Okay - I'll admit - I am an idiot....

14 years ago

So I made a double batch of Annie's Salsa tonight. But made a few substitutions along the way. Not by choice, but because, stupid me, I didn't have everything on hand.

So this is what happened...

First, I didn't have enough onions. Instead of the five that a double batch would call for, I only used four. I am thinking, no big deal. Less low-acid veggies and the recipe is still safe.

Next, I only had one 16 ounce can of tomato paste. So I used that and added an extra can of tomato sauce. I am not sure how much more acidic tomato paste is than tomato sauce. But according to the recipe, the paste and sauce is added for flavor and consistency and doesn't affect the acidity. So at that point, I still figured I was safe.

Next, I normally use a mixture of lemon and lime juice to equal parts of cider vinegar. I ran short on the lemon and lime juice. Only came out with 1/2 a cup so I added 1 1/2 cups of cider vinegar to make up the acid.

After tasting, it was way too cider vinegary so I squeezed some fresh lime's and lemon in it. I still had the required acid. And figured I was just adding a little more acid so again, I was still safe.

Well, after that move, the lime and lemon taste overbearing. So I added two more cans of tomato sauce. And now, it tastes good.

Do you think this is still safe???

In a nutshell, I left out a cup of onions and 16 ounces of tomato paste. I added an extra 48 ounces of tomato sauce. Also added some fresh lemon and lime juice.

Comments (6)

digdirt2
14 years ago
After all that? - who knows. ;) Probably since the canned sauce likely had citric acid in it - check the can ingredients - but no way to know for sure. Assume you BWB'd it rather than PC'd it? PC'd I'd say yes.

Want to be totally safe? Freeze it. Your choice.

Dave

PS: you could have stopped after the "too vinegary" stage and fixed it as you opened it.
ccaggiano
Original Author
14 years ago
Come on Dave - fixing it as I opened it would have been the logical thing to do. And I am openly admitting that I am an idiot.

The ingredients on the can of tomato sauce are... tomato puree (water, tomato paste) salt, corn syrup, dried peppers, citric acid.

So, I may or may not be safe. But this brings me to another point... why is there corn syrup in tomato sauce??? Why does everything have corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup etc. in it these days??

The biggest reason that I started canning and preserving is that I want to know where my food is coming from. I want to know how it was made. And what is in it. Not necessarily for myself, but for my kids. I always, always look at the ingredients before I buy anything and if there is something I don't recognize or can't pronounce, it gets put back.

Point and case... look at the ingredient list for a box of frozen Aunt Jemima pancakes. Then look at the list of ingredients for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix. The difference is comparable to translating ancient greek hieroglyphics and English.
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brendan_of_bonsai
14 years ago
The US subsidizes the production of corn and soy heavily (during the Nixon administration, well before I was born, food prices rose pretty sharply, so he set out to make the calorie cheaper, and succeeded), this makes corn products cheaper, we even make plastic out of the stuff. Since corn is so inexpensive you can easily make many things out of it cheaply. People like their tomato sauce cheaper so they buy the sweet stuff, and they like their food cheap so they buy the cheap sweet stuff. From a health standpoint HFCS is probably a wash, yes your body turns fructose into fat in the liver at a higher rate, but also your tongue can taste it better so you eat less of it than you would regular sugar (so the higher rate of fat conversion rubs up against the lower rate of consumption). Want to do something about it? Then buy products like Honsetea that are low sweet.
ccaggiano
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you - I knew there was another product that is in all of our foods and forgot what it was. And it was soy. There is soy in tuna. And I was specifically thinking of that and couldn't put my finger on it. And before I get onto my soap box about food production in the US and all of that stuff, I am going to end this post.
jennypat Zone 3b NW MN
14 years ago
I hate that there is either sugar or HFCS in almost everything! I have a health condition, I am not supposed to eat sugar, HFCS and other sweeteners. Trying to purchase food without an added sweetener and stay on a budget is near impossible.
Again like ccaggiano I want to know what is in my food, and feed my family good food, so I grow, buy organically and preserve my own as best I can.

Jenny P
Linda_Lou
14 years ago
Oh, we have all had days like that. It doesn't make you an idiot, just had a bad day. Can you reprocess it in a pressure canner ? That or freeze it.
I would be leary of leaving it as is with all the changes if done in a BWB.

Okay - I'll admit - I am an idiot....

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digdirt2

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Okay - I'll admit - I am an idiot....

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