Ken, I don't know whether honey contains botulism spores or botulinum toxin. Produce can harbor botulism spores too, that's why low-acid canning in a BWB can lead to botulism. Botulinum toxin is degraded by heat according to a time/temperature curve. So either way, I don't think the honey is a problem. Unlike oil which can provide a safe haven for spores, honey dissolves into the mixture, so botulism there has the same chance at survival as botulism that was hanging out on the peppers. Also, pears, like apples, contain enough acid to be canned alone, so while they may not be enough to acidify the peppers, they don't add to the amount of additional acid required. For a given volume of salsa, they would reduce the amount of additional acid because you have less low-acid produce. I wanted to clarify that above when I said "as long as the acid level is adjusted," what I meant was "as long as the recipe contains a safe amount of acid (whether from the produce or from added acid like lemon juice or vinegar)". It's not safe to adjust the acid level to suit your taste, unless you're replacing water with vinegar or something. Here is a quote on botulism from wikipedia (and the reference): ------------------ It is possibly the most acutely toxic substance known, with a median lethal dose of about 1 ng/kg[3], meaning that a few hundred grams could theoretically kill every human on earth (for perspective, the rat poison strychnine, often described as highly toxic, has an LD50 of 1,000,000 ng/kg, and it would take four hundred tons to kill every human). It is also remarkably easy to come by: Clostridium spores are found in soil practically all over the earth. [3] Ar non, Stephen. "Botulinum Toxin as a Biological Weapon." JAMA. vol 285. pp.1059-1070. 2001. ------------------ Makes the Ball recipe look more delicious than the OG one if you ask me. ;-) Melissa

Common sense isn't telling people to an anything what want to. Its easy to know if something is acidic, maybe not without a pH meter, but taste can also tell you if its sour or highly acidic. Many people follow recipes recipes to the exact letter and 'assume' its safe or will have a good flavor and texture. They quickly realize that recipes are not exact science when it comes to the ingredients used. Preaching about home canning safety and using 'scare tactics' only make many people afraid to can anything even though there are many recipes out there that are safe and can even accept suntitutes for some of the ingredients. Maybe not everyone who does come canning for years knows that eggs, dairy, pasta, and oils are all considered unsafe, but for a recipe that is based on acidic based fruit like apples, its sure to be safe enough if the low acid components are added in dehyradted state, and soal up acid and all te rest of the liqids. Making a salsa with apples, apple cider vinegar, a few onions, and a few hot peppers will most definatly be something that can be made safe enough to home can. I'm not taking about a half cup of apples, and 6 cups of hot peppers and onions. Obviosuly thats way too much low acid. Adding cider vinegar like a cup to two cups, with 2-3 cups of apples, and a half cup of onions, an a quarter cup of hot peppers will suffice as bsic recipe. Were not making a hot pepper and onion salsa here, but an apple based one. The main reason most all my home canning has been safe for many years is not because I follow recipes, but know, by their nature what things can be added to increase acidity, and go structly by taste BEFORE its canned. Common sense tells us that we know there are toxins out there that need to be avoided, and improper home canning can encourage some safety issues. A good example of following a pickle recipe that calls for vinegar, salt and water and spices. I do NOT add water, so anything I pickle will be much safer when it comes to an actaul acid level, as far as I am concerned. Adding water to dilute things only adds more unsafe factors to an otherwise safe recipe or a procedure. Tinkering with other ingredients amounts also factors in, but for a salsa, I wouldn't even think of using a lot of hot peppers, as it can spoil many recipes if you can't eat a lot of hot stuff. I made a large batch of sugar free orange sauce, not for canning, added just a tablespoon of jarred garlic and chili paste and it was way too hot for me. I had to dilute the sauce with more orange and its grated peel to dilute the heat. I bet if I wanted to safely can it, I could. It was cooked, and the thickener used was Clear Jel. Because it was sugaress and used Splenda, I also added citric acid to increase the acidity. If I were to test its pH it would probably be down below 4. Obviously, home canning that would require more than 'common sense', and would require me to do a bit more research about what can go into it, to keep it safe. I don't tell people to can everything, and don't intend to hold hands to guide them through every facet and detail. If that were the case, I would tell them to forget about attempting to home can anyuthing as they simply lack common sense. ANY recipe, no matter how safe, can still be dangerous if the ingredients were incorrectly added in amounts that can change the overall results. You said that what we do in our kitchens is our own business, and you can rest assured that I don't have things like pickled eggs. I do make pickled pepperoncini peppers without any added heat only because I use full strength vinegar and a process that will force the all vinegar brine into each pepper's insides, by means of a strong vacuum. Common sense tells me the process I use is quite safe, and is the exact same way they are pickled commercially, but there, they use 20% vinegar and water it down to the 5%. No heat used in commercial pickled peppers either.

This is a cooking recipe, not a canning recipe. Only safe, current recipes designed for canning from a reliable source should be canned. Otherwise you put yourself at a risk for botulism. Bottled lime juice or bottled lemon juice is used in some recipes. It is twice as acidic as 5 % acidity vinegar. You can always use bottled lemon or bottled lime juice where vinegar is called for, but never use vinegar in place of the bottled lemon/lime juice. Bottled juice is used since it has to meet an acidity standard to be sold. Fresh lemons/limes vary in acidity and will not be strong enough for safety. I am sending you a link to information and recipes. If you want your salsa recipe it needs to be frozen. Just plain tomatoes without any other added low acid things will take 1 Tablespoon of bottled lemon juice to process them. Here is a link that might be useful: Safe salsa preserving.

I don't know of any safe reputably tested recipe for salsa that calls for quarts or provides processing times for quarts. You could email Dr. Elizabeth Andress at the National Center for Home Food Preservation, but I don't think you'll get a different answer. Their most recent edition of "So Easy to Preserve" just came out this fall and it still provides times only for pints, as does the newest Ball "Complete Book of Home Preserving." I suppose theoretically you could pressure-can the salsa for the longest time of any ingredient in the mixture, so for onions you'd be talking 40 minutes 10 or 11-pounds pressure for quarts. Or, if the recipe included such things as corn you could process as for succotash (85 minutes) or mixed vegetables (90 minutes). Notice I said "theoretically." However, oftentimes even with testing, quarts are not recommended because the processing times get so high the integrity of the product suffers. You might find with the salsa that the texture is too soft or that the flavors go flat. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Contact NCHFP for More Information