You're correct - it disappears into the electronic wilderness (sort of).

Maybe it's related to the note on the front page from admin.

"9.22.08: Due to technical issues, some forums may be missing posts from 9.20 and earlier. Our support team is working to resolve this issue and hope to have all posts restored soon. Thank you for your patience!"

Dave

Salsa is not safe to can in quarts. There are no USDA guidelines for it. It is due to the density changing in the quart jars. If you want to be safe, stick with pints. Also, Annie's recipe does have the option of using a BWB or pressure canning. If you pressure can, it is fine to cut down on the amount of added acid in it.

The forum has increased these thread pages to about 67 now, and I still see a few things from 2006 or older. Each thread 'chunk' can have more than a hundred posts each. If things are very active now, more stuff drops of into the 'Twilight Zone', or just doesn't show up. The search, at best can only find a few things accuratly, so most are at the mercy of the key words they type in. It would be nice to have an 'advanced search', so we could narrow down the hits, or force non related ones to not be shown. I guess iVillage just doesn't plan to fix the search engine. Even for that a re-index of the thread searches are done sporadically, so many newer posts just don't show up right after they are typed in.

Even though Linda Lou says no, I would expect it could work in quarts if it were higher in added acidity and pressure canned a bit longer time, but that still may not make it 1000% safe, but maybe 98%

Annie said the Extension service OK'd her salsa in quarts at 20 minutes if you're doing the boiling water bath. (It calls for the higher amount of vinegar.) No recommendation I know of for the pressure canned variation.

I've linked to an old '05 thread that discusses that and many other issues related to Annie's salsa.

In other cases, though, take Linda_Lou's word for it. It's not a good practice to start messing around with up-sizing canning recipes not designed for that.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Salsa A Big Hit

I actually found a recipe published in the Yakima Herald-Republic that the article was about "How to preserve safe salsa" and listed QUART times too. It appears to be from Washington State Unniversity?

PUBLISHED ON Tuesday, August 26, 2008 AT 11:07PM

How to preserve safe salsa
by Sheila Ryan
For the Yakima Herald-Republic

Salsa has become one of Americans' favorite foods.

With the abundance of tomatoes, onions and peppers this time of year, people often want to make salsa to have on hand this winter. Here are some ways to preserve salsa or preserve the ingredients to quickly make salsa later in the year.

CAN THE SALSA NOW: While some prefer this method, it is not a way to preserve your own salsa recipe. If you want to can salsa, you must follow a safe recipe tested in a laboratory. The reason for this caution is that tomato/vegetable mixtures, if not made and canned safely, can result in spoilage and severe illness.

What you should not do is make your favorite recipe and can it. Instead, call the Yakima County Washington State University Extension Office at 574-1600, and ask for the publication "Salsa Recipes for Canning," PNW 395, available in English or Spanish ($1, plus tax).

• Here is a recipe from that publication:

Tomato Salsa
(using paste tomatoes)

(16 to 18 pints)

7 quarts peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes

4 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles

5 cups chopped onion

1/2 cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeño peppers

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups bottled lemon or lime juice

2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

2 tablespoons ground cumin, optional

3 tablespoons oregano leaves, optional

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, optional

Combine all ingredients except cumin, oregano and cilantro in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add spices and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner: 15 minutes at zero to 1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001 to 6,000 feet; 25 minutes above 6,000 feet. To can in quarts, add 5 minutes to these times.

For this recipe, any type of pepper may be used, however do not increase the total amount of peppers called for in the recipe. The only other change you can safely make is to use green tomatoes or tomatillos for tomatoes.

.................

Back to Annie's Salsa, is adding more vinegar and/or pressure canning for longer times possible? Don't you raise times like following a recipe for a "weakest link" ingredient?

Yes, quart times for that salsa recipe. In other words, it was tested for that time. You can't extrapolate from that to all other salsa recipes.

Of course with Annie's recipe you can add more vinegar and process for a longer time. The question is how much more vinegar and how much longer?

Remember there are other issues - density being just one of them. Salsa is also eaten from the jar. It isn't heated.

Though you can process as per the ingredient requiring the longest time, at that point you may find quality suffers. Additionally, some of the ingredients aren't cannable singly. Garlic is only canned pickled. People also tend to forget low-acid ingredients like cilantro.

I mean, theoretically you could process the salsa like clams. That should take care of any problems we could imagine.

Carol

Garlic being crushed in a press will make it very small pieces. If I were concerned with garlic issues, there is always the option of using dried minced garlic, or dried granulated garlic. Same holds true for things like peppers and onions. These too can be added as dried. They soak up the liquid, and are also going to soak up any acidity it has as well. I did use dried cilantro in a batch, but it lacked any noticable taste once the jars were opened and served.

So Ken, you said adding the dry ingredients "soak up any acidity?" This good or bad?

I also started smoking some maters and was thinking of adding them, but don't know if they being added in a dehydrated form would play havoc with amounts. I usually add dried & ground up hot peppers to Annie's Salsa too.

If I wanted it more garlicky, I can't add more cloves of my heirloom garlics but I can if I dry them first?

OK, there's been so much discussion about canning salsa in quarts that I gave up and called my friend, the Extension Director. She tells me that they "used" to tell people to go ahead and can salsa in quarts, now they tell people not to. She doesn't know when they stopped suggesting canning in quarts, but that it was a definite change in the rules. She thinks it happened about the same time they stopped giving directions for canning rutabaga (a quality issue, not a safety issue, incidentally).

So, according to the experts, DON'T CAN THE SALSA IN QUARTS. It's never been an issue for me, because I've never canned it in quarts, I can barely use up a pint before it spoils, but other people (maybe with big families?) apparently can use a quart of the stuff before it gets moldy.

Anyway, in the interest of safety and consistency, I'm going to say right now that I no longer suggest anyone can salsa in quarts. It's a food that doesn't get reheated/boiled for the suggested time, and so it contains a bit more inherent risk.

Annie

Yes, any residual liquids (acids, juices, etc.) in a salsa can get absorbed by dry ingredients. This helps to naturally thicken and shouldn't affect safety too much, unless it becomes very dense and thick. You could also add more acid like lime juice or cider vinegar. I even used some tomato powder which I buy on line. Its far easier to use than a can or partial can of tomato paste. Even the addition of the citric acid can help bring up acidty again. I am now using 6 year old salsa I made. Its being put in tacos on top of Monteray Jack cheese and the seasoned ground meat.

I've been canning quarts of annie's salsa for a few seasons now, no ill effects, 20 minutes BWB.... comes out great.

reason I can quarts is that I'll sit and eat a pint myself during the game. they're like single serving size....

Thanks, Annie. It's good to have that correction. I'm cutting-and-pasting for my files.

I'm with you. Pints are definitely enough salsa for us and for giving I like 12-oz. jars (unless they're re-e-e-ally good 1-pint friends, LOL).

Carol

I'd love quarts because the jars are similarly priced, usually within a buck or so, and it seems that pints I open and eat at least half of one in one sitting... sometimess even a whole pint in a sitting... maybe it's the heirloom tomatoes!

I've been canning quarts of annie's salsa for a few seasons now, no ill effects, 20 minutes BWB

How would you ever determine the proper canning time for quarts anyway? Just guess?

Dave

I've been canning quarts of annie's salsa for a few seasons now, no ill effects, 20 minutes BWB

How would you ever determine the proper canning time for quarts anyway? Just guess?

Dave

--

One of Annies Original posts indicated 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts. that's what I followed.

I'm not going to dump 24 quarts of salsa this close to the end of the season.

I guess for safety reasons, it's quarts of pickles and pints of salsa next year.