differently. Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about Coconut Milk/Cream. Sorry, but I rarely ever get to tell anyone about my experiences there! My father's been gone 5 years now, and he sold the company to the workers, which pleases me. The people in that country have so little -- so this is something big for them. Kathy in Washington Here is a link that might be useful: A Samoan fellow showing How to Make Coconut Cream

I *still* don't get how I made the pectin *3 times*, 3.5C of water and 2 limes to a pan (did the first 2 pans simultaneously, thinking I was going to do 2 separate batches), and each time I got roughly 1.5C instead of 2C (before putting through jelly bag!) that the recipe says it should make? As Carol said there are all sorts of possible reasons. Too much heat (simmering is the very lowest possible amount of heat), or limes that were too small or too dry or insufficiently squeezed, not enough simmering time or more likely way too much simmering time, not near enough time draining in the jelly bag, etc. etc. That, not nearly enough time in the jelly bag, is the most likely cause IMO. 12-24 hours or even longer is common and even squeezing out the jelly bag is needed. Yours couldn't have drained very long at all if made in one day. Recipes aren't perfect. There is no way they can anticipate all the variables that the cook throws into the mix that will affect them. And it is all those human variables that is yet another reason for making 1 batch at a time and taking plenty of time to do it. And as a general guideline, it also works best when it is the recipe that controls the project. Rather than a food that "needs to be used", food that is less than desirable in quality (like scorched limes), or a cook in a hurry. Having all the best quality ingredients needed BEFORE starting the recipe and having the time to make it is necessary for best results. Otherwise, a poor end product is often the result. We learn best from our mistakes - especially if we keep good notes. ;) Dave

The cost of BWB water is negligible even where water is highly valued. There is also no rule that says you have to throw the water out after finishing. Let it cool and you can use it to flush your toilet or water your outside plants. I never pour out a pan of water into the septic tank unless it is dirty. With respect to canning vs. BWB, I will continue to use both methods where appropriate. My primary cost of canning is the jar product, canning supplies, and fuel. I do not want to try to reinvent the wheel when it comes to canning. Yes, I am aware that lots of pressure cooker or something that might be called a canner have published lots of recipes for 5 pound processing of fruits. Peaches and apricots get plenty soft enough in BWB processing so I would not intentionally set out to "over-process" them by increasing the processing temperature. I'll keep my canner and my big BWB pot. The BWB pots are usually very light in weight and keeping them both is in my best interest. PS - For any thinking about buying a 16 quart Presto, buy a 23 quart instead with the 3 piece weight set and you have something that for a few dollars more you can process quarts as a BWB canner if you desire. My thoughts - Jim in So Calif