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

Best to check with Annie then because as far as I know the paste is optional - Annie has said that many times - but the sauce isn't or the salsa is too think for canning. There have been several recent discussions about how too-thick salsa isn't safe to can. It is supposed to be soupy or it is too dense for safe heat penetration. I do recall telling someone that the salt is optional - that is clear - and I think it was you that asked before about using the salt-free tomato sauce and I said that was fine. But I sure didn't say you could leave out the sauce completely. But that sort of confusion is what happens when folks try to fool around with the recipe rather than just making it as it is written like they should. ;( Have no idea how much sauce would be needed now. 4 pints is approx. half a recipe so I'd guess approx. 1 cup. More sure isn't going to hurt if needed to make it the consistency it is supposed to be. And there is no reason you can't use some of the juice too if needed as long as everything is going back into the pot and re-processed from that point. Dave

Yes, of course you can use commercially canned tomatoes, but I'd drain them well so your salsa isn't too runny. I'd use the same processing times, you still have the peppers, onions, etc. in there, it's not all tomatoes. Annie

Sadly yes, I'm limited to water bath at this time. The plan was to buy a pressure canner and a dehydrator this summer but when my husband got laid off, those plans were canceled. In the past I've not had good luck making spaghetti sauce my kids would actually eat. The Chunky Basil one had such good reviews, I wanted to give it a shot. Since my freezers are full, I figured if I was going to practice, I wanted it to be a recipe I could can if it turned out well. I have a good sized garden (and since my parents own a greenhouse, they gave me the plants for free) as well as access to a local amish produce auction where stuff sells dirt cheap (a bushel of green bell peppers for chopping for $1.00, canning tomatoes for $4-6 a bushel, Onions for 20-25 cents a pound etc and my parents buy stuff there regularly and give me their extras in exchange for some of the stuff I can). I also have a good supply of lids I bought last year when stuff was clearanced out. Overall I'm not too worried if the Chunky Basil Sauce recipe doesn't taste as good as I hope. I can always use the extras up simply by dumping a jar in every time a make a batch of chili (my pot is 4 gallons so a quart can easily get lost in there), I just know I won't have $ to get regular wine anytime soon. And since I have virtually free supplies at hand to make it, I'm not out much besides my time if the cooking wine tastes funky. As long as I know the substitution is safe, I can use it up in one fashion or another. I just won't make more than 1 batch until we can test it out. Since we have spaghetti almost every Sunday since it's a supper quick meal to make after we get home for church, if I can find a suitable sauce, it will definitely help the wallet come this winter when I don't have access to so much produce. I got the salsa done today and if the kids behave well tomorrow I will be making the spaghetti sauce. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.