I am far from an expert but I don't think Annie's Salsa was approved for pressure canning. I mean, I have seen PC instructions for it but I've also read that those weren't tested for safety. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. If you've got a large stockpot with a lid that your PC rack fits into then you've got yourself a boiling water bath. The BWB time for Annie's Salsa is 15 minutes. (Or I think you can use your PC as a BWB, just don't lock down the lid.) Rodney P.S. They are researching steam canning but for now it's not officially recommended. But they also say that if you do steam can against recommendations (because they know people will) you should only can high-acid foods, excluding tomato products. Here is a link that might be useful: Canning Controversy: What About Steam Canners? This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 12:27

Charcuterie, I've made this recipe many times and the amount I get varies from about six pints to about eight pints. I think it probably depends mostly on how watery the tomatoes are. Roma tomatoes are usually very meaty, and the fact that you got less than eight cups from 5 1/2 pounds suggests yours were quite meaty (I usually find about four pounds gives about eight cups). So my guess is that the liquid from the canned diced tomatoes is what made it have so much volume. If you had added more fresh tomatoes, they would have cooked down. Since the tomatoes you added were canned they were already cooked down, so they wouldn't have shrunk as much in cooking, if you see what I mean. I do think your salsa should be safe to eat. The added extra peppers is actually the one thing that goes against standard safety recommendations---peppers are a low-acid food, so if you have more peppers total compared to tomatoes than a recipe is tested for, you don't know for sure that it's acidic enough. But those cans of peppers in adobe are small, and you added extra acid, AND I know that Annie's recipe has a generous margin of error of extra acid. So while the standard answer is "you should never change anything in a tested recipe," I know that I, personally, would feel very happy eating your salsa. I'll be right over, in fact. ;-p Good luck, Zabby

Thanks, I ended up using about 30 habaneros and 20 jalapenos (this alone was 3.5 cups) and then used 2 cups of onions and green peppers. I added an extra cup and a half of 50-50 lime juice and apple cider vinegar (2.5 cups total). It did get a little runnier(not too bad though), but I thought I'd be safe rather than sorry. I thought it was nice, but my husband insists he still thinks that it just a medium heat salsa!!!!! So, since I seem to be falling further and further into canning, and because experimentation is fun for me I have another question. How is a recipe tested for safeness? I can easily get my hands on pH testing supplies. If the final recipe has a pH below 4.6, can I safely can using a 30 minute BWB? Is this something where I need to can and then test samples over a time period to test for botulism and microorganisms? Or is this something that I should be asking the area coop extension?

Lakeaffect, the page just kinds of jumps around as I'm trying to use it, so it might have been the search bar when you started typing! Judy, I've never frozen it, I raise grassfed beef, pastured chickens and organic pork, so freezer room is at a serious premium. It's mostly saved for meat, although I freeze berries in the summer and make jam later, which allows me to make room for whatever meat is being processed in late fall/early winter. I would think it might become watery, although liquid could be drained off, but it might retain a nice fresher flavor. Some people are vehemently opposed to the acid, whether it be vinegar or citrus, and freezing it would allow you to use little or no acid ingredient. If you try it, let us know how it is, please? Happy Canning (and/or freezing, LOL) Annie